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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The NBA is flirting with the idea of adding two expansion franchises. Kansas City is on a list of possible sites. 

Late last year, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was vocal on social media about temporarily housing the Toronto Raptors this season. So it’s no surprise that Mahomes tweeted a smiley face emoji in response to news of the possible league expansion. 

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and other local leaders also expressed their excitement in possibly adding another professional sports team.

“We have the perfect venue for it when you think of T-Mobile Center being built to house both a NBA and NHL team. The venue is exception,” Kansas City Sports Commission President and CEO Kathy Nelson said. 

Kansas City was previously an NBA city, hosting the Kings until 1985, but bringing professional basketball back to could come at a steep price.

According to reports, the NBA is asking for $2.5 billion per expansion team. 

“It’s got to be somebody who has money in their back pocket and has money to lose because it’d be difficult for an expansion team to be a winning successful team those first few years,” Nelson said.

Nelson told FOX4 that Kansas City’s market size should also be taken into consideration. Could there potentially be 18,000 NBA season ticket holders?

“Even though people would travel, point to the success of the Oklahoma City Thunder. They do not have the Chiefs, the Royals, Sporting KC,” Nelson said. 

The NBA lost billions of dollars in revenue in 2020 because of coronavirus restrictions. Now the league is hoping this expansion will help with money problems.