{"id":565885,"date":"2026-03-26T15:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T15:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/565885\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T15:48:08","slug":"one-roof-sports-entertainment-ready-to-make-nba-seattle-bid-after-league-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/565885\/","title":{"rendered":"One Roof Sports & Entertainment ready to make NBA Seattle bid after league vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

The wait remains to see if other groups \u201cwill get involved\u201d in the pursuit of an NBA franchise in Seattle, but the only organization to express its intent so far is \u201cready for whatever the next steps call for,\u201d according to Tim Booth of the SEATTLE TIMES. One Roof Sports & Entertainment CEO Tod Leiweke said, \u201cWe started this journey eight years ago intentful to bring the NBA back, and we are going to lean in.\u201d Kraken majority owner Samantha Holloway earlier this week announced the formation of One Roof Sports & Entertainment as an umbrella company<\/a> — \u201ca sign to the NBA\u201d that One Roof \u201cappears to have its affairs in order with space to add an NBA franchise.\u201d Leiweke declined to get into specifics about any structure or parties expected to be involved in the bid. Holloway is \u201cexpected to lead the bid One Roof puts forward,\u201d and NBA rules \u201crequire that the controlling owner of the franchise holds at least a minimum threshold\u201d of a 15% share. Private equity can hold up to 20%, and anyone who wants to buy in must invest at least 1% of the purchase price. Leiweke said, \u201cWe will put together a bid that has it all.\u201d To date there \u201chasn\u2019t been publicly known competition in terms of a potential competing bid\u201d (SEATTLE TIMES, 3\/25<\/a>).<\/p>\n

MAKING PROGRESS: In Seattle, Matt Calkins wrote the \u201creal story would have been if the vote went the other way, but this still feels like progress you can touch.\u201d Now, the likelihood for a Sonics return is \u201csitting somewhere between highly probable and inevitable.\u201d And \u201cthough it\u2019s fair for Sonics fans to hold the \u2018I\u2019ll believe it when I see it\u2019 mentality, it seems the NBA\u2019s power brokers believe they will, indeed, see it.\u201d It seems everyone covering the NBA is \u201cviewing the additions of a Seattle and Vegas franchise as imminent, not questionable.\u201d Calkins wrote, \u201cDare I say \u2026 it\u2019s time to believe?” Calkins: \u201cThe NFL is here. MLB is here. The NHL is here. A major college football program is here. The WNBA, MLS, NWSL and PWHL — they\u2019re all here, too.\u201d There is only one \u201choop-sized hole left and that\u2019s on the verge of being filled\u201d (SEATTLE TIMES, 3\/25<\/a>). <\/p>\n

MIXED FEELINGS? In Seattle, Percy Allen wrote the timing \u201ccouldn\u2019t have been any more serendipitous\u201d — on the night when \u201ca handful of Sonics legends gathered in front of a small crowd for a ceremony honoring them and their former team,\u201d the vote came through on exploring expansion in Seattle. Former NBAer Xavier McDaniel, who played six years (1985-91) with the Sonics, said, \u201cI\u2019m ecstatic. … The team should have never left and we shouldn\u2019t even be at this point, but we are. Eighteen years later, the city of Seattle finally got their team back. I think everybody should be happy.\u201d But Basketball HOFer Gary Payton was \u201ccomparatively less enthusiastic\u201d than his former teammates. Payton said, \u201cI wasn\u2019t excited because I\u2019ve known this for a long time.\u201d Payton: \u201cI was excited for the fans because I know how long they\u2019ve been waiting. How much they want this to happen. But me personally, I\u2019ll be excited when they tell me we\u2019re about to announce it for real and everything is done. We\u2019re getting there, just not there yet\u201d (SEATTLE TIMES, 3\/25<\/a>).<\/p>\n

REALIGNMENT: In Las Vegas, Mick Akers wrote adding two West Coast teams \u201cwould force the NBA to realign the Eastern and Western conferences, with 16 teams each.\u201d Las Vegas and Seattle would \u201cbe primed for placement\u201d in the Western Conference. That would force the NBA to \u201cmove one current Western Conference team to the Eastern Conference.\u201d Realignment candidates include the T\u2019Wolves and the Grizzlies (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 3\/25<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The wait remains to see if other groups \u201cwill get involved\u201d in the pursuit of an NBA franchise…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,726,590,85],"class_list":["post-565885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}