Red Bull ‘considering shock move to break into entirely new sport with brand new team’ after success in football and F1
RED BULL are considering a big-money bid to bring an NBA franchise to Las Vegas, according to reports.
The energy drink company are already a very visible presence within several sports.
Red Bull’s portfolio includes football clubs RB Leipzig, New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg.
While their Formula 1 team has won the sport’s last two constructors’ and three driver’s championships.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has spent much of this year finalising the league’s new media rights deal.
His next major order of business is likely to be focused on league expansion.
Asked during the NBA Finals about cities that the NBA could explore expanding into, Silver said: “There’s been some discussion about going back to Seattle, potentially.
“Las Vegas, no doubt, is very interested in a team. Mexico City one day.
“But there’s lots of other US cities and Canadian cities, frankly, that have reached out to us to tell us they’d be interested.”
In 2021, Silver referred to a mooted £2bn buy-in fee as “very low”.
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It has since been speculated that the price could be somewhere closer to $4bn (£3.2bn).
According to Bloomberg, early internal discussions have taken place within Red Bull regarding entering the bidding for a new NBA expansion team in Vegas.
But it’s claimed that the price will be a “considerable factor”.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has previously expressed his interest in owning a Las Vegas franchise post-retirement.
On the attraction of bringing NBA hoops to Sin City, James, 39, said last year: “It just makes sense.
“Obviously, you have the Raiders here. You have the Knights here. You have the Aces here. You got F1 coming very soon. You know, all-star weekend has been there a few times.
“We have NBA Summer League that’s very popular. Sports is, it’s here.
“You know, I think adding an NBA franchise here would just add to the momentum that’s going on in this town. It’s an attraction.
“You don’t have to worry about getting fan support or nothing like that. I think it’s only right. I think it’s only a matter of time.”