Ten years ago this August, LeBron James first publicly declared his interest in owning an NBA team. And nearly four years ago, he said he wanted his team to be in Las Vegas.
With the league set to take a big step next week toward placing teams in both Las Vegas and Seattle, James’ decade-long dream is dwindling.
Fenway Sports Group, James’ business partner since 2011 that owns both the Boston Red Sox and English Premier League soccer giant Liverpool, is not currently interested in pursuing the likely expansion opportunity in Las Vegas, two sources with direct knowledge of the firm’s intentions told The Athletic. One of those sources, who was not authorized to speak publicly for Fenway, said the global sports investment firm was out on NBA ownership in Las Vegas because of the expected cost — the league is reportedly seeking expansion fees as high as $8 billion per team.
FSG was long expected to be James’ primary financial backer in his stated desire to be an NBA team owner, and because of that, a source close to James said, “With Fenway no longer pursuing NBA ownership, it is less likely that LeBron will pursue a team.”
A spokesperson for FSG declined to comment to The Athletic.
James, 41, who still stars for the Los Angeles Lakers as a player, is worth $1.4 billion as of Wednesday, according to Forbes. But his personal worth is not nearly high enough to cover the cost of the expansion fee, and he was always going to need to join a team of investors to make his bid come true.
He has relationships with wealthy business owners and conglomerates beyond FSG. For instance, LeBron made a trip to Saudi Arabia in 2023, where he was the guest of the country’s Ministry of Sport, a collaborative partner of the Saudi Public Investment Fund. But current NBA rules do not allow sovereign wealth funds to own more than 20 percent of a team.
As an aside, James would first need to retire to launch a bid for team ownership. He is undecided if he will play in 2026-27, and with the NBA reportedly eyeing the fall of 2028 as a potential launch for the new teams (if the NBA ultimately approves expansion), the timeline would either be very tight or impossible for James to find new investment partners and submit a bid.
On Aug. 17, 2016, James sat for an interview on the “Open Run” podcast, which belonged to the digital media platform he owns called Uninterrupted, and said to the show hosts, “My dream is to actually own a team.” Nearly a year later, in an interview with The Athletic, James said, “Why do I want to own a team? I think it’ll be cool. I’ll stay part of the game and still be able to put people in positions of power. I’ve always loved that, putting people in a position of power to feel like they can make a change and make things happen.”
In 2019, he told reporters, “ain’t no maybe about it, I’m going to do that s—” and in June 2022, he said on his long-running TV and digital show, “The Shop,” that “I want a team in Vegas. I want the team in Vegas.”
But FSG was always a part of his grand plan for NBA ownership, and it seems it could take a change of heart by the firm, or a rule change by the league, for his plan to move forward.
The partnership with FSG is one of James’s most prominent investments and relationships in sports. He is an equity stakeholder in FSG and has a far-reaching relationship with the investment firm. They have worked together since 2011, when Fenway Sports struck a deal with James’ management company LRMR Ventures on a global marketing and sponsorship deal that included a 2 percent ownership stake for James in Liverpool.
James joined FSG as a partner in 2021 and took a 1 percent stake in the firm, which gave him a partial ownership stake in the Red Sox and Roush Fenway Racing, as well as other Fenway Sports Group properties. Maverick Carter, James’ longtime friend and business partner, is also a partner in the firm. They received more equity in FSG in early 2023, the firm said.
Fenway was founded and run by John Henry, the Red Sox owner. The company’s chairman is Tom Werner, an acclaimed television producer and businessman who had a business relationship with Paul Wachter, who is James’ financial adviser. RedBird Capital bought a share of FSG in 2021 and valued the company at $7.35 billion. RedBird is one of the controlling shareholders of Paramount, was an architect of the acquisition of WBD and is one of the largest holders of sports media rights. Fenway owns numerous sports properties beyond the Red Sox and Liverpool, and it had owned the Pittsburgh Penguins until it sold the NHL club this year at a valuation of roughly $1.7 billion.
As for the NBA’s process, team governors will vote during a March 25 meeting on whether to give the NBA the green light to formally evaluate Las Vegas and Seattle as potential expansion markets, The Athletic and other outlets reported Monday.
If, as expected, the motion passes, commissioner Adam Silver’s office would solicit formal bids from prospective ownership groups, study them, and make final proposals to the existing league owners for approval. Expansion would ultimately need to be approved by a vote of 23 of the league’s 30 team owners.
NBA franchise values have leapt significantly over the last half-decade. Several years ago, sports financiers and investors estimated that a new NBA franchise could fetch $5 billion, but that was before the Boston Celtics sold for $6.1 billion and the Los Angeles Lakers were bought for $10 billion.