00:00:00
Speaker 1: All right, we're back on a busy Wednesday right here on ninety three three KJARFM and a big day. Not not surprising the news that came down today, I think from Adam Silver and the NBA, but nonetheless still pretty exciting for Sonic fans to know that the expansion process has officially begun. Of looking for bids and looking to see if it's worth it for the NBA to expand by one or maybe two more pieces of pie. And a guy that covers all of this for Front Off of Sports, Alex Schiffer, is with us right now on the Beacon Plumbing Hotline on ninety three to three KJARFM here in Seattle. Alex, how are you man?
00:00:37
Speaker 2: I'm good. Thank you for having me well.
00:00:38
Speaker 1: I appreciate you doing this. So why don't we, first of all, before we get into some detail here, put this into moron terms, which is basically for my benefit, because I'm a moron. All right, let's just dumb this down as much as we can. What should basketball fans know in Seattle about what happened today and about what the commissioner had to say in New York City?
00:01:01
Speaker 2: Yes, basically, the NBA's Board of governors today otherwise known as.
00:01:05
Speaker 3: The owners, voted approval for the NBA to seek expansion business Seattle at Las Vegas.
00:01:12
Speaker 2: So basically, if.
00:01:14
Speaker 3: The Sonists were an eBay item and the NBA wanted to hit a certain price, you know, you ever have the buyer's.
00:01:19
Speaker 2: Minimum when you look for something on eBay.
00:01:21
Speaker 3: The item is on eBay now, and it's gonna come down to who bids and can to get to the number of the NBA wants.
00:01:26
Speaker 1: Right, Okay, So that's a great that's a great analogy, great way to put it. So how likely is it that the NBA gets the number they're looking for? How likely is it that they don't get the number they're looking for and they just pull that item off eBay and just take it back home.
00:01:43
Speaker 2: I think that's the question. I think the NBA wouldn't be.
00:01:46
Speaker 3: Doing all this and didn't feel confident they could.
00:01:48
Speaker 2: Get the number.
00:01:49
Speaker 3: You know, Adam Silver said there's a world in which they only expanded one city. They could expand to two, they could expand to none. I took his comments when he was asked that question basically as the only way we want to spend is if we don't get the number, or if world events happen, you know, the planet gets hit by an asteroid, or you know, the people who could the other way.
00:02:12
Speaker 2: I took it the people, the super rich people who can afford to make these bids if.
00:02:18
Speaker 3: Something happens to where their business is altered away which they can no longer afford to do such a thing.
00:02:22
Speaker 2: Right, But I'm optimistic.
00:02:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I guess I guess my follow up would be, and this is you and I just obviously just kind of, you know, exchanging thoughts back and forth here, Alex. Why would the NBA open up the bidding process unless they really felt comfortable that the number they were looking for was out there to go get.
00:02:44
Speaker 3: That's exactly where you and I are the same thought. I do not think this happens if they don't think they can get the number.
00:02:50
Speaker 2: You know, Adam Silbers talked about this for years.
00:02:53
Speaker 3: I'm not a Seattle resident, obviously, one of my best friends just moved there. But you know, I think that just as David Stern part of his legacy was taking the Sonics away from Seattle, I think if this didn't happen, part of Adam Suber's legacy would be teasing the city of Seattle and bringing the Sonics back, right, And that's why I think that he wouldn't be doing all this if he didn't think it was gonna happen. So I'm fairly optimistic. I think some of his comments were basically a hedging of I can't predict the future.
00:03:23
Speaker 1: Right right, Yeah, give themselves an out in case something wacky happens. But Alex Schiffer front off of Sports again covers the NBA and other stories for them, is with us on the radio show. And I guess the other question is, and you know we talked about multiple bids, right, like we've all thought since this began. And Alex, I know that you know this how well regarded Todd LWICKI is in Seattle. I mean the guy fired Jim Mora after one year when he was the president of the Seahawks and hired Pete Carroll and three years later they won a Super Bowl. He was massively important and getting climate Pledge Arena built. He brought hockey to Seattle, and now he's about to bring potentially the NBA back to town. But there might be somebody else out there that also wants to make an offer on the team. And it doesn't have to be somebody who's paced in Seattle either. I mean, we got a guy that owns that used on the Carolina Hurricanes or does on the Hurricanes that's buying the Blazers. So when you hear the words multiple bids, what is your gut tell you where those other bids may be coming from.
00:04:26
Speaker 3: You know, it's a great question because there was like that you mentioned the Trailblazer sale.
00:04:31
Speaker 2: I've covered that extensively.
00:04:33
Speaker 3: Too, and the initial list and I'm sorry, I'm gonna forget some of the names, but like you know, when the team went up for sale, Phil Knight took his name out of it immediately. Obviously he was a local guy who had money. And you know, I remember another name who came up was I think the guy who like owns Columbia sportswear, and you know, you do some digging on that. Then it seemed like he was never really that much of a player. So you know, obviously you look in the backyard and you think about Jeff Bezos and some of the Microsoft executives, and you know, Steve Balmer obviously has the Clippers, but someone of his ilk or background with that kind of wealth. You know, I think about those types of people. But to your point, you know, and obviously Samarica Holloway, the crack and owner, has long been raising your hand that she's gonna put a bit in. But in terms of finding other people, to your point, it's very random. And I think the other thing is is that it's obviously the NBA's best interests have multiple bids, right, because they.
00:05:29
Speaker 2: Drive the price up for each other.
00:05:31
Speaker 3: But you know, Adam Silver himself has said that these prices are going so high, these valuations, that.
00:05:36
Speaker 2: A lot of people can't afford them.
00:05:38
Speaker 3: And you're looking at the Celtics, the Trailblazers, these sales that are now multifaceted.
00:05:42
Speaker 2: Because they can't get the money all at once.
00:05:44
Speaker 3: So I think that, you know, multiple bids is a good thing for the league. But and again I don't know a lot of rich people, Dame. So that's the other problem is that I'm not well sourced in the billionaire world. But I think that getting one bid that meets the price would be enough for the NBA instead of both to kind of drive it up.
00:06:05
Speaker 2: And again, just when.
00:06:06
Speaker 3: You're talking about that kind of money, I don't know how many you can find, and obviously private equity can help to an extent with an NBA rules, But but yeah, I have you know, I know, you know I talked about Samantha how I know, Ken Griffy Junior has raised his hand before about happy to take a piece, you know, Sean Kempngary Payton, Legendary Sonics. Those guys, Yeah, didn't make the money that current players have, but maybe they have some friends too, So it's right. You know, I could find a way to get you know, if I really sat down and took my business minor with my journalism major and and did the homework, I could probably find a way to get to that number with a group of people, but multiple groups of people with that kind of money.
00:06:44
Speaker 2: You know, we're talking, We're talking.
00:06:47
Speaker 3: I'm trying to do some quick math as to how many figures ten billion would be. But my point is you need a lot of money, a lot of money, and a lot of people.
00:06:54
Speaker 2: To some of those figures.
00:06:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I can tell you it's six hundred and sixty six million when it's divided by thirty. By the way, so if you got thirty people that are buying the team, you're asking them to come up with well over six hundred million dollars a pop to do this thing. But Alex Schiffer, again front off of Sports, was at the Saint Regis Hotel in New York for the announcement. Today. Adam Silver was asked about a timeline, and you got to remember, we are very antsy here in Seattle. We've been waiting eighteen years for this man. For God's sakes, when Chris Hansen, and you may have been too young to remember this, Chris Hansen had an agreement to buy the Sacramento Kings from the maloof Brothers in twenty eleven and was shot down by David Stern. Instead, he went and got a minority owner from the Warriors to buy the team and keep it in Sacramento. So we've been antsy ever since that day to get this done. We were told today by Silver that he wants to know by the end of the calendar year what they're doing. I mean that's nine months, that's eight months from now. Do you think it'll be eight months or will we know a lot sooner.
00:07:56
Speaker 3: I think it will be within that calendar range by the end of the calends of a year.
00:08:01
Speaker 2: I don't think it's coincidence that the NBA picked these two cities for a couple of reasons.
00:08:05
Speaker 3: You know, I've covered the NBA prospective league in Europe, and all Adam Silver has talked about when he brings up the European League is that the arenas in Europe for basketball.
00:08:16
Speaker 2: Are not nearly where they are in the United States. When it comes to infrastructure. You mentioned Climate Pledge. I've been there.
00:08:22
Speaker 3: It has NBA locker rooms ready to be renovated, and obviously Vegas has the T Mobile Center and the arena the Aces play at attachmentally.
00:08:30
Speaker 2: Bayham blanked out of its exact name. The infrastructure is here to move right, really.
00:08:36
Speaker 3: If as not, as you are going to say the Climate Pledge again, all you really need is a practice.
00:08:40
Speaker 2: Facility, right And I am old enough to.
00:08:43
Speaker 3: Know that they never really had one Dave and another practice the University Seattle and at Key Arena before was renovated. So I think that really that's all you need from an infrastructure standpoint.
00:08:54
Speaker 2: And that allows you to move quickly, and you can.
00:08:56
Speaker 3: Build a practice facility quicker than you can build a basketball arena. So I think twenty twenty eight, twenty twenty nine is reasonable for these cities. If we were talking about a secret doesn't have an NBA ready arena, we have a completely different conversation right now.
00:09:11
Speaker 1: No no doubt. And by the way, the old Sonic practice facility, which is east of what is now Climate Pledge Arena, is now the headquarters of the Gates Foundation, so that that area is now obviously gone the crack and have a practice facility up in Northgate about what five six seven miles north whatever it is of Seattle, So there's a thought that maybe they could go there and just make that the entire headquarters for the One Roof Foundation. All right, listen, Alex, great stuff. I appreciate this. It's fun to meet you over the phone. I'm sure we'll see you in person very soon, and I'm sure we'll be talking a lot with this. This story going to be hanging around for a while. So thanks for doing this.
00:09:48
Speaker 2: Man, absolutely, thank you for having me.
00:09:51
Speaker 1: Man you bet Alex Schiffer from Front Office Sports follow him on Twitter or x as the kids like to say at Alex Underscore Shiffer on Twitter. We're gonna break big day right here On ninety three three kJ RFM,
Speaker 1: All right, we're back on a busy Wednesday right here on ninety three three KJARFM and a big day. Not not surprising the news that came down today, I think from Adam Silver and the NBA, but nonetheless still pretty exciting for Sonic fans to know that the expansion process has officially begun. Of looking for bids and looking to see if it's worth it for the NBA to expand by one or maybe two more pieces of pie. And a guy that covers all of this for Front Off of Sports, Alex Schiffer, is with us right now on the Beacon Plumbing Hotline on ninety three to three KJARFM here in Seattle. Alex, how are you man?
00:00:37
Speaker 2: I'm good. Thank you for having me well.
00:00:38
Speaker 1: I appreciate you doing this. So why don't we, first of all, before we get into some detail here, put this into moron terms, which is basically for my benefit, because I'm a moron. All right, let's just dumb this down as much as we can. What should basketball fans know in Seattle about what happened today and about what the commissioner had to say in New York City?
00:01:01
Speaker 2: Yes, basically, the NBA's Board of governors today otherwise known as.
00:01:05
Speaker 3: The owners, voted approval for the NBA to seek expansion business Seattle at Las Vegas.
00:01:12
Speaker 2: So basically, if.
00:01:14
Speaker 3: The Sonists were an eBay item and the NBA wanted to hit a certain price, you know, you ever have the buyer's.
00:01:19
Speaker 2: Minimum when you look for something on eBay.
00:01:21
Speaker 3: The item is on eBay now, and it's gonna come down to who bids and can to get to the number of the NBA wants.
00:01:26
Speaker 1: Right, Okay, So that's a great that's a great analogy, great way to put it. So how likely is it that the NBA gets the number they're looking for? How likely is it that they don't get the number they're looking for and they just pull that item off eBay and just take it back home.
00:01:43
Speaker 2: I think that's the question. I think the NBA wouldn't be.
00:01:46
Speaker 3: Doing all this and didn't feel confident they could.
00:01:48
Speaker 2: Get the number.
00:01:49
Speaker 3: You know, Adam Silver said there's a world in which they only expanded one city. They could expand to two, they could expand to none. I took his comments when he was asked that question basically as the only way we want to spend is if we don't get the number, or if world events happen, you know, the planet gets hit by an asteroid, or you know, the people who could the other way.
00:02:12
Speaker 2: I took it the people, the super rich people who can afford to make these bids if.
00:02:18
Speaker 3: Something happens to where their business is altered away which they can no longer afford to do such a thing.
00:02:22
Speaker 2: Right, But I'm optimistic.
00:02:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I guess I guess my follow up would be, and this is you and I just obviously just kind of, you know, exchanging thoughts back and forth here, Alex. Why would the NBA open up the bidding process unless they really felt comfortable that the number they were looking for was out there to go get.
00:02:44
Speaker 3: That's exactly where you and I are the same thought. I do not think this happens if they don't think they can get the number.
00:02:50
Speaker 2: You know, Adam Silbers talked about this for years.
00:02:53
Speaker 3: I'm not a Seattle resident, obviously, one of my best friends just moved there. But you know, I think that just as David Stern part of his legacy was taking the Sonics away from Seattle, I think if this didn't happen, part of Adam Suber's legacy would be teasing the city of Seattle and bringing the Sonics back, right, And that's why I think that he wouldn't be doing all this if he didn't think it was gonna happen. So I'm fairly optimistic. I think some of his comments were basically a hedging of I can't predict the future.
00:03:23
Speaker 1: Right right, Yeah, give themselves an out in case something wacky happens. But Alex Schiffer front off of Sports again covers the NBA and other stories for them, is with us on the radio show. And I guess the other question is, and you know we talked about multiple bids, right, like we've all thought since this began. And Alex, I know that you know this how well regarded Todd LWICKI is in Seattle. I mean the guy fired Jim Mora after one year when he was the president of the Seahawks and hired Pete Carroll and three years later they won a Super Bowl. He was massively important and getting climate Pledge Arena built. He brought hockey to Seattle, and now he's about to bring potentially the NBA back to town. But there might be somebody else out there that also wants to make an offer on the team. And it doesn't have to be somebody who's paced in Seattle either. I mean, we got a guy that owns that used on the Carolina Hurricanes or does on the Hurricanes that's buying the Blazers. So when you hear the words multiple bids, what is your gut tell you where those other bids may be coming from.
00:04:26
Speaker 3: You know, it's a great question because there was like that you mentioned the Trailblazer sale.
00:04:31
Speaker 2: I've covered that extensively.
00:04:33
Speaker 3: Too, and the initial list and I'm sorry, I'm gonna forget some of the names, but like you know, when the team went up for sale, Phil Knight took his name out of it immediately. Obviously he was a local guy who had money. And you know, I remember another name who came up was I think the guy who like owns Columbia sportswear, and you know, you do some digging on that. Then it seemed like he was never really that much of a player. So you know, obviously you look in the backyard and you think about Jeff Bezos and some of the Microsoft executives, and you know, Steve Balmer obviously has the Clippers, but someone of his ilk or background with that kind of wealth. You know, I think about those types of people. But to your point, you know, and obviously Samarica Holloway, the crack and owner, has long been raising your hand that she's gonna put a bit in. But in terms of finding other people, to your point, it's very random. And I think the other thing is is that it's obviously the NBA's best interests have multiple bids, right, because they.
00:05:29
Speaker 2: Drive the price up for each other.
00:05:31
Speaker 3: But you know, Adam Silver himself has said that these prices are going so high, these valuations, that.
00:05:36
Speaker 2: A lot of people can't afford them.
00:05:38
Speaker 3: And you're looking at the Celtics, the Trailblazers, these sales that are now multifaceted.
00:05:42
Speaker 2: Because they can't get the money all at once.
00:05:44
Speaker 3: So I think that, you know, multiple bids is a good thing for the league. But and again I don't know a lot of rich people, Dame. So that's the other problem is that I'm not well sourced in the billionaire world. But I think that getting one bid that meets the price would be enough for the NBA instead of both to kind of drive it up.
00:06:05
Speaker 2: And again, just when.
00:06:06
Speaker 3: You're talking about that kind of money, I don't know how many you can find, and obviously private equity can help to an extent with an NBA rules, But but yeah, I have you know, I know, you know I talked about Samantha how I know, Ken Griffy Junior has raised his hand before about happy to take a piece, you know, Sean Kempngary Payton, Legendary Sonics. Those guys, Yeah, didn't make the money that current players have, but maybe they have some friends too, So it's right. You know, I could find a way to get you know, if I really sat down and took my business minor with my journalism major and and did the homework, I could probably find a way to get to that number with a group of people, but multiple groups of people with that kind of money.
00:06:44
Speaker 2: You know, we're talking, We're talking.
00:06:47
Speaker 3: I'm trying to do some quick math as to how many figures ten billion would be. But my point is you need a lot of money, a lot of money, and a lot of people.
00:06:54
Speaker 2: To some of those figures.
00:06:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I can tell you it's six hundred and sixty six million when it's divided by thirty. By the way, so if you got thirty people that are buying the team, you're asking them to come up with well over six hundred million dollars a pop to do this thing. But Alex Schiffer, again front off of Sports, was at the Saint Regis Hotel in New York for the announcement. Today. Adam Silver was asked about a timeline, and you got to remember, we are very antsy here in Seattle. We've been waiting eighteen years for this man. For God's sakes, when Chris Hansen, and you may have been too young to remember this, Chris Hansen had an agreement to buy the Sacramento Kings from the maloof Brothers in twenty eleven and was shot down by David Stern. Instead, he went and got a minority owner from the Warriors to buy the team and keep it in Sacramento. So we've been antsy ever since that day to get this done. We were told today by Silver that he wants to know by the end of the calendar year what they're doing. I mean that's nine months, that's eight months from now. Do you think it'll be eight months or will we know a lot sooner.
00:07:56
Speaker 3: I think it will be within that calendar range by the end of the calends of a year.
00:08:01
Speaker 2: I don't think it's coincidence that the NBA picked these two cities for a couple of reasons.
00:08:05
Speaker 3: You know, I've covered the NBA prospective league in Europe, and all Adam Silver has talked about when he brings up the European League is that the arenas in Europe for basketball.
00:08:16
Speaker 2: Are not nearly where they are in the United States. When it comes to infrastructure. You mentioned Climate Pledge. I've been there.
00:08:22
Speaker 3: It has NBA locker rooms ready to be renovated, and obviously Vegas has the T Mobile Center and the arena the Aces play at attachmentally.
00:08:30
Speaker 2: Bayham blanked out of its exact name. The infrastructure is here to move right, really.
00:08:36
Speaker 3: If as not, as you are going to say the Climate Pledge again, all you really need is a practice.
00:08:40
Speaker 2: Facility, right And I am old enough to.
00:08:43
Speaker 3: Know that they never really had one Dave and another practice the University Seattle and at Key Arena before was renovated. So I think that really that's all you need from an infrastructure standpoint.
00:08:54
Speaker 2: And that allows you to move quickly, and you can.
00:08:56
Speaker 3: Build a practice facility quicker than you can build a basketball arena. So I think twenty twenty eight, twenty twenty nine is reasonable for these cities. If we were talking about a secret doesn't have an NBA ready arena, we have a completely different conversation right now.
00:09:11
Speaker 1: No no doubt. And by the way, the old Sonic practice facility, which is east of what is now Climate Pledge Arena, is now the headquarters of the Gates Foundation, so that that area is now obviously gone the crack and have a practice facility up in Northgate about what five six seven miles north whatever it is of Seattle, So there's a thought that maybe they could go there and just make that the entire headquarters for the One Roof Foundation. All right, listen, Alex, great stuff. I appreciate this. It's fun to meet you over the phone. I'm sure we'll see you in person very soon, and I'm sure we'll be talking a lot with this. This story going to be hanging around for a while. So thanks for doing this.
00:09:48
Speaker 2: Man, absolutely, thank you for having me.
00:09:51
Speaker 1: Man you bet Alex Schiffer from Front Office Sports follow him on Twitter or x as the kids like to say at Alex Underscore Shiffer on Twitter. We're gonna break big day right here On ninety three three kJ RFM,
