Last week NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced Las Vegas and Seattle as expansion teams. “Today’s vote reflects our Board’s interest in exploring potential expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle – two markets with a long history of support for NBA basketball,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “We look forward to taking this next step and engaging with interested parties.”
Fast forward a week and interested parties have already come up with a name and design for the future ballers that will bring Las Vegas an NBA Championship: The Vegas Fees. A controversial name, if you ask me.
The Team Name Spins More than a Basketball
An anonymous source who works for a prominent tourism and conventions firm in Las Vegas said to me “Las Vegas has gotten a bad, yet accurate, rap for it’s fees. We plan to spin that narrative in a way that makes Vegas fees a positive thing for the community and visitors alike.”
Having heard that, I had to ask more. Why should the Vegas Fees be the name? What does that have to do with anything from a sports perspective? Here’s what they said “When you think about the many kind of fees in Las Vegas, and people’s experience with them, at first it’s a shock. When they get used to it, another new fee comes up. That is not only diligence but also the art of surprise. So we tie that into the lore of a team name. Vegas fees are unapologetic, unexpected, and unwaived. As are fees, so are The Vegas Fees. That’s the kind of impression we want the sports world to have about our NBA team. They can come out of no where, they aren’t going any where, and they have no regrets! Also, it’s double-speak, Orwell would be proud.”
Home uniform on the left, away uniform on the right.
Where Will They Play?
I heard MGM is interested. When I asked a friend who works for Caesars Entertainment (MGM’s competitor) what their thoughts were about the Vegas Fees, they only replied “This is what our guests have been asking for” while purposely avoiding eye contact and then she hurried off.
MGM has a strong interest in hosting the future Las Vegas team, “T-Mobile Arena was built for basketball and hockey,” MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle said on social media and in a news release from the company. “Our long-standing relationship with the League is a positive one that stretches back many years, and we would welcome the opportunity to work with the NBA on creating an unforgettable fan experience.”
That decision falls on which ownership team wins the bidding process.
Images provided by: April Fools
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