Speaking to summarise the Board of Governors' meeting over the weekend in Vancouver, Stern also addressed the proposed sale of the Vancouver Grizzlies, the NBA's plans for a developmental league and the pitfalls of the league's new drug programme.
One day before the NBA was to tip off its 54th season, Stern said that "no expansion is currently planned or on the horizon" for a league less than a year removed from its first significant work stoppage. Although Stern did not want to discuss the specter of teams leaving cities - "I would rather focus on the honey than the fly swatter," he said - he did admit there are some potentially comfortable landing sites.
The commissioner mentioned Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee; Anaheim, California; and Louisville, Kentucky, all of which have new or recently remodeled arenas.
He also discussed the gambling capital of Las Vegas as a possible home for an NBA team and has had discussions with Mayor Oscar Goodman, who has plans to build a facility in hopes of luring a pro sports team.
"We're aware of the state-of-the-art facility in Anaheim and the mayor of Las Vegas has undertaken a campaign to build a state-of-the-art facility there," Stern said. "There's no shortage of cities."
The sale of the Grizzlies to St. Louis businessman Bill Laurie was not presented by the finance committee for a vote this weekend. There is growing concern among the residents of Vancouver that the Grizzlies, who entered the NBA in 1995, will be moved to St. Louis by Laurie, the chairman of Wal-Mart who also owns the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues and the Kiel Centre.
"The way the deal was structured and the incentives that were contained, the finance committee did not want to submit it to the board," Stern said. "Ideally, we want to see franchises succeed where they are."
Reuters
