Local group searching for "team of billionaires" to bring NBA back to Vancouver
Anyone know a billionaire with $200 million to spare? How about 15 of them?
An ambitious group of local basketball enthusiasts have a new idea for bringing an NBA team back to Vancouver. Spearheaded by Vancity Original and Canadian creative agency Zulu Alpha Kilo, the group is attempting to assemble its own “team of billionaires.”
The group calls itself “Vanback” and is looking for 15 people that can pledge $200 million each towards a future NBA team. If 15 potential investors can pledge that amount of money, it would add up to $3 billion, which is “roughly the average valuation of an NBA team,” the group said in a media release.
“We’re hoping this initiative will help get Vancouver back on the radar as the perfect city for a future team,” said Vancity Original founder Jeff Martin. “We’ve got the fans. We just need some billionaires to help us out.”
Vancouver has been without an NBA team since 2001 when the Grizzlies moved to Memphis after just six seasons.
“We want to contribute to the city,” said Zak Mroueh, founder and creative chairman of Zulu Alpha Kilo. “We’ve seen how basketball culture has grown with the Raptors’ success and think Vancouver deserves that shot again too. It’d be amazing for the city and Canada to have two teams up north.”
Not surprisingly, Kat Jayme is on board.
“Let’s get it done,” said the writer and director of The Grizzlie Truth and Finding Big Country. “Let’s help bring back an NBA team to Vancouver. Go Grizzlies!”
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The NBA is considering expansion, with commissioner Adam Silver admitting earlier this month that markets in Canada have shown interest. Seattle and Las Vegas appear to be the frontrunners, though.
A report from 2017 suggested that Vancouver was one of five cities shortlisted by the NBA, along with Seattle, Las Vegas, Mexico City, and Louisville.
The No. 1 billionaire that needs to get on board if a team is ever to return to Vancouver is Francesco Aquilini, given his family owns Rogers Arena. The Canucks owner was rumoured to have interest in bringing an NBA team to town in the past, reportedly expressing interest in the New Orleans Hornets before they were sold in 2011.
But the price of an NBA franchise has exploded since then, and in 2018, Aquilini admitted that a team would be too rich for his wallet.
“We’ve got a building, it’s plug and play. We still have the hoops. We still have the floor. Everything’s there. The locker room and everything is there. We’ve discussed it,” Aquilini said in an interview with Sportsnet 650 in 2018.
“Right now the entry cost is prohibitive because it’s up to two billion [dollars] now,” Aquilini said. “Five years ago it was like $300 million, $350 million.”
The Phoenix Suns sold for a record $4 billion last year.
Maybe we’ll need 16 billionaires.
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