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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Think Big makes Sacramento look small
by Rhonda Erwin, published on August 23, 2012 at 12:25 PM
Storyline: City Agenda's
Tuesday August 21, 2012 My retired uncle and his retired best friend went to Arco Arena to purchase their half season Kings tickets.
They were in the first group. They walked on the floor choosing their seats and glad to be in a position to support Sacramento and the Kings. They spent a little over $700.00 each to purchase the upstairs half season tickets.
Today, after reading, Inside Business, The Hampton Business Journal’s article, ‘Sources: Sacramento Kings may move to Virginia Beach, arena deal in the works’ I phoned my uncle asking him how he felt of the Kings leaving to Virginia Beach.
Shocked, my uncle stated “They never told us of the proposed plans. If so I would not have purchased the tickets.”
My uncle realizes the move will be after the season however he insists he would not have supported or bought the tickets had he known the Kings were expected to announce today they would leave for Virginia Beach.
Learning of the proposed move to Virginia Beach concerned my uncle. However, what concerned me even more was the perception Virginia Beach, ESPN and USA Today readers have regarding our Sacramento Mayor and “Think Big, the committee formed by Johnson to retain the Kings”
Surely we want a leader to put Sacramento on the map. But one would hope Sacramento will be considered a trustworthy business city and not one considered untrustworthy and associated with fraud. Below are highlights of the article:
“Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento and a former NBA standout, has tried to keep the Kings in his city. The Maloofs have said they no longer trust Johnson and don’t want to work with him, according to ESPN in April, prior to the deal collapsing.
“You can’t do a deal with somebody you don’t trust,” George Maloof Jr. said, according to The Sacramento Bee. “I don’t trust him.”
Amid negotiations over the new entertainment complex in Sacramento, elected officials representing the city criticized the Maloofs, saying they’ve turned their backs on the city late in the game, the ESPN article said.
Chris Lehane, executive director of Think Big, the committee formed by Johnson to retain the Kings, compared dealing with the Maloofs to dealing with one of the world’s most inscrutable and widely criticized governments. Lehane, who stepped down from his position in June, at one point, asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the Maloof brothers, according to a USA Today report.
Eric W. Rose, the Maloofs’ spokesman, said: “It is becoming clearer that the foundation of Think Big is built on fabrication and deception. The name of the organization should be changed to Think Big Fraud,” the USA Today article said.
http://insidebiz.com/news/sources-sacramento-kings-may-move-virginia-beach-arena-deal-works
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http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/23/4751629/report-sacramento-kings-may-move.html#storylink=omni_popular
Also, my guess is- Johnson will be given a pass- when he again runs for office I bet we wil not see the quotes, "I don't trust him" or "You can't do a deal with someone you don't trust" mailed to the homes of city residents from the 'Better Sacramento Political Action Committee" - as we seen on the misleading dishonest flyers regarding Councilwoman Pannell that was endorsed by Johnson.
Perhaps if Johnson came back from one of his trips with plans on how to maintain a successful profit margin with a new arena instead of putting the cart before the horse with a quick fix of finding money to build a new arena the Maloofs would have seen a city with a vision/ possible profit margin. Heck, if they simply wanted a new arena they could have went to their millionaire friends/ investors and built one. Seems to me, they wanted to profit. I think the problem was some of us were thinking more highly of the Kings (bringing us a profit) than the Kings were thinking of themselves (since they probably didn’t profit as much as they’d like) Heck Yes, I have followed the story in fact since Chris Weber complained of the lack of night life and wanting to leave Sacramento. Seems we needed to do more than build a new arena to keep the kings and players wanting to be in Sac.
The Maloof’s are business men. Why would they want to throw good money after bad. I didn’t imply Johnson didn’t try and make a deal with the Maloofs. I’m implying he had no vision and failed to see the forest through the trees. I’m also suggesting he tried to use forceful tactics especially when the Kings threatened to go to Anaheim. He was not peaceful… Have you followed the story? Heck, the Maloofs are probably silent now due to the Anaheim city council tactics we used trying to force them to stay and don't want the same childish tantrum one-sided display during the Virginia Beach session next week. I’m not a fan of the Maloofs and I’m not that much of a Kings Fan. But I don't think we can throw this loss / bad deal solely on the laps of the Maloofs I think we- including Mayor Johnson and Think Big, have to be accountable for our actions, inactions and reactions as well. Johnson doesn't and has never lacked communication skills but it appears in this as well as youth violence he lacks a vision. And that usually is the case when a person is self absorbed ego driven and doesn't see others as much as they see themselves and attempts to have their way to make themselves look good by any means necessary including strong-arming folks. Again, just my opinion
Shady business people being shady shocker - news at 11.
Please please please let this move be true.
But if faced with a position of choosing the lessor of two evils and Sac being one; it‘d be nice to be able to say we're the city where integrity matters...and not one who had a team but did not turn a profit, could not get a new arena, could not keep the previous team from leaving, did not have players complaining of lack of nightlife, were not labeled untrustworthy and deceitful from other team owners.... Heck, the NBA will go where the money is- shady or not- but Sacramento wasn't bringing in the numbers to fill the old arena and allow people to keep their jobs. I feel we could have at least maintain integrity if we could not maintain the team. Perhaps another team would see our strengths-- the fans (and integrity if he showed it) -- in the midst of so many weaknesses (deception to keep the team)
Oh.. btw leave a cashiers check for the $70 mil you owe us on the nightstand when you leave..
Also, I don't think Virginia Beach is willing to turn over all sources of income to the Maloofs. In fact, sounds like Virginia Beach has lined all their ducks in a row and I might add- impressively- I don't see how their city is losing since "media giant Comcast will guarantee a 25-year lease on a new arena, supposedly for naming rights and for broadcasting the games, sources said. Comcast owns NBC and Global Spectrum, which operates arenas and stadiums across the country including the Ted Constant Convocation Center at Old Dominion University. To finance the arena, the Virginia Beach Hotel-Motel Association has indicated it would support a $1 hike in the lodging tax, sources said. In addition, the Atlantic Coast Conference has agreed to place Virginia Beach on its list as a future venue for college ACC conference tournaments. A well-known concert promoter – Live Nation – is associated with the deal for the new arena and the team’s relocation to Virginia Beach. The new arena will be built across from the Virginia Beach Convention Center, adjacent to the former Norfolk Southern Corp. rail track and a proposed site for a light rail station. “Comcast, Live Nation and Global Spectrum have come to the city,” Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms said. “They would guarantee us a professional sports team" if the deal goes through. He said the arena would draw people to the area year-round...a related project, a multi-star convention center hotel, “would probably be built by owners of the team.”
When you write on the mayor, its obvious to you have a bone to pick. As a result, on mayoral topics, your credibility is suspect. On this topic, the integity of the mayor versus the integrity of the Maloofs in securing a new sports and entertainment center, you're painfully out of touch. Again, IMO.
News Plurk United States News & Search Aggregator. http://sports.newsplurk.com/2012/08/sacramento-kings-owner-refutes-move-to.html I'd say many are watching more than Virginia but watching us as well.
Kings fans know the future of the team in Sacramento is highly uncertain, yet true fans are going to support the team until the very end. No offense to your uncle but what is he doing spending that kind of money on tickets if he would now not do it knowing this could be the last season of NBA basketball in Sacramento? Was he not aware of what has been going on in Sacramento over the last two years with regard to the Kings? It has been tough to not talk Kings basketball without bringing up the topic of the move or a new arena. In fact, those topics have been hotter than the team itself since the team is not winning at the present time.
I realize the quotes used in the insidebiz article are a few months old. My concern is with them revisiting it and spreading it further. While the article is a few months old the quotes are within the current news traffic. And to my knowledge the Maloofs are not suggesting, mentioning or stating they now trust our mayor. I recall Johnson on the news at the airport returning from one of his many out of town visits commenting to reporters on this issue back in April. I also read the Think Big 1) History of the Deal, 2) Effort to Re-negotiate the deal 3) next steps which was signed by Chris Lebane and it quite honestly sounded word for word like a Johnson speech... In fact after reading it I felt since Johnson couldn’t get a strong mayor initiative/ charter change/ be king of the kingdom heck he learned to Think Big- lol proceed on his own- away from council- by developing a non profit to do things the way he wants w/out pre-approval from council. A Mayor, strategizing under the umbrella of a non profit...lol is quite the sly fox.