Massive new TV deal buoys hopes of NBA return to Seattle

A staggering new TV deal between the NBA and several networks announced Monday could be a key factor in bringing professional basketball back to Seattle.

The nine-year deal for television and digital rights with ESPN and Turner Broadcasting is worth an estimated $24 billion, according to Forbes and Sports Business Journal.

When NBA owners rejected investor Chris Hansen’s bid to purchase the Sacramento Kings and move them to Seattle in 2013, talk turned to the possibility of Seattle acquiring an expansion team instead.

At the time, then-NBA Commissioner David Stern said the league wouldn’t even begin to consider expansion until it knew the value of the new TV deal.

“Right now, expansion sort of on horseback, so to speak, is not a prudent way to run a league,” Stern said in 2013. “Without knowing what you’re selling, what the next TV deal is worth, what the full scope of international is, what our social media, digital rights, etc., to cut off a chunk of that and have an expansion is just imprudent on a quick decision. Doesn’t mean at some time in the future it isn’t potentially on the table, but right now, it’s not.”

Some owners are opposed to expansion because they don’t want to share their revenues with additional teams. But sports business expert Michael McCann with Sports Illustrated says the landscape has changed dramatically since Hansen’s failed bid. He says that helps Seattle’s chances significantly.

“The value of franchises is clearly going up. When Seattle was pursuing the Kings, we didn’t know that the Los Angeles Clippers would be worth $2 billion.”

McCann predicts the NBA could charge an expansion franchise upwards of $1 billion to join the league. While owners will have to share an increasing amount of the money from the new TV deal with players, players don’t get any cut of an expansion fee.

“I have a feeling expansion will be better received. And Seattle’s odds have gone up.”

Although McCann says most consider Seattle the frontrunner for an expansion franchise, other cities including Las Vegas, Louisville, Vancouver, and even London, England, could be in play.

Unfortunately for Seattle fans, though, expansion isn’t likely to happen any time soon. The new TV deal sets the stage for a fight between owners and players over a new contract. McCann predicts it will ultimately lead to a lockout in 2017 when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement ends. In 2011, the league shut down for over five months to force players to take a smaller share of the pot.

McCann says while that wouldn’t derail expansion, it would put it on the back burner until the labor situation is resolved.

In the meantime, Hansen has remained mostly silent and invisible since his failed bid for the Kings. He recently submitted the final documentation for an environmental review of his proposal to build a new arena in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood — a requirement of his deal with Seattle and King County.

Hansen has said repeatedly he wouldn’t begin construction on a new arena until he acquires an NBA franchise.