Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "maloofs"

Inconsistent play keeps Kings winless after reported sale

2013-01-27T22:15:06Z

The Sacramento Kings remain winless since Monday when reports came out that the Sacramento Kings owners have entered a “binding agreement” with an equity group from Seattle that would send the team up to the Pacific Northwest.

Ironically, the Kings fell to Seattle’s former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder 105-95 at Sleep Train Arena to extend their losing streak to three games.

Players were reportedly distracted by the news on Monday as they attempted to practice, and that distraction may have carried over into the games this week.

Kings forward Jason Thompson has been with the team for five seasons now and this isn’t the first time he’s dealt with possible relocation, though it is the first time he’s seen the team actually sold. Thompson does admit that the Maloofs' business can be distracting at times.

“It is tough, every time you might have an appearance, it’s tough when people are always asking you, thinking that we are the reason and we want to move,” Thompson said. “Obviously we want to stay here and we love this city, it’s a tough city. Every year I’ve been here they’ve talked about us moving, from Anaheim to Virginia Beach.”

Kings head coach Keith Smart maintains that the losses are not a result of the team’s sale being a distraction, but merely a result of inconsistent play from his young team. Much of the Kings’ struggles this year have stemmed from the inability to maintain the same kind of ball movement and energy throughout a game.

“I thought we played a really good half of basketball the first half, except about three minutes of the first half,” Smart said following the game. “Just closing the quarter, it came down to the tail-end of each quarter, we didn’t close those the right way and you can’t make those mistakes. But I thought our guys did a good job but obviously came out very, very flat and turnover prone in the third quarter, and that’s where the game made a big turn in the third quarter.”

The Kings got off to a quick 23-9 lead against the Thunder, but then struggled in the third quarter as the game quickly got out of hand and the Thunder ran away with the win.

“We had so many miscues in that third quarter to start the third quarter,” Smart said. “I think if we could have capitalized on a couple of those points, I mean, you’re down seven points and you don’t score on six positions and they come down and score, now you have a 14-point lead, you have a 16-point lead. Any really good team can capitalize really quickly.”

Inconsistent play has been a problem for the Kings all year as they seem to always have at least one quarter in which they struggle and get outplayed. Against Phoenix on Wednesday it was the fourth quarter, getting outscored 32-19; against New Orleans, on the day the team found out about the sale, the Kings were outscored 64-39 in the first half.

Coming out flat forces the team to come from behind and puts a lot of pressure on a young team like the Kings.

Veteran forward John Salmons believes much of the problem with the team is they lose confidence when the opposing team makes a big run.

“I thought we went off on our own, and that’s what happens when you play these good teams. They go on a run and then I feel like we panic as a group and everyone tries to do it individually. Against a good team, a championship caliber team, it’s not going to work.”

Whether it is the distraction of the recent sale of the team or the team is just playing inconsistently, the team will need to get back on track as they head out on a tough six-game road trip starting with Denver on Saturday night.

Smart is not worried about his team’s mentality and the idea of this losing streak spiraling out of control with the road trip.

“You have to play every game one at a time first,” Smart said. “You can’t go into the whole road trip. You’ve got to go play some tough places and some tough travel venues, but you’ve got to play the game. You can’t escape it, you’ve got to play it. You never know what could happen, something can come together and we win a couple out there on the road, you can bounce back pretty quickly.”

Top Five Fridays: Our CC's shine during a crime-ridden week

2013-01-25T20:03:52Z

Another week, another Top Five Fridays. Our community contributors (mostly) gave us a reason to smile during a busy week for both the Sacramento Police Department and reporter Karen Wilkinson. And let’s not forget – the Kings are still leaving.

Before you dive into your weekend, take a look at The Sacramento Press’s most popular articles of the week.

Community Contribution:

5. How public radio helps indie artists by Alex Cosper
Weekly columnist and owner of SacTV Alex Cosper turned his attentions this week to the role public radio plays in the success of indie artists, as well as our community as a whole.

4. No injuries after RT light rail train and car collide by Kati Garner
Kati Garner snaps round two of the epic Light Rail vs. vehicle match up. No one was injured, though we can’t say the same for the Subaru.

3. Music Circus announces 2013 lineup; season tix on sale Monday by Barry Wisdom
Wisdom, a local theater expert, detailed the upcoming Music Circus lineup as well as his interview with California Musical Theatre Executive Producer Richard Lewis.

2. Sum 41 rocks out Sacramento by Ashley Hassinger, photos by Steven Chea
Sum 41 hit up Ace of Spades, and according to Hassinger, “Strong and creative bands IAMYDYNAMITE and Hunter Valentine were a perfect collective sound to open for the evening’s headliner, Sum 41.”

1. My story: Watch your back, pray and bring Mace by Kathleen Johnson
Johnson shared her personal story of being assaulted while waiting for the bus, providing details and cautioning area residents to be on the lookout.

Overall:

5. Police cancel perimeter search in South Sac following high-speed chase
Luther Burbank High School was on lockdown following a high speed car chase that police suspected may have been in relation to a shooting in Oak Park.

4. PHOTOS | SWAT team responds to despondent subject
The SWAT team took over 5600 block of Nolder Way in response to a “despondent subject.”

3. DUI woman hits pedestrian in Midtown entertainment district
A DUI accident in Midtown ended with the victim hospitalized and sparked a discussion in the comments section about inadequate traffic lights in the area.

2. Man surrenders in Tahoe park standoff, had warrant for arrest
Antwan Adger’s high-speed car chase resulted in a hostage stand-off in Tahoe Park. Police apprehended Adger that same afternoon, and the hostage was not injured.

1. Maloof family finally announces agreement to sell Kings
Once again, the Kings and their on-again off-again relationship with Sacramento ruled the week, this time with the Maloofs announcing another “end” to this torrid affair.

Top Five Fridays will provide a brief countdown of the most popular content posted in the past week overall, as well as our top-performing community contributors of the past seven days. These weekly lists allow us to give credit where credit is due, as well as keep you clued into some great info you may have missed during the weekly grind.

Maloof family (finally) announces agreement to sell Kings

2013-01-21T15:27:47Z

Details are still being kept quiet, but the Kings are officially planning to leave Sacramento.

Announced early Monday morning via press release, the Maloof family said "that an executed purchase and sale agreement has been reached to sell the family's interest in the National Basketball Association (NBS) Sacramento Kings to a group led by investor Chris Hansen."

No comments or details regarding the agreement is being released, as the transaction requires approval by the NBA's board of governors, the release states.

Mayor Kevin Johnson was quick to react to the news, by tweeting that the deal isn't quite done. "Let me be clear. Though agreement btw Maloors & Seattle is out, deal is NOT done. Sac can still present an offer 2 NBA BOG. #playingtowin," he tweeted.

The Maloof family expressed gratitude toward Sacramento and its fans. "We have always appreciated and treasured our ownership of the Kings and have a great admiration for the fans and our team members," Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof stated in the release. "We would also like to thank Chris Hansen for his professionalism during our negotiation. Chris will be a great steward for the franchise."

Hansen returned the compliment on the Sonics Arena website, and essentially echoed the same sentiments. "We are happy to announce that we have entered into a binding agreement with the Maloofs to purchase a controlling interest in the Sacramento NBA franchise," he wrote.

"While we are not at liberty to discuss the terms of the transaction or our plans for the franchise given the confidential nature of the agreement and NBA regulations regarding public comments during a pending transaction, we would just like to extend our sincerest compliments and gratitude toward the Maloof family. Our negotiations with the family were handled with the utmost honor and professionalism and we hope to continue their legacy and be great stewards of this NBA franchise in the coming years and decades."

The team's relocation to Seattle has to be approved by the NBA relocation committee, which Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski reports is just a "formality."

Hansen's group would pay about $340 million in the deal, or 65 percent of the $525 million total franchise valuation, according to an article in SBNation.

- KAREN WILKINSON

See the official statements below.

Statement from Chris Hansen:

"We are happy to announce that we have entered into a binding agreement with the Maloofs to purchase a controlling interest in the Sacramento Kings NBA franchise. The sale is obviously subject to approval by the NBA Board of Governors, and we look forward to working with the League in the coming months to consummate the transaction.

While we are not at liberty to discuss the terms of the transaction or our plans for the franchise given the confidential nature of the agreement and NBA regulations regarding public comments during a pending transaction, we would just like to extend our sincerest compliments and gratitude toward the Maloof family. Our negotiations with the family were handled with the utmost honor and professionalism and we hope to continue their legacy and be great stewards of this NBA franchise in the coming years and decades."

Press release from the Maloof family:

"The Maloof family announced today that an executed purchase and sale agreement has been reached to sell the family’s interest in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Sacramento Kings to a group led by investor Chris Hansen. The transaction requires approval by the NBA's Board of Governors and therefore no comments or details regarding the agreement will be released.

“We have always appreciated and treasured our ownership of the Kings and have had a great admiration for the fans and our team members. We would also like thank Chris Hansen for his professionalism during our negotiation. Chris will be a great steward for the franchise,” said Gavin Maloof, Kings co-owner speaking on behalf of the Maloof family."

Statement from Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson

"Sacramento has proven that it is a strong NBA market with a fan base that year in and year out has demonstrated a commitment to the Kings by selling out 19 of 27 seasons in a Top 20 market and owning two of the longest sellout streaks in NBA history. When it comes to keeping the team in our community, Sacramento is playing to win. In particular, we have been focused like a laser on identifying an ownership group that will both have the financial resources desired by the NBA and the vision to make the Kings the NBA equivalent of what the Green Bay Packers have been in the NFL."

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Goodbye Is never an Easy Thing

2013-01-11T06:06:53Z

It shouldn't matter this much, it's supposed to not hurt this much, I shouldn't care THIS much. Yet, I do, and I will for quite awhile. These are the things that have been processing through my head after waking up at 11 and receiving what had to have been a million text messages that stemmed from, "did you hear about our Kings?" to the oh so proper, " the Maloofs f#%^ us". I only needed to see the first one to say to myself, "they're gone".

By now you know the story, it's been reported that Kings Owners Joe and Gavin Maloof have linked a deal to sell the team and in the process move them to Seattle ( Rosen 1, Keith 0 ) for over 500 Million $. This prompted me to think of many things during the days, but these stand out the most:

1. If it's true, then Sports in this town is Over as we know it. (And don't sell me on the RiverCats, I'm sorry, people in this City will NEVER love the River Cats as much as we love our Kings.
2. All the people who worked at the Arena, will lose their jobs in the process, and that's heartbreaking just thinking about it.
3. The Maloofs blatanly lied to the City, the Fans, and the Public, and now will easily be two of the most hated people in this City's History. Next to Robert Horry and Arnold Schwarzanegger, and all I can say is that it's well deserved and hope they never set foot in this City again, if they do it's a death wish.
4. My Child-Hood as I remember it is shattered and I will have no memory of it because it's packing to Seattle.

I sat down and talked about the whole ordeal with a close friend who doesn't have a clue about Basketball. I explained to her all of this in fine detail while she tried to give me a confidence boost as only a Mother can. At one point she said, " Why is this such a big deal? You'll always have those memories, they were horrible in the end anyways.". I replied by giving one of those, "i've just seen a Ghost/Lindsey Lohan bugeyed Coke Addicted" faces and said, " you don't understand, you'll never understand what this is like". Imagine being with someone that you trully loved for the longest time . You put up with all their flaws, cover for them, and when you least expect it you come to find out, SHE'S BREAKING UP WITH YOU!?( Kings decide to move) But, she wants to stay with you to see if we can patch it up. You agree because you hate to see her leave, your in love. Meanwhile she's hosting Auditions for a new man (New Team), while you nervously sit there, wondering when she might pull the plug, while you see her wine and dine Abercrombie Models (Seattle with its Arena Deal in Place). After awhile you just know it's going to end bad, you just know. But a little part just wished that things could've worked out. That's why it hurts for all of us to hear this, not because we didn't care if they left us, but because we CARED.

That's why we sold out that raggedy, crooked dump we Adored and called Arco Arena Home. It's why we talk about Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conferenece Finals like it was just yesterday ( to this day I still yell and throw things at the TV when I see Kobe smash Bibby's nose with his elbow, HOW IS THAT NOT A FOUL YOU CHEAP, DIRTY BASTARDS!? Ok I'm calm.) It's why Chris Webber doesn't ever have to pay for a thing when he comes to town, it's why we prayed that Demarcus Cousins would realize he had all the talent in the world to his disposal if he ever learned to calm down ( this never happened sadly, excuse me while I go cry).

That's why it will hurt if this thing goes down. We'll see them in Seattle, decked out in that Seattle Supersonic Green and Gold, and we'll look on in horror and sadness while they play a thousand miles away from where their true home is. While we watch, we will try to do anything to pretend like it doesn't affect us. And trust me, people will use decoy sayings to numb the pain, " The team was horrible, the Maloofs screwed us, Robert Horry". Because that's what you do when your heart gets broken, you try to pretend like it never mattered to you. " She was a no good whore anyway, she had webbed feet, her mom thought I was stupid". I never understood why my Father stuck with Barry Bonds all those years post-Steroid controversy. When I asked him why he didn't jump ship, he could've started new, he replied by saying this. "When you've loved someone, you never stop loving them no matter what people think or say."

I love my City. I love it because compared to other cities in California that have so much ( L.A., San Franscisco) we have so little, but WE are the Capital of California, and it must piss off everyone in Southern California. (suck it So. Cal!!). I love them because they're hard working people who don't whine or moan, we just do our job and work hard no matter what wrench life throws at us. Nobody can talk about our city unless you live here. We live off the premise that if you treat us right, then by God were gonna treat you right. That's why it hurts, this whole fiasco. Because the Maloofs took my Cities love and trust for granted, threw it down the drain, lied about having an Arena deal done only to sweep the rug from under us and say the deal was off. Now were here, with our Kings leaving home to Seattle and the Maloofs nowhere in sight. That's why this hurts, because sometimes when you care so much, you get heartbroken. Today we are heartbroken.

Disclosure: Kings will be sorely missed.

Open Thread: Yahoo! Sports reports Kings to be sold

2013-01-09T19:56:14Z

As it turns out, there appears to have been some truth to those rumors that the Kings will be headed north.

Yahoo! Sports is reporting the team's owners, the Maloof family, is finalizing an agreement with the Hansen-Ballmer led Seattle investment group. Hansen-Balmer built the Key Arena in hopes of bring the NBA back to Seattle following the loss of the city’s SuperSonics to Oklahoma.

According to Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski's Twitter account, no agreement has been signed yet, but the deal is about $500 million and the group wants the team relocated to the Key Arena for the 2013-2014 season. The reporter hasn't cited his sources, however, and neither have other news agencies.

“The Maloofs are expected to keep an extremely small percentage of the team, but will have no real input or say in franchise, sources say,” Wojnarowski tweeted.

NBC Sports is also reporting that the deal isn't quite done. "The ongoing joke about the Maloofs in league circles is that they can get the girl’s phone number, but they can’t close the deal," NBC's Aaron Bruski wrote.

It seems that Sacramento’s relationship with the Kings is edging into daytime drama territory. Now that there's a bit more substance and finality to the NBA team's future, what do you think? Do you think the deal is real this time (after what happened with Anaheim and Virginia Beach)?

Will the Kings finally pack up for good? Fans, tell us what you think. Non-fans, we welcome you to chime in as well.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Sacramento Kings fans hope renewed: Virginia Beach arena plan has a long way to go

2012-08-29T16:52:35Z

Media reports were buzzing from coast to coast about a plan being pitched in Virginia Beach to build a new arena and possibly make it the new home of the Sacramento Kings – but when the proposal was unveiled to the Virginia Beach City Council Tuesday, no mention was made of the Kings, leaving fans to breathe a sigh of relief.

“They didn't present a financing plan, provided only a cost estimate and – most importantly to Sacramento basketball fans – didn't mention any potential sports teams as tenants,” Ryan Lillis reported in The Sacramento Bee Tuesday.

Although the rumors remained unsubstantiated after the weeklong worry-fest leading up to the City Council presentation, questions linger about what has been happening behind the scenes.

Sacramento Press Editor-in-Chief Jared Goyette spoke with Travis Waldron, a writer with the influential liberal think tank ThinkProgress, in a Sac Press Live chat Tuesday about the Virginia Beach arena proposal and the possible political maneuvering going on in the background.

“It’s not like franchises moving from city to city is a new development – it’s happened in baseball and hockey and football for as long as those leagues have been around,” Waldron said during the chat. “But this idea now of using new arenas and the types of deals they can get from taxpayers as pawns against each other in this big chess mach is, if not a new phenomenon, one that is becoming increasingly prevalent in sports.”

For the moment, Sacramento Kings fans can be certain of one thing: The Kings will play at Power Balance Pavilion at least one more season. Beyond that, it might take a crystal ball to discover what’s next.

Fans and foes of the Kings and the team’s owners, the Maloofs, were all over Facebook and Twitter this week sharing thoughts and opinions – and projections – for the future of the team:

View the story "Is there a real deal in Virginia for the Kings?" on Storify

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

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Are the Sacramento Kings a pawn in Virginia Beach corporate welfare chess game?

2012-08-28T17:04:38Z

There has been much ado in recent days about a potential Sacramento Kings move to the coastal town of Virginia Beach, Va. – but as more information is revealed, a writer with an influential liberal think tank said it is starting to look like Sacramento is little more than a pawn in a larger corporate game.

As the Virginia Beach City Council prepares to hear a presentation from a group of corporate executives interested in building a new arena in its region, Travis Waldron, a reporter from the liberal forum blog ThinkProgress, presents a different take on the situation and what may be happening behind the scenes.

“Connecting the dots in the roll-out of this story,” Waldron wrote, “makes it look like little more than a coordinated attempt to get Virginia Beach’s city council to finance an expensive arena project for a hypothetical NBA franchise that may never come to the city.”

[Update: Here's our live chat with Waldron:

For live updates from the meeting, check Sacramento Bee reporter Ryan Lillis on Twitter, @Ryan_Lillis ]

The pitch is being made to the council by execs from corporate giant Comcast-Spectacor, which owns NHL's Philadelphia Flyers and the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Waldron noted that the group will head to the council with a plan already in place.

Aaron Applegate reported in the Virginian-Pilot that Comcast-Spectacor has promised the city the company would bring a major professional sports team to town if an arena deal goes through.

The company failed to specify WHICH major team, however – a crucial piece of information, according to Waldron.

“Enter the Kings and their billionaire owners, the Maloofs, who are so desperate to extort a state-of-the-art arena from someone that they seem willing to move virtually anywhere on Earth to do it,” he wrote.

The combination of Virginia Beach’s need for an infusion of taxpayer dollars into its economy, the Maloofs' craving for a new arena and a corporate entity ready to cut a deal creates the perfect setup for what Waldron referred to as “the corporate welfare chess match that has become professional sports” and an “arena-extortion prom.”

How will this game play out? Will there be any real winners? The Virginia Beach City Council is slated to convene at 3 p.m. Pacific time, and the Sacramento Business Journal reported that an announcement regarding the future of the Kings may follow.

Waldon will be chatting live with The Sacramento Press today at noon to talk about the situation and the possible outcomes for Sacramento, Virginia Beach and Sacramento Kings owners, the Maloofs. [The live chat will be live streamed in this article/URL]

Let us know what you think – share your comments or questions for Waldon in the section below.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

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Rumors fly about possible Kings move, Maloofs deny claims – sort of

2012-08-24T15:35:09Z

It’s all over mainstream media: Virginia Beach is making a pitch to steal Sacramento’s beloved Kings, and team owners, the Maloofs, are buying in – but a spokesman for the Maloofs said in an email yesterday not to believe all the hype.

“The franchise is not going to discuss which cities have approached the organization and are not going to comment on every rumor,” Maloof spokesman Eric W. Rose said in the email. “The sole focus of everyone within the Sacramento Kings organization continues to be to put a winning team on the court as we look forward to what promises to be an exciting 2012-13 NBA season.”

Wait. What?

Notice that Rose makes no commitment with his statement beyond the current season – and that may be worrisome to Kings fans who pushed hard this year to keep the team.

A simple omission? Perhaps, but it wouldn’t be the first time words have been carefully crafted for the sake of positive spin in the years-long Kings saga: Remember the “we have a deal!” announcement in Orlando? That statement quickly morphed into, “It was a handshake deal,” before finally being denounced by the Maloofs as “insulting. We did not have a deal there.”

The most recent round of Kings-may-be-relocating scuttlebutt started with a report in the Hampton Roads Business Journal in Virginia that the Maloofs were “in talks” to propose moving the team to Virginia Beach.

The report cited unnamed sources that confirmed a presentation to the Virginia Beach City Council about the possible move, and an expected formal announcement from the Maloofs on Aug. 29.

NBA officials responded that they had not heard of any planned move from the Maloofs. The team is required to remain in Sacramento for the 2012-13 season because no relocation request was filed or approved by the deadline earlier this year, however team owners once again have until March 1 to file for relocation with the NBA for the 2013-14 season.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who heard the news as he was traveling to New York City for the Obama Classic basketball fundraiser, tweeted “I spoke w/h the NBA, neither they nor my office has been contacted by the Kings. At this point there is nothing new to report.”

R.E. Graswich, Johnson’s former special advisor and current member of the Think Big Sacramento coalition, also responded to the news via Twitter, saying, “Kings & Virginia Beach chatter all assumption, not fact.”

When contacted, George Maloof would not confirm or deny that his company was in talks with the city of Virginia Beach, according to the Hampton Roads article, and Joe Maloof denied Thursday that he had any talks with Virginia Beach, according to The New York Times.

Local fan reactions on Facebook and Twitter have ranged from disbelief to disgust – including a few “colorful” remarks about the Maloofs' integrity – and some former season ticket holders tweeted that they have either returned their tickets or refused to purchase any this season because of the uncertainty surrounding the team staying in Sacramento.

What do you think? Is it just one more rumor, as Rose said in his email, or will the Kings really be on their way out this time? Take our poll and let us know your opinion in the comments section below.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

You might not have time to check the site every day, but you can still keep up with our coverage with our weekly newsletter. The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Think Big makes Sacramento look small

2012-08-23T19:25:13Z

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

Who leaked Maloof emails? Isaac Gonzalez answers Carmichael Dave

2012-07-11T18:25:57Z

It’s a question that’s been on the mind of everyone who has been following Sacramento’s arena debacle: How did Isaac Gonzalez get ahold of that email cache that changed our understanding of how the negotiations between the city and the Maloofs actually played out?

On Tuesday, Gonzalez addressed the question during a Sacramento Press live chat with Carmichael Dave Weiglein.

The context: About halfway through the chat, Weiglein asked Gonzalez to clear up questions about leaked emails and letters that circulated between the Maloofs, their attorneys and NBA representatives, which Gonzales obtained from an unnamed source and made public.

The emails outlined issues the Maloofs had with the “handshake agreement” for the arena deal and proved the Maloofs’ claims that they had expressed these issues well before the council voted to approve the deal.

City officials claimed they did not know about the emails or the Maloofs’ concerns. As far as the city was concerned, all parties had agreed to a bona fide “framework” agreement, and any claim to the contrary from the Maloofs was disingenuous.

The emails had been mentioned in the media [Editor's note: Nick Miller of Sacramento News & Review previously reported the story, but without full document release on April 26.] and partially quoted in a powerpoint presentation the Maloofs and their attorneys gave in New York as the arena deal crumbled – but the emails and letters in their entirety had not been made public until Gonzalez posted them on his site, ranSACkedmedia.com, Wikileaks stye, on May 8.

How did Gonzalez come by those emails and letters? Here’s what he told us during the Sac Press live chat Tuesday:

He refused to disclose his source, but insisted he or she does not work for the Maloofs. He hinted at a city connection, mentioning it was someone who “works on I Street” – where City Hall is located – and said a sheaf of documents was dropped off by the source at his home.

You can view the full conversation here:

This article was co-written by Sacramento Press Editor-in-Chief Jared Goyette.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

To boycott or not? An interview with Carmichael Dave on the latest twist in the Sacramento Kings saga

2012-07-06T14:11:14Z

When news broke that Mayor Kevin Johnson's "Plan B" for the arena was officially dead, The Sacramento Press reached out to a group of local writers and thinkers who've been following the issue to get their thoughts. First on the list was Dave Weiglein, better known as Carmichael Dave, the unofficial mascot of the Kings fanbase, and the organizer of last year's impressive, but ultimately quixotic grassroots campaign for a new arena, "Here We Build." He's currently producing his own Internet radio network at www.thecdnetworks.com.

Next week we'll have interviews with James Ham of Cowbell Kingdom, Isaac Gonzalez of ranSACedmedia, and Cosmo Garvin of Sacramento News & Review. Carmichael Dave, Ham and Gonzalez will be joining us for video chats after noon on Tuesday. [Update: It's shaping up to be a debate between Carmichael Dave and Isaac Gonzalez. We'll broadcast it live at noon on Tuesday.]

Here’s the interview, which was conducted on Tuesday afternoon:

The Sacramento Press: You’ve been positive on Twitter since the announcement – What are your thoughts on the mayor’s announcement that “Plan B” has failed?

Carmichael Dave: It makes me want to vomit. It's a joke until you actually sit back and look at what happened. The fact that the will of the people combined with a truly grassroots effort has not been done. I think we all have a pretty decent idea where the blame lays. It can be spread, but I don't care about blame. I care about the same thing I cared about over a year ago when we started "Here We Build," and all the other grassroots efforts – to get it done. Sacramento has gone from being a true fairy tale story for the rest of the country to smile at to a public joke for the rest of the county to laugh at. People can try to spin it all they want: It's a fucking joke...

SP: David Stern has said some encouraging things recently about the Kings and Sacramento. Does that give you hope?

CD: David Stern speaks in riddles and he's always done that – that's how he is. He is a gatekeeper. Stern is the commissioner of the NBA, and is basically a representative of the owners of the NBA – he is their advocate – yet David Stern has done an unprecedented thing by coming out and all but saying, “Hooray for the city of Sacramento, you guys are awesome, and the Kings' ownership is a total embarrassment.” And he's pretty much said that – that being said, David Stern doesn't have 30 votes in his pocket. David Stern is an adviser to the other owners that do have those votes.

If I, as a citizen of Sacramento, thought that the answer was to simply bully the Maloofs dry, then we'd have a boycott starting tomorrow, but we are on a teeter-totter, looking over a cliff, and nobody is talking to anybody – everybody is posturing, and it needs to stop. Somebody has to step up, put their ego aside, and have the balls to say, “Listen, this is our end game, how do we get there?" and put everybody in the same room, but right now you've got millionaires and politicians that are all playing grabass, trying to save face. I'd say we are right back where we were a year and a half ago, but here's the difference: There's been a lot of blood, sweat, tears and public proclamation since a year and a half ago, so in a way we're kind of in a worse spot, but the bottom line is that Sacramento still has the Kings. There have been public statements, most recently by one of the owners, Joe Maloof, that they're not moving, they're staying in Sacramento, so there are tools to work with.

But when I make that statement, “there are tools to work with,” it's double-sided. There are tools to work with, but the people of Sacramento are being forced to work with a bunch of tools. They need to figure it out, or we'll make them figure it out with our wallets and our votes. The city right now is a fucking firecracker, getting ready to explode, and all it takes is a starting gun. We can turn this into a really positive venture or everybody can get their hands held up into a big giant, angry hate fest, and it's up to the leaders of both this city and this basketball team to decide which way that's going to go.

SP: But in the face of that, you still think it’s going to get done?

CD: I do think it's going to get done because the city has put too much on the line, and for the first time in my life here – 36 years – the city has gone out of its way and actually cut through the red tape and created a road to actually spending money and investing in itself, and that's a miracle, and the city needs to be commended for that. On the other hand, you've got the Maloofs, who have pretty much pissed away all the good will they've ever had in this town, that any sort of [move] that translates into a [decrease of] public support and dollars spent is going to be catastrophic to their bottom line.

So, it's not like you're dealing with Bill Gates on one side and Warren Buffet on the other – you're dealing with people in the city who have very limited political capital to begin with, and you're dealing with the owners of the Kings that have very little capital, period, to deal with. Somebody is going to have to move. There is going to have to be an intermediary, a third party, somebody that's going to bring these guys together and, ultimately, either the Maloofs come forward and say, “You know what, make a couple of minor changes and let's restart this thing,” or somebody is going to have to facilitate a transfer of the team to new ownership that comes in and gets to be a conquering hero and white knight, and says let’s restart this thing.

Either way, that's going to have to happen because the status quo is not going to cut it with the city, and they will again answer with their dollars and their votes and their wrath, and neither side can afford to deal with that.

SP: The question going forward is – Will the people start to get discouraged? Are they still going to keep that energy in this kind of environment?

CD: I can tell you from my perspective that I have no lack of an energy reservoir when it comes to this, and I don't care if we have to start over 12 times. It's going to happen, but there needs to be some maneuvering behind the scenes, so that when things are done, or announced or talked about, that it's a united front with several groups...

I'm just trying to take the temperature of both sides, since I do have the advantage of having both sides that will pick up the phone when I call, and then just try to see where we’re at, look at the landscape, and consult with the other grassroots people and entities and see what needs to happen. Is it a waiting game? Do we play it positive? The other avenue, which, really, is becoming more and more clear to me every day, probably, is going to end up being "scorched earth" – tickets, boycott, just flat-out scorn, and really, just an all-out torches and pitchforks towards Arco Arena to try and change ownership. That's where it’s headed right now. I really don't want it to head that way, and I'm doing everything I can to stop it, but you're not hearing anything from the white towers in Las Vegas, and that's a problem.

SP: But do you think that the Maloofs could use a boycott as an excuse to leave Sacramento?

CD: Yes, I do, and that's the only reason it hasn't happened yet. As I said, you're getting messages and code from David Stern that are really kinda, reinforcing Sacramento's commitment, but the fear is if you boycott the team, you boycott the Maloofs, and they are able to go to the NBA, which was not receptive to a move before and say, “Listen, this market has completely turned on us, and we can't make a profit. This is our team. We should have the right to make a profit. We can't do it here"... and the NBA says, “You know what? We don't want a legal battle. You're right, why don't you go to Seattle?” That's the scary thing.

At some point, there's going to be a leap of faith – one way or the other. Either you're going to take a leap of faith as a fan base and say, “We don't want to sit around and do nothing as a city and as a fan base – we have to do something – so we're going to take a shot at doing this, hoping that the Maloofs sell the team,” or you take a leap of faith and say, “Alright, we just have to have the chips fall where they may, and we hope that the Maloofs end up not being able to run this team long-term and they have to sell anyway,” or they end up going back to the table and realizing the arena deal is the best way to go. Either way it's a gamble. It's just a question as to what's the best gamble to make.

Downtown Sacramento arena 'Plan B' fouls out, Kings fans react

2012-07-03T22:03:15Z

Mayor Kevin Johson announced today that a Plan B for an arena inthe downtwon railyards was dead. Here's a sampling of the local buzz on the topic:

View the story "Sacramento arena 'Plan B' fouls out" on StorifySacramento arena 'Plan B' fouls outDespite ongoing efforts by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, the Think Big Sacramento organization and Kings' fans across the region, the much-hoped for arena Plan B died when arena operator AEG pulled out of the game. Here's a snapshot of recent conversation about the death of the dream:Storified by Melissa Corker · Tue, Jul 03 2012 14:55:28 @KJ_MayorJohnson: #NBAKings #Arena 'Plan B' is dead, economics don't make sense w/o Kings.Ryan Lillis AEG Partnership In Sacramento Arena Deal On Hold Effectively Killing Project -- http://cbsloc.al/MH0kz0Shawn Boyd After the initial announcement, reaction was swift and varied. There was anger...
What else is the #Sacramento mayor going to screw up? http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2012/07/03/aeg-pulls-out-of-sacramento-arena-deal-effectively-killing-project/David Smith @Rob_McAllister I hate the Maloofs more than I love my children. #FTMMike Landis Hurts Sacto big time “@Ryan_Lillis: @KJ_MayorJohnson: #NBAKings #Arena 'Plan B' is dead, economics don't make sense w/o Kings.”Kenny Holmes CBS ...there was disgust...
Recyclable basketball arenas.. What's next? Recyclable houses maybe... http://read.bi/KYK7oj #environment #innovation #manufacturing ^EHBishop-Wisecarver @GavMaloof @JoeMaloof thought you would spend on free agents. Guess fans shouldn't expect a lot from owners that can't afford arena...Sactownkings916 ...and there was the holding out of hope, as Kings Fans are known for:
There will be a new arena in Sacramento. The Sacramento Kings will play basketball there. Somehow, some way it will happen.Carmichael Dave @CarmichaelDave like the positive thinking but kings are gone.bigchill Could new team ownership be the answer, some wondered?
@CarmichaelDave Step 1: Maloofs are no longer in the picture....#NewOwnership #Kings #HereWeStayChris Williams Before they squandered daddy's fortune, the Maloofs bought #NBakings. There are only 30 #NBA teams. They know a big payday is out thereMarcos Breton @GavMaloof @JoeMaloof Can you all sell the team already please? Kings fans deserve better. Spend some money !Sacramento Kings @Rob_McAllister Understand that Maloofs insist they're not selling. No contrary info from credible sources to refute that idea...Mark Kawada If #NBAKINGS began having success, a lot of the rancor towards the Maloofs would subside.People love a winner, even if the owners are losersMarcos Breton Many wondered what's next – not just for the Kings, but for the downtown railyards where the proposed new arena was to be built.
Ideas for railyard include entertainment district, corporate offices. And, of course, baseball is part of the conversation.Ryan Lillis @Ryan_Lillis are they going to start trying to lure the A's to Sac?Adam Foster We've been tasked by @KJ_MayorJohnson to explore the best ways to make a positive impact in downtown, the Railyards and the entire region.Think Big Sacramento So, Plan A lost at the buzzer and now Plan B has fouled out. Plan C, anyone?
“@kingsfeedr: Cowbell Kingdom: Plan B for new Sacramento arena is dead http://ffd.me/MHfrIG #kings” aren't we on plan R by now? #ughTed

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Mayor, Maloofs call it quits on arena talks

2012-04-27T21:24:58Z

After two days of intense private negotiations, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced Friday that there will be no deal between the city and the Maloofs for a new arena.

Citing irreconcilable differences, Johnson said all negotiations with the Sacramento Kings team owners are over and no further discussions are planned.

Kings spokesman Eric Rose confirmed in an email statement Friday that they could not reach an agreement with the city.

“We know this door is closed,” Johnson said at a press conference Friday, “but, as mayor, I’m going to do all I can to keep an NBA team in town.”

Here is how the story unfolded Friday morning in the Twittersphere:

View the story "Twitter feed from mayor's announcement of failed arena deal" on Storify

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacrametno Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Mayor planning 'deal or no deal' meeting with Maloofs

2012-04-24T19:37:52Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson said another meeting with the Maloofs is in the works, but stopped short of promising that the arena deal will be revived – or that a new deal will be struck.

“Sitting down doesn’t do anybody any harm – but it won’t be dragged out,” Johnson said. “I don’t want anyone to have false hope.”

Johnson told media Tuesday at his weekly press conference that the city’s position on the arena deal remains the same, but the city will still explore all options.

“In terms of plan B, we continue to do our internal analysis,” Johnson said. “Our goal is to report back (to the City Council) on May 8.”

The sticking point in negotiations between the city and the Maloofs is the revenue projections for the project – the city’s and the NBA’s evaluations differ from that of economist Chris Thornberg, who was brought on by the team owners to give another assessment of the financial feasibility of a new arena.

“I don’t want to rehash everything or negotiate in public,” Johnson said. “If the revenue projections aren’t agreed to, then there’s nothing else to be done. We have nothing to negotiate on that point.”

Johnson said he can’t say what the outcome of the next meeting with the Maloofs might be, just that there will be one of three results: deal, no deal, or – if there appears to be good reason for it – continuing discussions.

But time is of the essence.

“We’re not going to make (the) 2015 (basketball season) if we don’t get a deal quickly,” Johnson said. “It may be hard to make 2015 even now.”

Johnson said he is “hopeful, but not confident” about further negotiations with the Maloof family, and no date has been confirmed for the meeting between the Maloofs and Johnson.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

View the story "A selection of tweets from those at the mayor's press conference" on Storify

Mayor Kevin Johnson to discuss arena, Maloofs, Think Big Tuesday

2012-04-23T22:27:39Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson and the owners of the Sacramento Kings, the Maloofs, have crossed paths a few times since the handshake deal for a new downtown arena splintered – and both the arena and discussions with the team owners are expected to be key topics at his weekly press conference Tuesday morning. Here's our Twitter coverage of what they mayor had to say:

The conference occured after tense words were exchanged in the media between Johnson and George Maloof after the tentative agreement for an entertainment and sports complex fell apart last week – but that didn’t stop Johnson from reaching out to the team owners Friday.

According to Joaquin McPeek, spokesman for the Mayor’s Office, Johnson flew out to Las Vegas Friday to meet the Maloofs at their family-owned hotel, The Palms.

McPeek said in an email Friday that “core principles” of the failed arena deal weren’t discussed at the impromptu meeting, but “both sides agreed that open lines of communication would be in everyone's best interest moving ahead.”

Maloof’s spokesman Eric W. Rose issued a statement Friday acknowledging the hour-long meeting between Johnson and George Maloof.

“The meeting was cordial; however, nothing definitive resulted from the meeting,” Rose said in the statement.

Johnson and Joe and Gavin Maloof were at the Kings game at Power Balance Pavilion later Friday night, but – again – there was no discussion of arena business, Johnson told media after the game.

Johnson said that a follow up conversation would happen, however, no one at the mayor’s office could confirm a planned date or time for follow-up meetings Monday.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the group spearheading the arena initiative – the Think Big Sacramento committee – took place Monday in Sacramento, but there has not been a report on the information presented at the meeting.

Johnson was not in attendance at Monday’s Think Big meeting, according to McPeek, however it will likely be another topic of discussion at Johnson’s press conference Tuesday.

The Sacramento Press will cover the mayor’s press conference on Tuesday. If you have a question you’d like us to direct to the mayor, let our political reporter Melssia Corker know via Twitter, @MelissaCorker, or leave a comment below this story.

Mayor wants to move on arena – with or without Kings

2012-04-18T00:35:40Z

There may no longer be an arena deal, but Mayor Kevin Johnson said he isn’t giving up on an entertainment and sports complex for Sacramento – not until the city has considered all options, including building an arena without an anchor tenant.

“This is not over, in my opinion,” Johnson said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “It doesn’t do us any good to continue to point fingers and blame. We don’t have the deal we thought we had, so we need to figure out what plan B looks like.”

Options to be considered, Johnson said, may include scaling back the original project to cut costs or to build the facility in stages, adding features over time.

Building a venue without an anchor tenant is also an option that should be on the table, Johnson said.

“We have a lot of financial and economic and legal issues to look at, and we want to take the next two or three weeks to do that,” Johnson said. “We need to see what can or can’t be done.”

Anschutz Entertainment Group partnered with the city to be the arena operator and has had relative success building a stadium in Kansas City without the benefit of an anchor tenant, Johnson said.

“(The Kansas City model) is something that has been proven and that can work,” he said. “They have a different market, though, so can that work here? I can’t answer that. But we need to look at it.”

Another option that Johnson said should be considered is bringing in a team from an alternate sports franchise, such as hockey, that would be an anchor tenant but not in competition with the Kings if they remain at Power Balance Pavillion.

The Sacramento Kings owners, the Maloofs, have said they have no interest in selling their team, however, Johnson said he has been talking to potential buyers for the team, in case the Maloofs change their minds.

“It’s their business, they can do what they want,” Johnson said. “They can relocate, they can sell or they can stay in Sacramento. We want to remain an NBA team, but we can’t put all our eggs in one basket.”

If the city pursues an arena, Johnson said, the possibility of using funds from leasing the city’s parking assets may still be part of the deal for the city – but he could not say if the value of those assets would reach the previously estimated $240 million if the Kings were not the anchor tenant.

Despite being resigned to the possibility that the Kings may leave Sacramento, Johnson refused to speculate on if – or where – the Maloofs might take the team if they choose to relocate.

“We don’t control any of that. If that’s the reality, let’s regroup and press on with a different dynamic,” Johnson said.

“I don’t like us being in a position as a city where we are being held hostage by anyone where we can’t do what’s in the best interest of the city,” he added.

The City Council will discuss arena-related matters in a closed session before the City Council meeting Tuesday, Johnson said, and he hopes to have clearer answers about a plan B for the city within four weeks.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Railyard site plans unveiled – arena optional, officials say

2012-04-17T04:31:09Z

Despite the battle between the city and Sacramento Kings’ team owners over a new entertainment and sports complex, City Councilman Steve Cohn is adamant that plans for developing the railyards site for an intermodal transit facility will continue uninterrupted.

“Yes, there is absolutely an intermodal without the arena,” Cohn said Thursday at a workshop on the project at City Hall.

More than 100 people attended the workshop hosted by the city to discuss the site orientation of the proposed arena at the downtown railyards along with current and future transportation facilities at the site.

Until the recent arena deal fell apart, the intermodal project at the downtown railyards was slated to include a 675,000 square foot entertainment and sports facility located next to the existing historic Sacramento Valley Station.

“The intermodal is our No. 1 infrastructure priority, no matter what, with or without the arena,” Cohn said. “The (current site plan) study allows us to determine the footprint for the different facilities (included in the project) so we can plan the intermodal.”

City officials and staff unveiled three potential site plans at the workshop – designated the “west option,” the “east option” and the “hybrid option” by city staff – and invited public feedback on the proposals.

“These are not alternatives, these are concepts – they are still very raw and still being developed,” said presenter Andre Brumfield of the AECOM/Fehr and Peers Design Team.

AECOM/Fehr and Peers Design Team are consultants hired to work with city staff on pre-development aspects of the proposed arena at the railyards.

“We want everyone to understand what has been worked on so far and to get feedback about what (people) feel works or doesn’t work (with the concepts),” he added.

The three plans were prepared by a design team after numerous meetings with transportation specialists, Amtrak, Caltrans and other interested parties, according to Cohn.

“They met with historic preservation groups and business groups and the Downtown Sacramento Partnership,” he said. “(There are) a lot of people who have a stake in this particular site and in the intermodal, not just the arena.”

Design team members worked with consultants brought on by the city in the past week to go over site plan options that would integrate a new arena on the railyards site with the various parts of the intermodal project, Cohn said.

The west option situates an arena on the western edge
The hybrid option puts an arena on the west side of the site and the transit facility on the east side. In between the two would be a public plaza to allow people to move freely between the facilities.

“The hybrid plan is the favored plan so far,” Chandler said. “We are trying to create more of a of the 13-acre site, with the intermodal transit portions – including railway platforms, light rail connections and bus areas – situated on the eastern side of the site, according to Senior Architect Hinda Chandler.

The east option essentially flips the west option plan, putting an arena on the eastern portion of the site, Chandler said, but the transit portions of the plan are spread out more, with buses to the west and light rail to the south.
pedestrian district with the hybrid plan. It would create a nice public space.”

Each potential site plan includes space for an entertainment and sports complex, however, city officials said that if an arena doesn’t materialize, the city will still move forward with other aspects of developing the railyards site.

“The ideal situation is that we are doing both at the same time, but if the arena doesn’t go forward for any reason, this (site plan work) enables us to go forward with the intermodal knowing that, if an arena gets financed later, we have a place for it,” Cohn said.

If an arena never happens, Cohn said, the area reserved in the site plan for it could easily be developed in some other way.

Some workshop attendees expressed concerns about keeping the historic nature of the original depot intact while trying to build out the railyards.

“It’s been here a long time, and we need to keep the historic nature of it in mind,” said James Battles, 45, a Sacramento resident.

Battles said a lot of his questions about the intermodal project were answered at the workshop – but he didn’t know if everyone else got the information they needed.

“(The city) needs to have more workshops like this so others can get the information, too,” Battles said.

The intermodal project will be under continuous construction in one stage or another for the next few years, Cohn said, and the majority of the first phase of work should be completed by the end of 2012.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Think Big ponders next move

2012-04-17T00:45:47Z

Think Big Sacramento Executive Director Chris Lehane said Monday that Friday’s spat with the Maloof family does not spell the end for an arena deal in downtown Sacramento, but that it was a setback that can be overcome.

“First of all, we’ve continued to believe that a downtown-based entertainment and sports complex makes tremendous sense for the city and the region for jobs creation and economic development,” Lehane said. “All of that continues to exist, and I think we need to explore alternative ways to move forward.”

Lehane said one option would be to follow the model of Kansas City, in which an arena was built without having a professional sports team as a partner. Another way could be to present the National Basketball Association with an alternate ownership group to replace the Maloofs.

“From the perspective of how we deal with the Kings right now, ultimately they are owned by the Maloofs, and that is what it is,” he said.

In a letter sent to Think Big Sacramento members on Sunday, Lehane outlined the arena effort over the past year, from initial talks of moving the team to Anaheim to exuberant collaboration with the city to Friday’s dissolution of the Feb. 27 handshake deal that provided the framework for an arena financing plan.

“The letter was a very straightforward effort to explain to people in layman’s terms how (the whole process) went down,” Lehane said.

In the four-page letter, Lehane wrote that the Maloofs attempted to renegotiate a deal that had been struck, then falsely claimed they sent a reworked term sheet to the city before the City Council approved the original term sheet March 6.

“One of the many reasons in a series of different reasons (the Maloofs) gave for backing out was that the deal was financially bad for the city,” Lehane said. “Then they offered a marked-up term sheet that would have been worse for the city.”

Think Big Project Manager Jeremiah Jackson told The Sacramento Press on Monday that Lehane’s letter clearly lays out the process, and he agreed with Lehane’s remarks about the Maloofs’ changes to the term sheet. Both Lehane and Jackson said the changes to the term sheet were not revealed before the City Council vote on March 6.

“On the one hand, they say the deal will be bad for the city financially, and they’re worried,” Jackson said. “On the other hand, their problems with the current deal are that the city is requiring collateral (for the loan), and they didn’t want to do a 30-year lease (on the facility) or pay predevelopment costs. Those are all things that put the taxpayers in a worse position.”

In one of the more strongly worded sections of the letter, Lehane took on the Maloofs’ financial concerns for the city.

“And then, on top of all of this, they asserted that the proposed deal was not in the best interest of the city, which coming from the Maloofs is a little like getting weight loss advice from Fat Albert,” Lehane said in the letter.

Downtown Sacramento Partnership Executive Director and Think Big Committee Member Michael Ault said Monday that the letter shows frustration with the current state of the deal.

“Chris obviously has been the driving force behind the leadership of the Think Big efforts,” Ault said. “I think what you’re reading is in large part based on personal frustration with the way this has transpired, but I think a lot of people are disappointed.”

Ault added that the local business community felt a sense of momentum generated by the process, and the death of the proposed deal is a setback, but not an end to efforts to build a downtown arena.

“From day one this has not been about the Kings or the Maloofs,” Ault said, echoing Lehane’s sentiments. “While they were an important piece, this is about the region’s desire, and building a state-of-the-art entertainment and sports complex is still a priority.”

Representatives for the Maloof family did not return phone calls on Monday.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow him on Twitter @Brandon_Darnell.

Group gathering signatures for vote on arena issue

2012-04-16T23:55:35Z

Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork (STOP) announced Monday that they will continue gathering signatures on a petition that would require large public expenses on a project in the downtown railyards such as an arena to be approved by a public vote.

“We’re going to get this thing qualified for the ballot,” said spokesman Richard Tolmach. “A lot of people are stepping up and want to help us.”

The group began gathering signatures over the weekend, and Tolmach said there are currently about 1,000 signed petitions. To qualify for placement on a ballot, the petition must have about 21,000 signatures.

Placement on the November ballot was previously a top priority – and STOP would have needed to gather the signatures by May 31. After the proposed arena deal fell apart on Friday, Tolmach said, the campaign can take its time, placing it on the next city election.

“I think we will get the signatures in two or three months,” he said Monday.

If the signatures are gathered, he said, the initiative will appear on the next regularly scheduled election, which according to the Sacramento County Elections Office is in June 2014, unless there is reason to push forward with a special election.

“If the city wants to push things with the arena, then maybe we’d be put in a position like that,” he said.

For more information on the STOP petition, read about its announcement by clicking here and about its update from Friday by clicking here.

Officials disappointed, but moving forward with intermodal facility

2012-04-14T00:36:27Z

City officials had the last word of the day Friday on the failed arena deal between the city and the owners of the Sacramento Kings – and that word was “disappointed.”

“We are profoundly disappointed that the entertainment and sports complex project is not moving forward,” City Manager John Shirey said Friday. “We had great hopes, and there was great jubilation just a few weeks ago that a deal had been struck.”

Assistant City Manager John Dangberg and City Councilmen Rob Fong and Steve Cohn joined Shirey for an impromptu press conference Friday in response to the sudden failure of a deal between the city, the Maloofs, arena operator AEG and the NBA to build a new arena in Sacramento.

“The project was not just about the Kings, and not just about basketball,” Shirey said. “It was about the future of our city. It would have been the anchor for a very important project downtown and the development of our railyards.”

Calling the scrapped arena deal a “setback,” Shirey said he remains hopeful that the Maloofs will have a change of heart and return to the negotiating table with the city.

“They weren’t calling for the moving vans to pack up and go just yet,” he said. “They are going to be here next year, so something may still be worked out.”

Shirey said the city has halted all work on the arena project in light of Friday’s events, including work that would have been completed as early as next week.

“We had quite an array of experts put together to move us forward on this project, and we had limited money from the NBA committed by (NBA Commissioner David) Stern. We will be winding down those activities for the time being,” Shirey said.

In a press conference earlier in the day, George Maloof and attorney Barry McNeil said that for weeks they had been trying to raise some of the contentious issues that led to the break in negotiations, but the city didn’t respond.

An economist hired by the Maloofs to review economic impacts of the deal also said that he believes the city was biting off more than it could chew with the agreement.

Shirey said he did not believe the Maloofs’ claims were valid criticisms.

“We feel that we had addressed every issue, and we were still addressing issues in Orlando when we were trying to get down to final words of the agreement that we struck there,” Shirey said.

At an earlier press conference, George Maloof indicated that the Kings might be interested in revamping the current Power Balance Pavilion in Natomas – a suggestion that Cohn called a “red herring.”

“It’s not a serious proposal in my view,” Cohn said. “Why would we put money into something that they have said for years won’t work? If the Maloofs want to put their money into it, that’s great.”

Although Shirey said he felt the city would be ready to listen if the Maloofs wanted to talk about the arena deal again, Cohn said he was not as confident that all of the City Council members shared that feeling.

“I find it a little ironic that, with the Maloofs in the financial situation they are in, they say they are concerned about ours,” Cohn said.

Shirey, Cohn and Fong told media that plans for the intermodal transit facility will go forward at the railyards site, despite the failed deal with the Kings.

“We have a dynamic city to run,” Fong said. “We have a lot of issues to deal with, (whether) it’s the railyards or the riverfront or the budget. We have plenty to do still.”

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for the Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

STOP ponders next move in wake of dead arena deal

2012-04-14T00:15:39Z

Friday’s news that the deal for an entertainment and sports complex is essentially dead isn’t stopping a grassroots effort to ensure large public expenditure on private ventures be vetted through a public vote.

Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork (STOP) announced their goal of collecting enough signatures to give the public a vote on the arena financing last month, and they now have the petitions in-hand to start gathering signatures.

“We’re still concerned that even if this plan’s dead, there may be another plan that’s either as bad or worse to spend public money on a private venture at (the downtown railyards),” STOP spokesman Richard Tolmach said Friday afternoon.

The grassroots organization has until May 31 to collect the approximately 21,000 signatures required to put the issue on the November ballot, though now signature collection is on hold while the group ponders the latest news.

The group has so far raised about $10,000, much of which was planned to be spent on advertisements, mailed information and an email campaign, Tolmach said.

In light of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s Friday announcement that the arena deal is over, he added that the group will take the weekend to consider how to move forward and announce its decision at a Monday press conference.

“I harbor a hope that the Kings backing out of this has made the city realize it’s not going to happen,” Tolmach said, “but there’s a certain arrogance that needs to be addressed.”

Before the announcement, STOP planned to begin gathering signatures over the weekend. Tolmach predicted that if the group gained a following, investors would begin getting cold feet.

He characterized the announcements made Friday morning by the Maloof family as a changing of position “after they saw the handwriting on the wall.”

STOP Treasurer Jim Cathcart said before Johnson’s announcement that nothing short of a City Council ordinance that requires large expenditures of public funds for private projects will make the group consider halting its campaign.

“It’s sort of amazing that time after time after time these types of things are dead, and they get revived,” he said. “We basically think that any large expenditure for any kind of sports and entertainment complex like this should go to the voters.”

Cathcart said that STOP is not opposed to having an arena or working with the Sacramento Kings to make it happen, but that any arena deal now or in the future should be agreed to by the public.

“This is democracy,” he said. “If (the voters) want it, and they want to tax themselves and put the city at risk, that’s their choice. We’ll abide by that. Obviously, we don’t think they want to do that.”

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow him on Twitter @Brandon_Darnell.

Johnson: Arena deal with Maloofs is 'absolutely' dead

2012-04-13T22:55:02Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson admitted defeat Friday as the deal to build a new arena and keep the Kings in Sacramento failed despite the “blood, sweat, tears and effort” that Johnson said went into it.

“Is the deal as we know it dead? Absolutely,” Johnson said.

In what turned out to be the third major press conference in New York Friday regarding the arena deal, Johnson told media that he is baffled by the Kings owners, the Maloofs, and he doesn’t understand how things fell to this point.

“We felt we had an agreement (in Orlando), they didn’t feel that we did. That’s a pretty fundamental difference,” Johnson said. “It became very clear by their actions today that they didn’t want to make a deal.”

Johnson met with the Maloofs for more than two hours Friday, he said, for a discussion that Johnson described as “mostly civil.”

The breaking point for Johnson, he said, was the Maloofs’ refusal to put up collateral for the city’s refinance of their loan.

“No elected official in their right mind would accept that. They would execute me in Sacramento if I came home with that,” Johnson said. “At that point, the meeting was over.”

With the framework deal that was prepared in Orlando March 1 scrapped, Johnson said the city of Sacramento will have to dig deep to see what the next step for the city will be.

“We have a week or two left in the season and we need to support our team – that’s the respectable thing to do,” he said.

One thing that Johnson said he is certain will not be an option is any public involvement is rehabilitating the King’s current arena facility, Power Balance Pavilion.

“If it’s up to me, there is no way we as a city will invest in that building,” Johnson said. “For us to just help them out at this time when they might just change their mind again – I can’t see a scenario where we would want to publicly assist them.”

George Maloof suggested a revamp of the building as an option in a press conference earlier on Friday.

“I’ve always said there were three possible scenarios: same owners, same team. New owners, same team. DIfferent owners, different team,” Johnson said. “In any case, Sacramento wants to remain an NBA city.”

Johnson did not say if the city would be involved in reaching out for the alternate scenarios.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter with The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

NBA Commissioner: 'Nothing more to be done' to save arena deal

2012-04-13T20:55:55Z

After a year of negotiations, economic reports and financial cartwheels by city officials and Sacramento Kings owners, NBA Commissioner David Stern said it appears the deal for a new Sacramento arena is dead.

“I am extremely disappointed on behalf of both the Maloofs and the city of Sacramento,” Stern said at a New York press conference Friday, “but I think there is nothing further to be done.”

Stern said the NBA Board of Governors met Thursday with the Sacramento Kings team owners, the Maloofs, and – after hearing a “detailed and thorough” presentation – Stern said the board came to some simple conclusions.

“(In Orlando) we had an agreement in principle – a framework, a handshake deal you could call it,” he said. “In my view it was always subject to any party saying they didn’t want to do it. It was always non-binding.”

At an earlier press conference Friday, George Maloof, attorney David McNeil and economist-for-hire Chris Thornberg outlined the reasons the Maloofs were no longer interested in the handshake deal that took place Orlando.

The concerns included issues with profit-sharing, naming rights and signage, approval rights on contract agreements and pre-development costs.

“The terms under which we would be required to make financial commitments were wholly unworkable,” George Maloof said.

Stern said he felt the area deal failed because the Maloofs re-examined certain assumptions underpinning the deal and – upon closer review – they grew increasingly uncomfortable with it.

“They recognized that (since) it was necessary to bring in a third party, AEG, because we needed their funds to finance the deal – together with their existing debt load – it would further burden the team,” Stern said. “They ultimately decided this isn’t a transaction they want to go through with.”

Stern said that it would have saved everyone a lot of angst if the Maloofs had said they wanted out of the deal “sooner and simpler.”

George Maloof suggested at the earlier press conference that a better idea than building a new arena might be to revamp the existing Power Balance Pavillion, where the Kings currently play.

“If they choose to do that, that’s up to them,” Stern said.

Stern told media that, in Orlando, the NBA agreed to advance $63 million to the Maloofs to help finance their portion of the deal – and that the NBA would make an additional $7 million contribution to the Maloofs for other costs associated with the arena deal.

“I don’t think we have anything further to give, to cajole, to yell at or to do any of the various things I tried to get the parties on track to a workable deal,” Stern said.

Stern commended the city of Sacramento, the fans and Mayor Kevin Johnson for the effort to make a new arena deal work.

“We asked the city of Sacramento to step up and they did so in an extraordinary way,” Stern said. “They couldn’t have done so in a finer fashion.”

Johnson was in New York Friday to meet with the Maloofs to discuss the arena deal, however Stern said he was “hopeful but not optimistic” about the potential outcome of that meeting.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Sacramento Twitter feed of Kings, arena, Maloofs discussion

2012-04-13T20:28:39Z

Here are some tweets taken from the Sacramento area mentioning the words "Maloofs," "Kings," and or "arena" between 6 a.m. Thursday and 1 p.m. Friday. The Sacramento Press used a beta version of iWitness to compile this list of tweets.

"Kings Blog: The Morning After: Kings effort, basketball smarts, lack consistency sacb.ee/HNTi7m"

— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) April 12, 2012

"City Beat: Maloofs respond to criticism of Sacramento business leaders sacb.ee/IbmrFP"

— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) April 12, 2012

"City Beat: City: Maloofs' records request created perception they want arena to fail sacb.ee/IbBjUz"
— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) April 12, 2012

"@HereWeStaythanks for the follow.Thanks to your efforts my daughters may get to grow up kings fans like I did. #herewestay #sackings"
— Greg Boehl (@BoehlG) April 13, 2012

"Commentary: Focus on the rip-off, not the ‘bad’ Maloofs scnct.us/1R2xC4 #scpick"
— Sacramento Connect (@sacconnect) April 13, 2012

"Nice work KJ!!!@CarmichaelDave: Pretty badass letter from the Mayor to the Maloofs posted on my FB page: Facebook.com/TheUFC"
— Jamee Sims (@jameerees) April 13, 2012

"Open letter from Mayor Johnson to the Maloof family sacb.ee/IdXbi3"
— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) April 13, 2012

“@AshleyWTVHost: #Maloof news conference is incredible.” Not looking good :( "
— Matt D (@dcap22803) April 13, 2012

“@scootholc: uuummmm, I get the feeling the Kings are out of here” As do I
— Matt D (@dcap22803) April 13, 2012

"Fuck the maloofs #emptythearena"
— Alex Svetich (@hansgruberhitit) April 13, 2012

"Maloofs say arena plan imperils Kings, Sacramento sacb.ee/HR6UPp"
— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) April 13, 2012

“@RonWenig: Empty the arena. Nobody should attend any of the remaining games. #emptythearena” agreed! Get rid of the maloofs.Get real owners
— Steve Schaffert (@coachschaffert) April 13, 2012

“@sb_joedavidson: Raise your hand if u can't wait to cheer and celebrate the Maloofs at next Kings home game...” Bbboooooooooooo!
— Steve Schaffert (@coachschaffert) April 13, 2012

"A $400 Million dollar deal in 8 days is unrealistic for group, wealthy or not. apne.ws/HAkCTE%0A"
— talecia bell (@MsEditorNchief) April 13, 2012

"How fitting all this Kings drama is happening on Friday the 13th..."
— Avinesh Raman (@UhVeeNesh) April 13, 2012

"If the kings leave dose this mean mayor Johnson's going to lure the Oakland A's to Sacramento? #SacramentoAthletics"
— Steven Garcia (@thisisgarcia9) April 13, 2012

"Live chat: Marcos Breton Q&A on today's arena developments sacb.ee/Ihl34y"
— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) April 13, 2012

"Where on Earth do Kings play if old Arco is replaced? Somewhere else! Bring the As to Sac and send kings to Canada"
— Steve Schaffert (@coachschaffert) April 13, 2012

"Sacramento had a long, wondrous, and iconic history without the Maloof family and it should and will again."
— James Raia (@James_Raia) April 13, 2012

"The Maloofs are bad, selfish owners. Always around for the good times. Split when they need to give back. #Maloofs #Kings"
— Daniel Sapata (@dsapata) April 13, 2012

"Never has a Friday the 13th been so good. Isn't it time for the Maloofs to realize they can't handle the truth?Their time in Sac is done."
— James Raia (@James_Raia) April 13, 2012

"Kings' arena-deal concerns range from big picture to minute sacb.ee/HRqnzp"
— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) April 13, 2012

"Live right now on #FOX40 : press conference on #Kings and #Maloofs. Sounds like the fight might be over..."
— Chris Nelson (@CNfox40) April 13, 2012

"The city of sacramento & the Maloofs dropping the ball on a Arena.."
— Marcus Gonzales (@marcusg420) April 13, 2012

"NBA agrees to lend Maloofs $67mHorrible Loan. Will NBA get Obama bailout when loan goes bad?!"
— Steve Schaffert (@coachschaffert) April 13, 2012

"NBA basically funded the entire Maloof portion of the deal, and yet the Maloofs still can't afford it. Sounds similar to old Dodger deal."
— Steve Schaffert (@coachschaffert) April 13, 2012

"Based on comments the team will probably move. What a crappy day for kings fans #KingsAllDay (boo maloofs) I know the press team not post"
— Marcus Watstein (@echusa) April 13, 2012

"David Stern: "Maloof's economist came with ill-grace." That's quite a sentence by the wise old fox."
— James Raia (@James_Raia) April 13, 2012

Maloofs: 'No arena deal if mayor won't negotiate'

2012-04-13T18:08:52Z

Sacramento Kings owners and their attorneys told media Friday that not only was there never a solid deal with the city for a new arena, but – if the mayor isn’t willing to negotiate – there never will be one.

“The mayor said he’s not negotiating? Then he killed the deal on his own terms,” team owner George Maloof said at a press conference in New York. “It’s over.”

The morning press conference opened with Kings attorney Barry McNeil giving a detailed timeline of events in the “arena saga,” starting with the Maloofs’ initial proposal to move the Kings to Anaheim in 2010.

“We want to demonstrate to you that the Kings have exercised their best efforts over the past 12 months to get a new arena built,” McNeil said. “The Kings and the NBA have done all they can to create the best deal possible.”

McNeil said the agreement reached in Orlando between the city of Sacramento, arena operator AEG and the team owners was non-binding and all parties were aware that there were numerous issues to be worked out.

George Maloof said he sent the NBA – which was negotiating in the deal on the Maloofs’ behalf – an email listing at least 13 points of contention the team owners had with the proposed term sheet.

The list included concerns about pre-development costs and the city’s assumed revenue projections for the project.

“The terms of the deal that we were presented with (on Feb. 19) were insulting. It’s clear that we did not have a deal there,” Maloof said.

In an email response dated Feb. 29, NBA representatives told the Maloofs that several of the owners’ desired changes to the deal would be agreeable to the city, however, “They say they cannot put the provisions into the document for political reasons,” the email stated.

McNeil said that the term sheet posted by the city and voted on by the City Council March 6 did not include any revisions from the team owners – despite having received the detailed revisions from the NBA the day before.

“The City Council saw a term sheet that was inaccurate and largely irrelevant,” McNeil said. “They voted on a term sheet that they assumed we had agreed to.”

Economist Chris Thornberg, a partner at Beacon Economics, said he was hired by the Maloofs to review the city’s economic impact report on the new arena – and the results of the review were disappointing.

“The revenue projections and estimates for this agreement are highly overblown,” Thornberg said.

Thornberg questioned the basis for the financial assumptions in the report, largely because it relied on a “rosy” economic picture.

“This project would put the city right on the edge of fiscal disaster,” he said. “There is very little room for error.”

Mayor Kevin Johnson and NBA representatives were not at the press conference, however, in an open letter to the Maloof family Thursday, Johnson expressed his concerns about the Maloofs’ intentions.

“Any representation that a deal was not reached is simply not consistent with the perspective of every other party to the negotiation nor the actual statements of the family,” he said in the letter.

“Under no circumstances will the city make material adjustments to the current terms of the deal,” he said. “Put simply, we have done our part.”

Johnson agreed to meet with the Maloofs Friday in New York City, but in his letter Thursday he said there should be “no expectation” that the deal is subject to further negotiation.

When asked about the scene at the Kings game March 6 with team owners and Johnson on the court, shaking hands and celebrating after the City Council voted to move forward, George Maloof said it didn’t mean they had a solid deal.

“No, there were still negotiations to be done,” he said. “Everyone knew it.”

Read Johnson's letter here.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for the Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Bounty hunter Padilla runs for mayor for a fifth time

2012-04-13T00:34:53Z

Self-described “world-famous” Sacramento bounty hunter Leonard Padilla is making his fifth bid for mayor – and this time he intends to win.

Padilla, 72, said Wednesday that the decision to run for mayor has always been an easy one for him to make because running for political office brings a valuable opportunity to candidates.

“You have things that you want to say publicly, and the mayor’s race gives you that ability,” Padilla said. “It gets you out there to where you keep up with what’s happening in the city, and you are forced to learn about sewer rates, water rates, garbage and the budget. It forces you into a situation where you have to just learn.”

The key difference for Padilla in his decision to join the current mayoral race is that – this time – there is a significant and publicly divisive issue at the forefront of the race: the proposed entertainment and sports complex.

It is an issue that Padilla is “vehemently, completely and unequivocally” opposed to, he said.

“In the other (races) there wasn’t a situation as imposing on the city’s funding as what they want to do with a half a billion dollars,” Padilla said. “It’s not going to be just $390 million – everyone knows nothing ever gets built under budget. It’ll be $500 million or more before it’s done.”

Padilla said that, among other problems, the city would be making a mistake to sell off the city parking assets for 50 years and risk an increase in parking rates.

He said he believes city officials and city staff would be more effective if they weren’t distracted with the arena deal.

“I’m not saying (Mayor Kevin Johnson) has been a waste of time, I’m saying he has been distracted for four years with this arena business,” Padilla said.

If he is elected, Padilla said, he will not focus on the arena – he’d rather see the idea fade completely from the city’s attention. Instead, he said, he will turn his attention to more pressing city business.

“The one salient point people keep forgetting about is that the Maloofs already have an arena. Let the Kings go play there and let city staff get back to paying attention to what’s really important for the city.”

Issues that Padilla would like to address include cutting back at City Hall to save money, finding a housing solution for the city’s homeless population and creating an incentive program for police officers to live within the city limits.

“I want people who are eager to make it safe to live in the city of Sacramento, especially the ones who are protecting the city of Sacramento,” he said.

Padilla said he believes that having police officers live in the neighborhoods they serve makes a difference in how residents feel about the level of safety in their city.

Padilla said he started bounty hunting in 1974 when a friend working for an insurance company asked for his help finding someone who jumped bail.

Padilla realized it was something he was good at – and he got paid more than he expected – so he kept doing it.

“It made things comfortable enough to get me through law school and take care of my family – not extravagant, but comfortable,” Padilla said.

He and his family turned a part-time gig into a slew of bail bond agencies along with his bounty hunting business.

“They get people out of jail, and I put them back in when they don’t go to court,” Padilla said.

Padilla is running against Johnson, municipal finance manager Jonathan Rewers and insurance broker Richard Jones.

All of the other candidates, Padilla said, are either in full support or the new arena – or at least “cautiously optimistic” about its potential success.

“I have no problem with having an arena, I just don’t want to see the city spend what it can’t afford,” Padilla said. “If we are tenacious about living within our budget, we’ll do much better.”

Padilla said he would be comfortable debating Johnson or any other candidate if given the opportunity – but he thinks the prospect is unlikely.

“I was told that I’m too glib and I don’t have a political future at stake, so I’m not concerned about the comments I make,” Padilla said.

“They want a debate with someone who’ll speak cautiously,” he added. “That’s not me.”

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Council moves arena work forward as Maloofs balk at sharing costs

2012-04-04T05:48:52Z

Even as the Sacramento Kings’ owners backpedal on a deal struck with the city and arena operator AEG, Mayor Kevin Johnson and the City Council voted 7-2 in favor of spending nearly $13 million on pre-development work associated with the new arena – $200,000 of that advanced from the NBA on behalf of the Maloofs.

Less than one month after Johnson returned from Orlando announcing a deal had been struck, the Kings’ owners, the Maloof family, started balking at paying a share of the pre-development costs, which include development of the site plan for the arena and preparing for environmental reviews.

In a March 20 letter to the city, the Maloofs expressed doubts about the city’s ability to get a new arena built in the projected timeline – raising questions about the team’s commitment to staying in Sacramento.

Johnson spoke about the situation at a press conference Tuesday, saying he hesitated to speak publicly about it because he was “dumbfounded” by the possibility.

“I’ve been trying to figure it out for the past few days,” Johnson said. “Did I misinterpret what was said (in Orlando)? I don’t think so.”

According to the terms of the agreement made after a week of intense meetings in Orlando in March, Sacramento is responsible for 50 percent of the pre-development costs, and AEG and the Maloofs are each responsible for 25 percent.

That comes to $6.5 million for the city and $3.25 million from AEG and the Maloofs, respectively.

The city’s share of pre-development costs includes $5 million from the Master Owner Participation Agreement (MOPA) funds resulting from the sale of the Sheraton hotel and $1.5 million from the city’s parking fund, according to the city staff report.

But the Maloofs said in the letter to the city that they do not feel a responsibility to share those costs because they would only be tenants in the arena.

"Pre-development costs are not the responsibility of the tenant. The Sacramento Kings organization will continue to work with the city to seek solutions to the unresolved issues," Maloofs spokesman Eric Rose said in a March 30 statement.

Johnson was quick to point out at the press conference that the Maloof's claim that tenants don’t pay pre-development costs didn’t “add up” for him.

“Orlando was a ‘tenant only,’ and they paid pre-development costs,” Johnson said. “If you look at other arenas, tenants have paid predevelopment. For the Kings, as tenants only, tenants don’t normally get naming rights and other concessions. We are all in this together.”

After a lengthy discussion that included 12 speakers during public comment, council members ultimately voted 7-2 in favor of moving forward with the project.

Johnson and City Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn, Rob Fong, Jay Schenirer, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell voted in favor of the resolution to start the pre-development work on the arena.

Council members Sandy Sheedy and Kevin McCarty voted against the resolution.

“I need to know that we have partners willing to go the distance with us,” Ashby said. “We are on the front end of this process, and we have a long way to go. Tonight is a chance for us to vote to move forward and live up to what we said we would do.”

Sheedy said she opposed the resolution because she felt it was being unnecessarily rushed.

“I don’t understand why we’re giving this so much urgency,” Sheedy said. “The NBA is meeting April 12. We could come back after that with the knowledge of what (the Maloofs) are really going to do.”

No one from the Maloof family was present at the council meeting Tuesday.

Members of a local group trying to force a public vote on the financing of the arena showed up in force at the council meeting, passing out fliers encouraging voters to join the effort to get the initiative on the November ballot.

“Basically, it boils down to priorities,” Sacramento resident and Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork campaign founder Julian Camacho said. “We have an education system that is failing, and parks and schools that are closed, and (we have) an aging sewer system that needs work. To put in a minimum of $255 million into this sports complex – it just means our priorities aren’t right.”

The initiative language – which states that use of public financing for an arena should go to a public vote – was validated by the City Attorney Monday, and supporters will now begin to collect the necessary signatures to qualify the initiative for the November ballot.

In the meantime, pre-development work on the arena will continue. City officials said the project will be undergoing environmental review starting this month.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

City to pay lion’s share of cost for an arena fit for Kings

2012-03-02T00:24:51Z

The city will be responsible for the majority of the cost of a new entertainment and sports complex, according to the much-anticipated financial term sheet released Thursday – a total of nearly $256 million.

The contribution from Anschutz Entertainment Group, the new arena operator, will be $58.75 million, according to the terms of the agreement, and the Sacramento Kings owners, the Maloof family, is bringing in $73.25 million.

The term sheet outlines the specifics of who pays for what to get a new arena built downtown and provides a framework for negotiations with potential parking operators – the linchpin in the city’s ability to meet its part of the deal.

Representatives of the Think Big Committee, the group spearheading the arena effort for the city, have said they expect to get more than $200 million up front for agreeing to a 50-year lease of the city’s parking operations.

“We think that is a fairly conservative number,” Kunal Merchant, Mayor Kevin Johnson’s chief of staff, said of the estimate.

That dollar amount is negotiable, however, and will depend on a number of factors including the length of the parking lease and concessions made to protect parking rates from escalating.

Merchant said the team owners are going to work with the city to pay their current loan in full with the help of new bonds issued by the city to retire the existing loan.

“(The Maloofs) would still pay the old loan until new bonds are issued,” Merchant said. “To their credit, they have always made their loan payments.”

A new loan will release the current arena and land in Natomas as collateral on the current loan, making it possible for Power Balance Pavilion and the surrounding land to be sold or reused.

“This is great for Natomas, too,” Merchant said.

“We get three more years of economic activity thanks to the Kings being there, and (meanwhile) the community gets to ask a cool question, ‘What’s next? What’s the right way to redevelop and reuse this land?’ ” Merchant said.

City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby, who represents the Natomas area in District 1, declined to comment, she said, until she has time to fully review the term sheet.

The new arena plan includes a 30-year commitment from the Kings to stay in Sacramento, and a 30-year operating lease with AEG.

There is also a guarantee by the ICON-Taylor team to deliver a completed facility by September 2015 – in time for the start of the 2015-16 basketball season – and cost overrun protection, assuring the city of a $391 million final price tag.

Another detail in the term sheet is a revenue-sharing plan between the city and AEG from operating profits at the entertainment and sports complex.

The tiered revenue-sharing plan gives the city 15 percent of the first $10 million net operating profit from the facility, and 30 percent of the next $5 million of profit. The city would get 50 percent of all net profit after that.

A primary concern expressed by City Council members has been protecting the general fund through the process of financing and building a new arena.

Merchant said Wednesday that the financing plan addresses that concern.

“Long term ... we’re going to back-fill the general fund, by and large, through revenues generated by the facility – user fees, ticket surcharges, things like that,” he said.

“Before the facility opens, there won’t be those revenues, so, as we move forward with the parking opportunity – which we hope will generate a lot of upfront dollars – part of those dollars will be separated out from the arena project to back-fill the general fund in those first few years,” he said.

City representatives have been briefing City Council members on the details of the term sheet since Tuesday, Merchant said, and Johnson encouraged council members to “poke holes” in the plan to make sure all of their questions are answered.

The City Council will discuss the full term sheet March 6. If the council votes to approve the deal, city staff will pursue a potential parking lessee, and the arena project will move into the design stage – the first step toward breaking ground on the new facility.

To read the term sheet for the Sacramento Entertainment and Sports Complex, click here.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Followher on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

The Sacramento Press on 'Insight': Getting closer to a new arena

2012-02-29T00:48:52Z

Tuesday on Insight on Capital Public Radio, I spoke with host David Watts Barton and Think Big Sacramento Executive Director Chris Lehane about the tentative arena deal brokered in Orlando that will keep the Kings in Sacramento.

The framework of the agreement was negotiated over the three-day NBA All-Star Weekend during numerous closed-door discussions between Mayor Kevin Johnson, a delegation from Sacramento, Kings’ owners and NBA officials.

The exact terms of the deal will be revealed Thursday, but early reports from the mayor’s office indicated it includes an estimated $75 million contribution from Kings’ owners, the Maloof family, and an estimated $60 million from arena operator Anschutz Entertainment Group.

The Maloofs are reportedly putting up an additional $75 million over 30 years in ticket surcharge revenue from Kings games at the new entertainment and sports complex.

“(This agreement) is the result of everyone stepping up to get (a deal) done,” Lehane said Tuesday. “Arena supporters and Kings’ fans can breathe a sigh of relief now that the team has shown their commitment to staying in Sacramento.”

The deal is far from locked in, however. After the exact terms of the agreement are released Thursday, the City Council will have until March 6 to review the details and prepare for a discussion and vote on the issue.

City Council members have expressed concern about unanswered questions in the financing of a new entertainment and sports complex – primarily related to the potential impact on the general fund from leasing the city’s parking inventory.

If the city completes a lease agreement with a private parking operator, the city stands to lose approximately $9 million in parking revenue annually.

Johnson and Think Big Sacramento representatives have said that there would be no parking deal without a way to replace that lost revenue in the general fund. The means of “backfilling” or recouping that revenue loss have not yet been identified, however.

Another concern that some council members expressed was a desire for regional contribution to the financing of the new entertainment and sports complex.

The County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to contribute evening and weekend use of three county-owned parking facilities near the downtown railyards site, and to contribute the revenue from that use toward the financing of the new arena. That contribution is expected to be approximately $3 million annually.

Five City Council members stood with Johnson at his weekly press conference Feb. 21 as he discussed an adjusted timeframe for delivering an arena financing term sheet to the public.

It seemed to be a show of support from council members for an arena deal – with the caveat that they still need to see the specifics of a deal before they cast their votes.

Johnson has not confirmed that he has the necessary votes to move forward on the arena, but he said in an email statement Monday that the arena deal would not be possible without the support of city staff, the community and the City Council.

“And that's what we've got in Sacramento,” he added.

The City Council will discuss the entire term sheet March 6 and vote whether to continue moving toward a new arena.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

City, NBA, Kings reach arena deal: Here they stay

2012-02-27T21:17:26Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson headed back to Sacramento Monday from Orlando with news that an agreement has been reached to keep the Kings in Sacramento.

"Today is a new day for Sacramento and a defining moment for our community,” Johnson said in an email statement Monday.

The terms of the agreement include an upfront contribution of nearly $75 million from the Kings’ owners, the Maloof family, and an additional $75 million over the life of the deal through ticket surcharges.

The exact terms of the agreement are expected to be made public by Thursday – the original deadline set by the NBA to have a deal in place.

Johnson, the Maloofs and NBA representatives had been in discussions throughout the weekend in Orlando attempting to piece together a deal that Johnson called “a win-win” for all parties.

A City Council vote on an arena agreement was initially set for Tuesday – ahead of the March 1 deadline – however, city and NBA representatives revised the timeline last week, pushing the scheduled discussion and vote to March 6.

“None of this would be possible without support across the board – from the (City) Council to city staff to the entire community,” Johnson said in the email. “I am as proud as I have ever been to be from Sacramento."

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Mayor, NBA Commissioner release adjusted arena timeline

2012-02-22T22:31:50Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson and NBA Commissioner David Stern released a joint statement today outlining an updated timeline for finalizing terms of a new arena deal for Sacramento.

According to the release, the city of Sacramento and the NBA are continuing “constructive discussions” on the details of a financing plan for a new entertainment and sports complex.

Johnson said at his weekly press conference Tuesday that details of a completed financing term sheet were expected to be available to the public by Thursday, in advance of a Feb. 28 City Council discussion and vote on the plan.

Wednesday’s press release, however, offers an adjusted timeline in an effort to “ensure adequate time for public and City Council review of any proposed financing plan,” Johnson said in the release.

The new timeline – called the “work plan” – follows this nine-day outline:

Feb. 22 – Feb. 25: City officials and city representatives continue to review terms with NBA officials and representatives.

Feb. 26: Johnson and select city representatives will meet with Stern, other NBA officials and representatives of the Maloof family in Orlando

Feb. 27 – Feb. 29: Final discussions and briefings.

3/1: If a plan has been agreed to, Think Big committee representatives will publicly announce in the form of a proposed term sheet

After the term sheet is made available, the public and City Council members will have until March 5 to review the proposed financing plan, the release states.

The City Council will consider both the proposed term sheet and a companion plan at the March 6 council meeting to ensure there is no impact to the city’s general fund, the release stated.

The council will also consider public-private parking partnership options and other funding opportunities at that meeting.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

City changes course on parking advisory plan

2012-01-19T02:54:53Z

City Manager John Shirey withdrew a contract Tuesday with two firms that the City Council planned to consider as financial and technical advisers in the search for a potential parking operator lessee, assistant city manager John Dangberg said Wednesday.

“We decided it just wasn’t the right direction to go for the process at this time,” Dangberg said.

The city hired the firms – Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Walker Parking Consultants – in September to take an inventory of the city’s parking and come up with an evaluation of potential profit from leasing out the assets.

Leasing out the city’s parking system is one of a handful of options under consideration for financing a new sports and entertainment center downtown.

The agreement would have allowed the firms to play an advisory role for the city, giving financial advice and technical assistance as the city searches for potential interest in leasing the parking system, according to a city staff report.

The City Council discussed a parking system report Dec. 13, and voted to move forward with a search for interested parties – called “request for qualifications,” or the RFQ process.

The no-fee agreement between the city and the firms would have been contingent on the city keeping the firms as advisers if the council moved on to the request for proposal stage of the game – that is, gathering actual offers.

At that time, the two firms would negotiate a fee agreement with the city for continued services, according to the contract.

Now, Dangberg said, the city is continuing with the RFQ process but will not seek advisers until the RFP stage.

If the firms were hired as exclusive advisers to the city, it would be a conflict of interest for them to respond to the RFQ or to bid on any proposal to lease city parking assets, Jeremiah Jackson, Think Big Sacramento project manager, said Thursday.

The RFQ process is expected to last until the end of January, and – if potential operators are discovered – the city could move on to the request for proposal stage.

Dangberg said that the city will have advisers through the RFP stage, and it’s possible that Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Walker Parking Consultants will be part of the larger advisory team, but final decisions have not been made yet about the number or makeup of a future advisory group.

The city has until March 1 to come up with a solid plan for building a new sports and entertainment complex before the Maloof family – owners of the Sacramento Kings – will have another opportunity to relocate the team.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

2011 recap: The fight to keep the Kings in Sacramento

2011-12-29T05:17:22Z

The question of whether Sacramento will get a new sports arena heated up this year, as Sacramento Kings owners threatened to relocate the team to Anaheim and potential arena sites – such as a land swap with Cal Expo – came and went.

Despite an emotional rollercoaster ride for Kings fans this year, supporters of the team refused to throw up their hands in defeat. Here’s what 2011 looked like from the bleachers.

As plans for a land swap between the state fairgrounds at Cal Expo and the current Natomas arena site fell through, a task force appointed by Mayor Kevin Johnson recommended that Sacramento developer group ICON-Taylor explore the viability of building an arena in the downtown area.

Business leaders from the Natomas Chamber of Commerce wanted the City Council to reject the task force recommendation, saying they felt Natomas was “fighting an uphill battle” against losing the then-named Arco Arena as the Kings’ home turf.

The owners of the Sacramento Kings, the Maloof family, confirmed suspicions that they were considering relocating the team to Anaheim by requesting a filing extension with the NBA to give the owners until at least April 14 – the day after the Kings season ended – to make a decision.

The NBA granted an extension to 5 p.m. May 2, and Kings fans went into overdrive to convince the Maloofs that the team should stay put.

Between a grassroots “Here We Stay” campaign, “painting the town purple” and sold-out games, there was little question of the importance Sacramentans placed on keeping the Kings in town.

Still, negotiations between the Maloofs and the city of Anaheim seemed to be well under way – until problems with financing emerged.

Anaheim was reportedly making plans to issue $75 million in lease revenue bonds to entice the team to move, but Sacramento city officials intervened, saying that the Maloofs would first have to repay $77 million in bond debt to Sacramento.

A private group successfully halted the issuance of the Anaheim bonds, and Billionaire Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle stepped up with plans to buy the Sacramento Kings from the Maloofs to keep the team in Sacramento.

Just before the final filing deadline to officially request relocating the team, an NBA relocation committee came to town and took over the Kings offices to study the possibility of keeping the Kings in Sacramento. The committee was welcomed with open arms – and plenty of purple.

At almost the same time, tribal leaders from Thunder Valley Casino pledged $1 million toward the effort to stop the Kings from moving to Anaheim, bringing the total of business pledges to keep the Kings in Sacramento to more than $10 million.

In addition to business interests, retired Kings player Chris Webber pledged his support – along with additional financial backing from private investors – to keep the effort going.

Finally, on the day of the filing deadline, the Maloofs announced they would not move the Kings out of Sacramento – this year.

The question of an adequate arena was still open, however, and NBA officials said they would support the team moving next year if a new arena could not be built to replace the Kings’ current facility, Power Balance Pavilion.

After a huge push for ticket sales to the next season, the Maloofs asked Johnson to stand in for them at the NBA draft lottery in New Jersey.

In June, with four months before the start of the 2011-12 basketball season, Kings supporters got down to business formulating a plan for a new arena – this time, with the help of a coalition of interested parties from business, sports, finance and development sectors.

The coalition – called the “Think Big” committee – worked on a self-imposed 100-day deadline to come up with a “menu of options” for financing a new entertainment and sports complex to be built at the railyards site downtown.

The Think Big committee released a series of reports over the 100-day period that discussed financing options including strategic use of public land, user fees and leasing the city’s parking system.

Two opinion polls surfaced – one commissioned by the Think Big committee and one by City Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy – to gauge public support of a new sports and entertainment complex. Despite the opposing results of the polls, Johnson and members of the Think Big committee continue to pursue a plan to build an arena and keep the Kings in Sacramento.

The latest aspect of the financing plan – leasing the city’s parking system to a private operator for an up-front lump payment to get construction under way – is in the earliest stages.

What’s next for the Kings and the city of Sacramento?

2012 promises fervent action on the part of supporters, developers and the entire Think Big committee to have a solid arena plan in place before the March 1 deadline for Kings’ owners to once again attempt to relocate the team.

Meanwhile, Kings fans are filling seats for games, staying positive and hanging on for the final loop-de-loop of this wild ride.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Mayor: City is at 'critical juncture' on the road to new arena

2011-12-28T01:41:33Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson spoke confidently Tuesday about the possibility of a new entertainment and sports complex becoming a reality for Sacramento – despite the challenges ahead.

“We are at a critical juncture in this process,” Johnson said. “On the court, our team needs to play well. Off the court, I feel good about the progress we’re making on the new entertainment sports complex and the financing.”

Johnson said that – on the public side of the equation – the city is moving forward with its “due diligence” on a plan to lease out the city parking system as part of the financial plan for a new arena.

“On the private side,” Johnson added, “AEG and ICON and all those folks are doing their part, and we are in negotiations now with the NBA and the Maloofs and all the parties involved. We’d like to be in a good position by the March 1 deadline.”

Proponents of a new sports and entertainment complex have until March 1 to solidify a plan to finance the new arena or the Kings owners will have an opportunity to file a request with the NBA to relocate the team.

At the Dec. 13 City Council meeting, Johnson and council members voted to gauge the interest of investors – through a process called “request for qualifications” – in taking over the city’s parking system as a key component of the finance picture for a new arena.

The RFQs were scheduled to be sent Dec. 22, but city consultants suggested holding off until after the new year, creating a delay in the process.

Johnson said that, despite the RFQs being issued later than expected, he has been assured by the city manager’s office that the delay will not affect the city timeline in a significant way.

“I was a little disappointed because I thought we could get (the RFQs) out even with the two weeks (of holidays) so people would know how things are going,” Johnson said Tuesday, “but I’ve been assured that it won’t slow us down at all.”

Once the city receives responses to the RFQs, the city manager and the City Council will have a better idea of how much the city’s parking assets may net. The initial analysis of the plan to lease the parking system showed a range of $170 million to just over $240 million.

Johnson said Tuesday, however, that he believes the gain from the parking assets for the entertainment and sports complex financing plan may be larger than anticipated.

“It’s not deeply rooted in science or empirical data,” Johnson said, “but I do think we can come in higher than we think – and that’s just my gut feeling.”

Johnson said he thinks the city and Kings fans have come a long way from April 13, when it seemed the Kings were about to play their last game in Sacramento.

“I think we are going to get it done, but there’s work to do,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be very challenging, and there are lots of moving parts (in the process), but I think council will step up, the NBA will step up and we will be able to create a win-win-win for all parties.”

The push for a new sports arena has been ramping up since the Sacramento Kings owners, the Maloof family, announced earlier in the year that they might move the team to Anaheim.

The Sacramento Press will take a more in-depth look Wednesday at how Sacramento has faced the possibility of losing the only major professional sports team in the city.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for the Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Kings owners, NBA await arena next steps

2011-05-27T02:03:57Z

The Sacramento Kings' majority owners reacted positively to a new plan for a proposed $387 million arena project unveiled Thursday, but admitted they're anxious to see whether the plan can be turned into reality.

Developers told the Sacramento City Council a $241 million arena, with a total project cost of $387 million, could be built by early 2015 if a mix of public and private funding can be pulled together.

During a two-and-a-half-hour presentation, ICON Venue Group President Tim Romani, Sacramento developer David Taylor and others on an arena development team provided the public with many details of the plan.

Afterward, team co-owners Gavin and Joe Maloof told reporters they have a "very positive reaction" to the current prospects for building a new home for the Sacramento Kings.

"We have a lot better feeling now than we have in the past," Joe Maloof said in a press conference in the lobby of City Hall.

Acknowledging the plan as "a great first step," Gavin Maloof said the family is "anxiously looking forward to the next steps." He called on the region to help see the project get financed and built, rather than leaving an arena-building campaign to the city and Sacramento County as in earlier efforts.

"Hopefully we can get it done," Maloof said. "We need everyone's help. We need every single county to come forward to help in this effort. We need every city in this region to help out and come forward for this effort. It can't be done by one city and one county alone.

A 675,000-square-foot arena with 18,594 seats, 74 luxury suites, 2,080 premium and club seats and other amenities could be constructed, Romani said when the arena team presented an arena feasibility report at a special council meeting Thursday afternoon.

"We designed a building that we believe is right-sized for the market," Taylor told the City Council.

Power Balance Pavilion in Natomas, the current home of the Sacramento Kings, can seat up to 17,317 and has 30 luxury suites and 712 club seats.

The team also recommends that the public own the facility, Taylor said.

“We've got to make sure we protect our interests as a community,” he said.

The arena's construction is estimated to cost $241 million. Total project costs are estimated at nearly $387 million to include start-up expenses, sales and marketing, land acquisition and site development, design and other professional services, project administration, and more than $16 million in fees and permits applied by the city and other entities, Romani said.

Most arena projects around the country see permit costs of 1 percent, said Romani, adding the team was surprised to discover that.

The cost per square foot in 2013 would be $358, compared to an average of $362 per square foot for 12 other NBA arenas built recently, said Dale Koger, vice president and general manager of Turner Construction Sports.

“This building is exciting, it's efficient and it's very cost-effective," he said.

The developers couldn't provide the council with a list of financing options developed specifically for the Sacramento region Thursday after the Maloofs didn't turn over financial information until recently.

A location on city land in the downtown railyards is preferred. But city land in Natomas could also hold a new entertainment and sports complex where the National Basketball Association team would be the anchor tenant. About $3.4 million in site work costs could be saved if the facility is built in Natomas, Romani said.

Only three out of 30 NBA teams play in arenas that aren't located in downtowns.

"Every other team in the NBA does, in fact, play in a downtown-located facility. Clearly, the trend is there," Romani said.

The NBA-compliant arena has been designed to be compact and intimate and to comply with National Hockey League guidelines. The facility would also be integrated with plans for a regional transit center the city plans to build on adjacent railyards land, according to the team.

The arena's size, amenities and on-site practice facilities could change following dialogue with the Kings' owners, the Maloof family, and other stakeholders.

The owner of the arena would be a public entity, most likely a joint powers authority. Officials, developers and the Maloofs still need to discuss whether the Maloofs, the city or someone else would be the arena developer and/or operator. By including a third-party developer or operator, the possible sources of private funding would be bigger, according to the report.

Developers proposed Power Balance Pavilion be turned into an office complex. An appraiser hired by the team determined the 185 acres of city land there is worth between $8.5 million to $11.6 million today, but may double in value within three years, Taylor said.

Council members also reacted positively to the plan. Councilman Rob Fong noted he and others on the council have worked "long and hard" to get a new facility built.

"This is a great day for the city of Sacramento," Fong said. "We have never been (nearly) this far down the road."

The developers have put together a list of possible financing sources. They used information from five similar NBA markets to create the arena's design and programming.

In order for the arena to be completed by early 2015, the environmental review of the project must begin this summer and be completed by the summer of 2012, design must begin in September and construction must begin by January 2013.

The focus will now shift to how the facility will be paid for, Mayor Kevin Johnson said.

Under a 100-day plan, developers and government officials must come up with the financing model and funding options by August. Funding must be secured by the March 2012 deadline set by the NBA and the Maloofs, who agreed to keep the Kings in Sacramento until then to give the city time to work on the arena effort.

Several people applauded Johnson, the city and developers for their work on the feasibility study during the public hearing portion of the meeting. Downtown Sacramento Partnership Executive Director Michael Ault, Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau President Steve Hammond and Sacramento Metro Chamber President Matt Mahood were among a handful of people who made comments.

The NBA also reacted positively to the feasibility report. League officials are "encouraged" by the process that's been undertaken and the support for a new arena that's come from Johnson, business leaders and fans, NBA Commissioner David Stern later said.

"The focus now is moving forward in developing a public-private partnership financing model that will bring a new arena to fruition," Stern said in a prepared statement. "That is priority No. 1 in Sacramento for all of us.”

The facility could be finished in time for the 2014 NBA season if enough funding becomes available to speed up the process, Romani said.

"I'm here to tell you that all the key ingredients are here in Sacramento," Romani said. "Power Balance Pavilion has served the city well for the last 26 years. But clearly, its best days have come and gone."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter at The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

DWB: OK, I get it

2011-05-12T00:04:26Z

I attended the Kings victory rally at Cesar Chavez Plaza last night, but I did so reluctantly. I am on record as being somewhat immune to Kings fever, to say the least. I appreciate them for what they do for the town, and I am sensitive to what their departure would mean for us as a city.

It wouldn’t be good.

But I’m not a fan. So I went grudgingly, mostly because I live nearby and it was on my way somewhere else. It was a news event regarding a crucial current concern. Why not?

I left, if not a believer, then certainly more engaged than I had been, and even a little moved.

I don’t love the Sacramento Kings, but I have loved the Giants of old, the A’s in their heyday and the 49ers when they were magic. I have tasted the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat – at least vicariously. I get it.

But I’d forgotten that feeling until Tuesday night.

That’s because Tuesday night’s rally, a high-tech extravaganza assembled by the NBA in a mere five days, starring all the major figures of the last month’s drama from mayor to Maloofs, former players to local rock stalwarts Tesla, did exactly what it was intended to do.

It made the case by speaking to the heart.

There was a stage, the likes of which Cesar Chavez Plaza has likely never seen (and which would be a terrific asset for the just-starting Friday Night Concerts in the Park series), with a huge video screen looming above it, below the antique clock tower of Old City Hall. There were impassioned speeches from professional commenters Gary Gerould and Grant Napear, appearances by former players Doug Christie and Scot Pollard, and shirt-sleeved fist pumping from amped-up pols Mayor Kevin Johnson and State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

And throughout the crowd, there was a palpable sense of community, a shared interest that transcended the fact that it was, as I have said, “only a basketball team.” Rock bands, are, after all, “only rock bands.” It is what they evoke in us that matters. And in the depths of the worst economy this town has experienced in our lifetimes, we need whatever works to bring us together.

In the last month, through the efforts of everyone from our media-savvy mayor to little-known bloggers, a serious citywide effort was made to reach a seemingly unattainable goal. And the result surprised nearly everyone: The Kings are the Sacramento Kings for one more year.

While basketball doesn’t move me, music does, in ways hardly anything else can. So when Tesla took the stage at the end of the three-hour rally to play their hit “Signs,” backed by a video montage of 25 years of fans’ signs from Kings games giving a brief history of what is by any measure a powerful team/fan relationship, I was moved. When the band launched into its hit “Love Song,” and the video screens filled with clips of emotional, big-game moments, I have to admit that I choked up.

Sure, I was being manipulated – the high-quality production had NBA all over it – but it was a good kind of manipulation. It communicated the depth of the passion Kings fans have for their team, and underlined the history of this team’s time in Sacramento so well that even a fairly cynical, disinterested observer could FEEL it.

Now, feelings are not going to keep this team in Sacramento. And despite the mayor’s cheerleading, Chris Webber’s rich investor friends and the reluctant Maloofs’ reborn enthusiasm for Sacramento, keeping the team here seems like a long shot.

And the odds of the hard-pressed citizens of this city ponying up for the shiny new arena that the Kings require are not good.

But if the NBA and the Kings and everyone who really cares about the team can capture that lightning in a bottle and keep this fire burning until the March 1, 2012 deadline, I am not going to say it can’t be done.

Love and passion are powerful things. It’s going to be an interesting year.

Chris Webber, NBA amp up aid for Kings and arena

2011-05-04T00:58:03Z

Forces now allied behind the Sacramento Kings gathered steam Tuesday in their collective bid to build a more successful team and move the region closer to constructing a new arena.

That effort will be aided by retired Kings player Chris Webber, who said on television Monday night he's lined up private investors to fund a new arena in place of taxpayers.

"Within the year, we're going to make some special things happen," Webber said on TNT's "Inside the NBA." "The goal is to keep the team there."

Webber hinted about his involvement on Twitter Monday after the Kings' owners announced they'd leave the team here for at least one year to give Sacramento more time to pursue building a new sports and entertainment facility.

"SACRAMENTO! It's true! One more year!" Webber tweeted. "But trust me! We are working to make it a lifetime!"

Webber has told Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson in recent conversations he wants to be involved. But they're still figuring out what form that might take, Johnson said in a press conference at City Hall Tuesday.

"He's going to play some role," Johnson said.

Nine staffers from the National Basketball Association arrived in Sacramento Tuesday. They immediately began working at Power Balance Pavilion on the Maloofs' priorities: season ticket sales and corporate sponsorships, Kings spokesman Troy Hanson said.

"They hit the ground running in assisting with all avenues of business operations," he said.

Maloof Sports & Entertainment launched a hiring blitz of more than 20 people as sales kicked off for season tickets Monday night. Demand has been strong since then, said Hanson, who did not provide details.

Meetings are being set up with the NBA, the Maloofs, arena developers, regional elected officials and Kings’ corporate sponsors to continue building on the momentum and energy unleashed in Sacramento in the effort to keep the team from moving to Anaheim, Johnson said.

"Our attitude today is we can't let up," Johnson said.

He expects to meet with the NBA this week. The mayor also said he plans to meet this week or next with the Maloofs. His top priority: getting financial statements from the Kings' last four years. The city of Sacramento and the ICON-Taylor development team needs the information for an arena feasibility study due to be completed by May 26.

They've sought the information for months, but the Maloofs held off while making a decision about whether to move to Anaheim.

That meeting couldn't be confirmed by Hanson.

Support from NBA staff on the ground in Sacramento helps the Maloofs' organization fill holes left by staff who jumped ship over the last year, and especially in the last month or two, before the decision was made about Anaheim.

NBA personnel will give the Maloofs the capacity to be "aggressive" with ticket and suite sales and corporate sponsorships for the 2011/2012 season, which begins in October, Johnson said.

Some NBA staff may work here for just a week or two, while a few may stay far longer, he said.

The NBA has agreed to support a move by the team if sufficient progress isn't made on replacing Power Balance Pavilion by March 1, 2012.

The arena study should be able to propose contribution levels and pinpoint possible gaps in available funding as soon as May 26 but no later than July, Johnson said.

The NBA will be involved in establishing the level of contribution by the Maloofs. Many basketball teams contribute financially to new arenas by signing long-term leases, as NBA Commissioner David Stern said Monday.

Johnson said he will tell the Maloofs they'll need to participate in "a real way" in the public/private partnership that’s expected to be needed to finance a new arena.

"It's got to be real, where our community feels it," he said.

NBA officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Sacramento Kings to stay another year

2011-05-03T01:03:12Z

The owners of the Sacramento Kings announced Monday the team will stay put for at least one more season – giving the region and the National Basketball Association time for one final push to build a new arena.

NBA officials quickly announced a commitment to make one last effort over the next 10 months to pave the way to replace Power Balance Pavilion. The league is sending nine people to Sacramento Tuesday to provide expert support in the regional effort to construct a new arena and to help the Kings' owners, the Maloofs, lead the team to a successful next season, NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a teleconference Monday afternoon.

Kings fans, elected officials and business leaders reveled in the news after such an outcome seemed impossible roughly two weeks earlier, when Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson appeared before National Basketball Association team owners to argue the case for keeping the Kings here. At that time, the team's move to Anaheim seemed certain.

On Monday morning, more than 125 people turned out for a celebratory press conference outside City Hall.

"This is one of the proudest moments in my life because the community believed when no one else did," Johnson said. "This was our playoffs. And Anaheim: We won!"

Video by Brandon Darnell.

An outpouring of support for the team from Johnson, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, regional elected officials, the business community and Kings fans convinced the NBA and the Maloofs to give the region until March 1, 2012, to make a substantial effort to provide a new home for the Kings, Stern said.

"We came away with a strong sense that this was worth the additional year because it seemed to us to be so important that the leaders of Sacramento ... would not allow the opportunity to pass without getting it done," said Stern, who had talked personally with Johnson and Steinberg about the current level of support for a new arena. "We are feeling pretty good about the prospects here."

Sacramento officials will need to present solid information about design, funding and timelines by then. However, if regional support for arena construction can't be galvanized and a plan isn't finalized by next spring, that will be the league's last effort to get an arena built here.

NBA officials, including members of the league's Relocation Committee, told the Maloofs the league would then support their decision to move "wherever they choose to go" in 2012/13, he said.

The Maloofs had a deadline to file a request to move the team by 5 p.m. Eastern time Monday.

In an announcement emailed shortly after 9 a.m. Monday, the Maloofs said fan support and Johnson's push to get a new arena built were instrumental in their decision not to ask the league for permission to move.

"The fans’ spirit and energy, specifically our season ticket holders, has been remarkable and we are truly thankful for their loyalty," they said in the prepared statement. "We also are greatly appreciative of the support from our corporate sponsors as well as other local businesses that have come forward in recent weeks."

The Maloofs weren't available to respond to questions following the announcement, a Kings spokesman said.

Local business leaders committed more than $10.2 million in financial support for the Kings if the team stayed another year.

The NBA didn't have to do any "arm-twisting" to get the Maloofs to stay one more year. Relocation Committee members suggested to the Maloofs that they'd support a move in a year if they agreed to stay but the effort proved unsuccessful, Stern said.

The decision to keep the team in the state capital came after an NBA fact-finding visit here in the last two weeks. Billionaire Henry Samueli, whose company Anaheim Arena Management manages Anaheim's Honda Center, upped the ante in his bid to lure the team to Anaheim.

He offered to provide a personal loan of at least $75 million to the Maloofs and personally invest more than $70 million for improvements at the Honda Center.

Officials with the city of Anaheim and Anaheim Arena Management, owned by Samueli, are disappointed by the decision. But they will continue their effort to bring the NBA there soon, they said in emailed statements.

“The bottom line is this: The final chapter has not been written," Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait said. "Anaheim will continue to move forward and we remain optimistic to one day welcoming professional basketball to Anaheim.”

Anaheim Arena Management Chairman Michael Schulman added, "We are continuing our pursuit of an NBA team for our venue.... We look forward to securing a franchise for area fans in the very near future.”

Billionaire Ron Burkle's interest in buying the Kings to keep the team in Sacramento – or buying another team if they left – helped keep the region in the game in the eyes of the NBA, Johnson said.

Burkle and the Burkle Group are still interested in being part owners of the Kings. No discussion has been set up with the Maloofs since the decision to remain in Sacramento was announced, but the family knows how to get in touch with the group, San Francisco investor Darius Anderson said following the press conference.

"We would love to be here as part of the ownership group," said Anderson, who took part in the press conference.

In one year, the Maloofs will want to see a "critical path" laid to build a new arena. But ground doesn't need to be broken by then, Johnson said.

Building a new arena for Kings games, big concerts and other events would be catalytic for development downtown, especially in the railyards, Westfield Downtown Plaza and K Street Mall, said Johnson, describing the issue as “bigger than basketball."

"If we go forward and build a sports and entertainment complex, it's going to prove to all of us that we can find a way to make big things happen," he said. "We always felt like this could be a turning point for our community and our region working together.”

Johnson wasn’t the only person who appeared to be all smiles at the press conference. Developer David Taylor, who is working on an arena feasibility study for the city, Assistant City Manager John Dangberg and Sacramento Metro Chamber President Matt Mahood also beamed.

Johnson described Steinberg, also at the press conference, as a “scrappy fighter” who worked “in the trenches with us all along the way.” The two leaders communicated constantly throughout the weekend.

Sacramento City Council members are ready to start meeting to determine how to build an arena, Councilman Rob Fong said at the press conference.

The Maloofs called Johnson early Monday morning to tell him about their decision and say they’re committed to working with the city for the next year. The mayor will meet with the Maloofs this week to talk about how to move forward.

The arena feasibility study is expected to be completed by the end of May. Officials will then present options for public/private financing of the arena to the community so an arena can be built and the Kings never leave, Johnson said.

Chris Granger, executive vice president of the NBA's Team Marketing and Business Operations, senior NBA communications advisor Brian McIntyre and seven others from the NBA will arrive in Sacramento by Tuesday. No meetings have been finalized with the mayor’s office, Johnson’s staff said.

They will provide all the support they can to the Maloofs. They will work in “all aspects” of team operations, including marketing, finance, ticket sales and corporate sponsorship. They’ll also work with politicians, planners and others during a campaign to build a new arena, Stern said.

Stern said he considers it a failure for the NBA to lose any market, especially one as supportive as Sacramento.

It would be fair if the Maloofs and anyone else who’s watched the team’s efforts to build a new arena over the last 10 years are skeptical that it can get done this time. Still, NBA officials and staff will provide all the support they can to see if this “shared vision” can become reality, he said.

"If not, then it will be our shared failure,” Stern said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

DWB: OK, breathe

2011-05-02T18:54:09Z

George Maloof's comment this morning that keeping the Kings in Sacramento for one more year is "the right thing to do" struck me as disingenuous.

Since when is "doing the right thing" the way the Maloofs operate? This was not a decision based on principle. It was based on money, and a lot of other things far beyond the M-Bro's control. They simply weren't able to pull the move off. Yet.

That said, this morning's announcement that the Kings will be staying in Sacramento is unalloyed good news. Whether or not the Kings staying in Sacramento is ultimately the "right" thing for Sacramento is still up in the air; but today, it is very much a good thing.

Whether that remains true going forward depends on a lot of things coming together.

We still need a decent arena; the Maloofs still need to get their finances together and start spending money on the team; and there is a lot of resentment at the Maloofs for their handling of this. They have a lot of fence-mending to do.

A few things have come out of this dramatic, constantly-changing story of the last few weeks, months and even years:

One: Sacramento loves the Kings. I have taken heat for saying that Sacramento would recover from their loss, and I still believe that, but it was in no way a good thing that they would leave. Having a pro team brings a city many advantages, from tangible to intangible.

Two: Sacramento does NOT love the Maloofs, and the NBA doesn't seem exactly enamored of them, either. Once they've got their finances figured out, assuming they can, the M-Bros need to hire an exceptionally good publicity team and go on a charm offensive the likes of which this town has never seen. At least for a year.

Three: Mayor Kevin Johnson stepped up. Like him or loathe him, and there are many in both camps, the guy worked tirelessly to make sure that Sacramento did not lose the Kings. He led. There are many things a leader must do, and being the mayor of Sacramento comes with a lot of complicating factors.

But Johnson climbed into the bully pulpit, starting talking and cajoling and reaching out to the business community, and he didn't stop until the deal was done - or undone. And he introduced some new possibilities in terms of ownership and corporate support. So give the man some credit: He was a credible, passionate and tireless voice for Sacramento, which is what he has always claimed to be. He was mayoral.

Four: A new arena remains the key to this whole thing. Those who say we don't need one basically don't know what they're talking about. An arena also remains a key to downtown Sacramento's future. Without an arena, Kings or no, we are less than a second-tier city, and it will come back to haunt us in many different ways.

Sacramento will get its best vision of how that can be done when the Taylor/ICON group delivers its analysis of the ways to get to an arena built later this month. Most likely, it will have to include public funding. This is the sort of things public money is for: Infrastructure.

But even George Maloof sounded doubtful about that this morning. "Is it even right to ask people to pay for it?" he asked rhetorically in The Bee this morning. It is a question that will get a lot of play, and a lot of opinion, before it is settled.

But one thing is very clear now: Without a new arena, the Kings are gone, next year, with the NBA's blessing. Sacramento has a lot of work to do, and a lot to talk about. We need to figure out what we want to be. There will be even more name calling and speculation and conflict over this than we've already had.

But this morning, the news is good: Sacramento, the Kings and a new arena all got a reprieve, and that is good news. Onward.

Kings decision coming down to wire

2011-04-30T00:52:29Z

With just three days to go before the Kings' deadline to file for relocation, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said Friday he's not sure who has the ball – but Sacramento officials hope a regionally coordinated effort to build an arena will make enough of a difference that the National Basketball Association and the Kings' owners keep the team here another year.

Billionaire Henry Samueli, whose company manages Anaheim's Honda Center, upped the ante Wednesday when he offered to personally invest more than $70 million for improvements at the Honda Center and provide a personal loan of at least $75 million to the Maloofs.

Samueli, who owns the Anaheim Ducks hockey team, also revealed $30 million - $40 million in corporate commitments for the Kings and a six-year TV contract worth $144 million from several networks, an Anaheim Arena Management spokesman confirmed.

Since then, billionaire Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle hasn't come forward with any additional financial incentives to keep the team in Sacramento. Johnson said he thinks the Maloofs haven't "engaged" with Burkle to discuss his desire to buy the Kings, but he doesn't know if the Kings' majority owners might be interested in talking with Burkle if the team stays in Sacramento.

Friday afternoon, Johnson described himself and other officials as "hopeful" and "cautiously optimistic" the team will remain here. The Kings' owners, the Maloofs, are facing more of a fight in their effort to relocate the team than expected, he added in a press conference after a meeting with regional elected officials.

"I think it's pretty clear that they're in a situation where it's not as easy to go to Anaheim as maybe they thought it would be before, and that Sacramento has put forth an attractive alternative or counter-proposal," Johnson said after the meeting at Sacramento Area Council of Governments headquarters. "Money can't buy you the love that I think our community has shown this franchise over the last 26 years."

The Maloofs have a deadline of 2 p.m. Monday to file a request to move the team, Kings spokesman Troy Hanson said.

Samueli and other Anaheim Arena Management officials haven't talked with the NBA since Wednesday, when a conference call was held with the Maloofs.

The NBA's Relocation Committee, chaired by Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clay Bennett, has gathered information about both Sacramento and Anaheim as markets for the Kings. Some of that information was collected by Bennett and others on a fact-finding mission that began here last week.

The committee will report its finding to the NBA Board of Governors only if the Maloofs file a relocation request. The board then has 120 days to vote on relocation, sources said.

NBA officials would not discuss the relocation request process.

About 30 people – the majority of them elected officials – gathered at SACOG Friday morning to get an update from Sacramento's mayor on Kings developments. Attendees included Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna; mayors from Folsom, Elk Grove and Yuba City; Sacramento City Councilmen Steve Cohn, Rob Fong and Jay Schenirer; Downtown Sacramento Partnership Executive Director Michael Ault; and representatives from state and U.S. elected officials.

Sacramento Developer David Taylor also attended the meeting. He told the elected officials Friday that his company and ICON Venue Group have "all the pieces in place" to finish an analysis of how to build and finance a new arena, but they need another month to complete it.

If the Kings stay, regular regional meetings will be held to focus on replacing Power Balance Pavilion with a bigger arena.

Taylor discussed the need to build an arena that fits the Sacramento region’s market. That may mean a 650,000-square-foot arena. That would replace Power Balance Pavilion, which seats up to 17,317 people in 442,000 square feet. Originally called Arco Arena, the facility opened in 1988 at a cost of $40 million.

Johnson said he believes a collaboration by the region's six counties and 22 cities give Sacramento an advantage in a new effort to build an arena.

"It's the regional leadership and coordination of us working together (that) will be one of the things that is going to help us get the ball across the finish line as it comes to a new sports and entertainment complex," he said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Folllow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Anaheim bonds to need voter approval

2011-04-26T00:48:42Z

The Committee to Save the Kings has gathered enough signatures in Anaheim to halt the issuance of $75 million in bonds that was approved by the Anaheim City Council to fund a Sacramento Kings move to Anaheim, pending voter approval.

That’s according to Kellen Arno of Arno Political Consultants, which collected 11,000 - 12,000 signatures.

The next scheduled election is not until June of 2012.

The bonds will “absolutely have to” go before voters, he said.

According to Arno, his firm is finalizing the signatures – making sure the ones sent are all legible names and real addresses – and will send them to government officials in the next few days.

“We’re done,” he said, saying he is confident that all signatures have, in fact, been collected. “We’ve done this many, many times.”

The move essentially blocks the Kings from moving to Anaheim until voters approve the bonds or another source of funding is made available, attorney Jeffrey Dorso told The Sacramento Press April 8. A special election could be called before 2012, but it would be costly, he added.

The Committee to Save the Kings is made up of a number of Sacramento-area business leaders and involves former City Councilman Robbie Waters.

Representatives from the group did not return calls late Monday afternoon.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow him on Twitter @brandon_darnell.

*****

Also Monday, several sources confirmed that a meeting was expected to take place Tuesday between National Basketball Association representatives and business owners who had pledged more than $10.2 million in financial support for the Kings if they stay in Sacramento next year.

Company representatives, who attended a meeting with the NBA Thursday, had been asked Friday or over the weekend to tentatively reserve time at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The time and place of the meeting weren't confirmed by mid-Monday afternoon.

Those companies include Thunder Valley Casino Resort, Envision Pharmaceutical Holdings, Synergex, Western Health Advantage and Markstein Beverage Company.

NBA officials have said they want pledges to be formalized in some way. Company representatives weren't sure if they would be asked to write checks and make deposits on their pledges or just sign pledge agreements because that hadn't been clarified between the NBA and the city.

At least some of the companies can't commit hard financial numbers or determine the total they’d be willing to spend, because the Kings' owners haven’t talked with anyone to let them know what kind of sponsorship or marketing packages they could get in return, sources said.

Staff from the NBA's Team Marketing and Business Operations department will be here this week to meet with Kings supporters and gather more information.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @suzannehurt.

NBA may not visit Anaheim

2011-04-23T01:41:25Z

Sacramento has gotten no word from the National Basketball Association that the Kings are staying in town – but the league doesn't have plans yet to visit Anaheim, an NBA official said Friday.

League staff members will be in Sacramento Monday to collect more detailed information about financial support for the Kings and a new arena following a two-day visit Thursday and Friday by an NBA attorney and NBA Relocation Committee Chair Clay Bennett, who owns the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Bennett will report back to his committee next week, said Tim Frank, the NBA's senior vice president of Basketball Communications.

However, NBA officials have not scheduled a similar fact-finding mission to Southern California, Frank said.

"No trip planned at the moment for Anaheim," he wrote in an email.

The Kings' owners, the Maloofs, said Friday they have not yet made a decision about whether to file a relocation request to move the team. The deadline is May 2.

On Thursday, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and other elected official asked the NBA to give the region a year to show they will be able to replace Power Balance Pavilion with a new home for the Kings.

The Los Angeles Times reported Friday afternoon NBA officials said they expect the Kings to stay in the state capital for the next year. However, the NBA has not told this to the city of Sacramento, Mayor Kevin Johnson said in a late-afternoon press conference.

"I have not heard that from David Stern's mouth. I have not heard that from Clay Bennett," said Johnson, who called the claim "too premature."

"I haven't heard anything close to that, by any means."

Still, Anaheim didn't sound like the happiest place on earth Friday. Mayor Tom Tait issued a brief statement saying he didn't want to respond to "unconfirmed reports."

“As we have said all along, Anaheim is an NBA-ready city,” he said in a prepared statement. “We put forth a great presentation at the NBA Board of Governors meetings in New York. And we are confident that we have established this region as a stand-alone market and that the NBA looks favorably on our city, our arena and our fans."

Anaheim city officials didn't wish to comment on the NBA having no visits scheduled for Anaheim, said Ruth Ruiz, spokeswoman for the city manager's office.

"That would be a decision for someone in the NBA to make," Ruiz said late Friday afternoon.

George Maloof told Johnson early this week they want to let Bennett and the NBA gather information before further discussing a possible move with the NBA or the city of Sacramento. The Maloofs repeated that in a prepared statement sent out Friday in response to reports the NBA has decided keep the Kings in Sacramento.

"We await the results of the fact-finding visit that the NBA made to Sacramento the past two days," according to the statement. "We have not made a decision with regards to relocation filing, and will not make that decision until we have more information from the NBA."

Johnson thanked Kings fans, the business community and other elected officials for their help in fighting "tooth and nail" to help keep the Kings in Sacramento.

By Friday, the Sacramento Metro Chamber, city and others had raised more than $10.2 million in pledges of financial support for the Kings if they stay.

"Clay Bennett got a chance to sit down and look face to face with the people who made these pledges, and they didn't flinch," Johnson said at City Hall.

NBA officials dined at Ella Thursday night and met from 9 a.m.- noon Friday with the Maloofs. Johnson said he rode to the airport with Bennett.

"They felt that our community had stepped up," Johnson said.

The mayor said NBA officials indicated they will say next week when they expect to make a decision, after meeting with the Kings and the Sacramento region's corporate community to discuss those pledges.

City officials and business leaders will have to wait until late May when an arena feasibility study is complete to start determining how new arena construction might be financed, he said.

Using a basketball analogy, Johnson said he no longer feels like Sacramento is behind in the game by 20 points. But he also doesn't yet feel like Sacramento has won the fight to keep the Kings.

"We've shrunk that lead to something manageable," he said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Fans, leaders roll out purple carpet for NBA

2011-04-21T01:20:32Z

A day before National Basketball Association representatives arrive in Sacramento, regional leaders gathered in the state capital Wednesday to show their support for what has until now been the city's effort to keep the Kings and build a new arena.

Kings fans and business leaders have launched a campaign called "Here We Purple" in anticipation of the NBA's arrival. The movement grew on Facebook and Twitter, where organizers are encouraging everyone in the city to paint the town purple and wear purple clothes Thursday and/or Friday.

Elected officials from as far away as Loomis, Yuba City and Yolo County joined Mayor Kevin Johnson for an hour-long meeting and press conference he held to drum up support for the team.

Johnson will meet with Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clay Bennett, who chairs the NBA Board of Governor's Relocation Committee, and NBA Executive Counsel Harvey Benjamin on their two-day fact-finding mission here Thursday and Friday.

The Kings and the arena where they play have been regional assets that have brought jobs, business, marketing opportunities and a national identity to the six-county region – which includes Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado, Yuba and Sutter counties, several leaders said.

"The NBA and the Kings span the entire region. They are not simply part of the city of Sacramento. They are one of the region's most important assets," West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon said during the press conference.

"We want to make it clear to the NBA that the entire region is standing behind Mayor Johnson, the city of Sacramento and the Kings to assure that the NBA remains a critical part of this community and this region," he said.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Kings fans and businesses used social media to get the word out on efforts to swathe Sacramento and its residents in purple.

Grange Restaurant and Bar will put the "Kings Preservation" cocktail on the menu Thursday. The Midtown bar Alley Katz is offering $1 purple beers Thursday. Restaurants, bars and a movie theater are offering freebies and special deals for customers dressed in purple. The Esquire IMAX Theatre will give away free popcorn to anyone wearing that color.

On Wednesday morning, about 36 people representing all six counties, six to eight cities and four chambers of commerce met with Johnson at the headquarters for the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, across from the Capitol. City Councilmen Steve Cohn and Jay Schenirer took part. Representatives were also sent by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, state Sen. Ted Gaines and U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui.

Yolo County Supervisor Jimmie Yee said he wants to work with leaders from throughout the region to figure out how to build a new arena to replace Power Balance Pavilion and keep the Kings in Sacramento.

"An entertainment center, not just for NBA basketball, but for all entertainment, is a regional asset," Yee said.

On Wednesday, Johnson did not mention another option he raised before the NBA team owners last week: that a group led by billionaire Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle buy the Kings to keep them here or bring in another team.

Neither Burkle nor his investment partner, San Francisco political strategist Darius Anderson, have been available for more comment on their plan since the NBA meeting.

On Friday, NBA Commissioner David Stern indicated Johnson's "businesslike" approach and presentation to team owners were critical in getting the league to postpone the team's relocation request deadline to May 2.

No details were available on the NBA's visit or meeting with the mayor.

Several at the press conference outside Meridian Plaza, 1415 L St., credited Johnson with turning the conversation around in the last two weeks to refocus on a desire to keep the Kings and continuing the efforts to stop the team from moving to Anaheim.

In that time, Johnson has led a drive that's raised at least $8 million in pledges of financial support for the team in the form of corporate sponsorships, luxury suite sales or next season tickets. He made a pitch to stop the Kings from leaving the city or at least protect Sacramento's reputation as a viable NBA market when he appeared before NBA Board of Governors committees last week.

"It's really critical and I think it's phenomenal that we have been able to turn around that sentiment that, two weeks ago, felt like it was a done deal," Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Steve Gándola said. "Today, I really feel we have a strong shot at keeping them here."

The Sacramento Press will turn its website purple Thursday. Kings supporters can post photos of people dressed in purple and other creative ways people show support for this effort at www.sacramentopress.com.

NBA group rolls into Sacramento this week

2011-04-18T23:00:45Z

A National Basketball Association committee will arrive in Sacramento this week to study the possibility of keeping the Kings here.

Reports surfaced Monday that a group of six would be coming here Tuesday to get more information about new financial support for the Kings. On Friday at the NBA Board of Governors meeting in New York, NBA Commissioner David Stern said team owners agreed to learn more about corporate sponsorships and other money that may be available to help the Kings make more money in Sacramento.

The only information that could be confirmed was that Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clay Bennett, who chairs the board's Relocation Committee, and NBA Executive Counsel Harvey Benjamin will be here Thursday and Friday, according to Tim Frank, the NBA's senior vice president of basketball communications.

An agenda has not been set yet, he said.

The Maloof family, which owns or controls a majority share of the Sacramento Kings, has been exploring a possible move to Anaheim. Last week, the NBA Board of Governors agreed to a second deadline extension for the Maloofs to seek permission to move – from April 18 to May 2.

Mayor Kevin Johnson's office is still working out meeting logistics with the NBA.

"We're putting together the details for the upcoming meetings," mayoral spokesman Joaquin McPeek said.

At least $7 million in commitments for corporate sponsorships and suite revenues were made to Johnson and business leaders including Sacramento Metro Chamber President and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Mahood shortly before the NBA Board of Governors meeting, which was held last Thursday and Friday.

The money was raised as Kings fans, Sacramento business leaders and Johnson and other city officials rally around various efforts to stop the Kings from going to Anaheim. A drive to collect about 10,000 Anaheim resident signatures and possibly block more than $75 million in bonds to help the Kings to move is going "very well" and is more than half way to its goal, said Kellen Arno of Arno Political Consultants in Carlsbad.

On Thursday, Johnson also told the NBA billionaire Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle and San Francisco investor Darius Anderson would like to buy the Kings or help the city draw another pro basketball team if the Kings move.

Mahood and others with the Metro Chamber continue to search for new corporate sponsors and suite holders to bring the Kings new revenue.

“The Sacramento Metro Chamber is currently working with the mayor’s office in the ongoing effort to demonstrate that Sacramento has been and will continue to be a viable NBA market for the Sacramento Kings," Mahood said in a prepared statement Monday.

Staff reporter Brandon Darnell contributed to this report. Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for the Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Go Time: Sacramento vs. Anaheim at NBA meeting

2011-04-14T00:37:34Z

In the world of professional basketball, Northern California is set to take on Southern California in two heated matchups over the next 24 hours. Only one of the competitions will take place on a basketball court.

Representatives from Sacramento and Anaheim are expected to appear before the National Basketball Association Board of Governors Thursday to discuss a Kings move to Anaheim and the future of basketball in Sacramento – just hours after the Sacramento Kings are set to go up against the Los Angeles Lakers at Power Balance Pavilion Wednesday night.

At the same time, different groups are working on efforts to keep the Kings in Sacramento or form an ownership group for a new team if the Kings leave. The Kings must file a request to move by April 18.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson planned to attend the Kings' last game of the regular 2010/2011 season, mayoral spokesman Joaquin McPeek said.

That could also be their last home game in Sacramento if the team moves to Anaheim before next season.

After the game, Johnson will fly to New York for a pivotal meeting involving the fate of the Kings. Johnson and Tim Romani, president of Colorado arena builder ICON Venue Group, are scheduled to address the board Thursday, McPeek said.

The mayor will stress the city's commitment to the Kings and construction of a new arena, as well as a move to find financial backers to bring a new team here if needed. Romani will update other NBA team owners on the effort to build a new arena, according to McPeek and the mayor's blog.

"The message will be brief, simple and honest: Sacramento has been a terrific NBA city," Johnson wrote in his blog Tuesday night. "We deserve a chance to maintain our place among other elite cities, if not with the Kings, then with another franchise."

The Maloofs, who own a majority share of the Kings, will also address the board. But whether they will formally request to move the team remained unclear Wednesday. The Maloofs won't comment on their plans, said Troy Hanson, vice president of media relations for the Kings.

"They're making a presentation to the board of governors tomorrow," Hanson said. "That doesn't (necessarily) mean that they file for relocation."

Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait and City Manager Tom Wood will focus on Anaheim in their comments to the board. They will likely tell the NBA the city is ready for a pro basketball team, and its Honda Center was built for two professional teams, said Ruth Ruiz, spokeswoman for the Anaheim city manager's office.

Billionaire Henry Samueli, president of Anaheim Arena Management, and other company representatives are also expected to attend.

A group called the Committee to Save the Kings has collected more than half of the roughly 10,000 signatures needed from Anaheim residents to possibly block $75 million in bonds to help the Kings move to Anaheim.

The Anaheim City Council agreed to issue the bonds on March 29. But a successful signature collection drive could force the issue to be decided by voters in June 2012 – which might block the Kings' relocation.

Tuesday night, former Kings player Chris Webber announced on TNT's postgame show he's involved in a separate effort to keep the Kings in Sacramento.

Others involved in that effort include Greg Van Dusen, who helped bring the Kings to Sacramento and later served as the team's executive vice president; Arco Arena architect Rann Haight; Tom Peterson, the Kings' former food and beverage vice president later put in charge of strategy and quality control for Maloof Sports and Entertainment; banker John Cassidy of Yuba City; and investment specialist Roger Stewart of Coeur D'Alene, Idaho.

Stewart represents an investment group that's attempting to acquire the $77 million bond debt the Maloofs owe the city, in exchange for control or ownership of Power Balance Pavilion and surrounding land. However, the details of such an acquisition would still need to be worked out with the city, the county and the Maloofs, Van Dusen said Wednesday.

The arena and land is currently owned by Sacramento taxpayers.

Webber surprised the group Tuesday night after he discussed the ongoing effort on national TV. Webber has told them he's willing to help lead a move to keep the Kings, Van Dusen said.

"He has the kind of charisma" needed to garner support, Van Dusen said. "The most spectacular years of his tremendous career were here in Sacramento. He has great passion for our community. He's willing to put his money where his heart is – which is a blessing for us."

Stewart is still reaching out to more potential investors. The Kings have indicated they're not interested in playing in a renovated arena. But the group believes one option could be to renovate the old Arco Arena, at least until a new arena can be built, Van Dusen said.

"If they have the chance to pull this off, it has the opportunity to buy us some time and be a real game-changer," he said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Kings Conspiracy - Part 2

2011-04-13T20:22:30Z

I wish someone could tell me why it came to this. Out of all the
places to move to, it ends up being where our arch rival dwells. To
leave a fan base that has given unconditional support for a team that
hasn't been great for much of the time since they've graced us with
their presence says a lot.

Speaking of “saying a lot,” many diehard Kings fans have begged and
pleaded for the Maloofs to reconsider their stance with the franchise.
I remember writing about them making an idiotic move like this in my
last piece, but I never thought it would happen so soon. Ever since
writing the first part of this article (which can be read here), I
have committed myself to following the business side of the team very
closely. With that said, it's only fit that I speculate on a few
things that could happen in the near future.

Let’s take a trip back down memory lane, when the Maloofs were
negotiating a naming rights deal with an anonymous organization that
ended up being Power Balance. Upon further research, it came to my
attention that they were based out of sunny Anaheim, California. Now,
I'm no rocket scientist, but it doesn't take two heads to realize that
the Maloofs might have been plotting this move all along.

Furthermore, the Maloofs hold their annual skateboarding competition
in the O.C., and this could be the very reason why they pondered
moving our only professional team down to SoCal. Having all your
sporting events take place in one area saves a lot of air miles, but
will the Maloofs really make more money in Anaheim?

I'd venture to say that they could. Anaheim has a bigger population
and the Honda Center has a lot more to offer than ARCO Arena... Oh,
excuse me, “Power Balance Pavilion.” But- when reality sets in, I
don't think they'll survive in the city of angels because of three
glaring reasons.

First off, you have two other professional basketball teams up the way
and they suck up most of the fan base that the Maloofs are looking to
convert. Secondly, there are other attractions in Southern California
besides sports, such as the beaches, nightlife and Donald Sterling.
Last, but not least, how much losing can those fans put up with since
the team is still in rebuilding mode and won't win a championship
anytime soon?

With all the other choices of entertainment in SoCal, what would make
the Maloofs think that Anaheim fans would choose to come see them
night in and night out?

David Stern has already proven that he shows no remorse for teams
moving from markets that have built solid fan bases. Seattle should've
never lost the Sonics, but they did because of weak government
officials. It's a little bit different in Sacramento because we're a
small market and the entire state of California isn't exactly in the
best financial shape right now.

The Maloofs need to recognize that there are other factors beyond the
team not playing well, that keep fans from filling the building. The
real estate market is in shambles at this current juncture and
employment is hard to come by in a city that doesn't have much
business to begin with. Schools are being shut down left and right
while homeless people have to sleep in tents through dreaded cold
nights. The Maloofs claimed that they wanted to see this rebuilding
effort all the way through, but now here they are, looking to move the
team 422 miles away.

Even though there have been many grass root efforts put together,
including Here We Stay and the Here We Build Movement, it looks like
the team might be packing those moving trucks sooner rather than
later. Seeing that Stern is all about having the NBA in viable
markets, could there possibly be some added incentives for the team if
the move receives approval? I certainly think so.

A lot of negotiating goes on behind closed doors that fans and
reporters don't know about. The last time the Kings received the first
pick in the NBA Draft was back in 1989 when they selected Pervis
Ellison out of Louisville. I have no doubt that Stern will have those
ping pong balls fall in the “Anaheim Royals” favor to congratulate
them on being in a new lucrative market. Don't be surprised if this
happens, because it seems like the lottery is rigged every year to
help the larger markets get the better talent in the draft.

Through all of this, the most important thing to keep in mind for any
city looking to have a professional sports team is to have local
ownership. The Grizzlies would still be in Vancouver if they had a
local owner, the Sonics would still be going strong in Seattle if a
homegrown citizen would've taken control, and now it's us who have to
deal with losing the most intriguing choice of entertainment in the
region.

I have faith that Sacramento will get an NBA team back because we have
a fan base that'll support them through thick and thin. We could
possibly get the Kings back, but it'll cost a pretty penny to gouge
the team from the Maloofs’ control. A new arena would surely be needed
before that could happen, but a complete regional effort could bring
something to fruition. Gregg Lukenbill even stated this in his speech
at the "Here We Build" rally (view video here).

Keep fighting Sacramento, because there's only a small chance to keep
the Kings here. Don't forget that the Maloofs are still keeping all
their options open for moving the team to Anaheim.... The thought of
it just makes me wanna puke!

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, Ben Ilfeld, and Anaheim Arena Management

Legislation could force Kings to pay

2011-04-12T00:20:36Z

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) introduced a bill Monday that would require professional sports teams to pay off all debt involving taxpayer dollars to the municipality in which they are located before signing an agreement to move to another California city or county. ~~bar one California city from issuing bonds to lure a professional sports team from another city in which existing bonds had not been paid.~~

It would effectively require that the Sacramento Kings repay the city $77 million before the bonds approved by the Anaheim City Council could be issued.

“It’s all about public dollars involved not just in the situation currently pending with regards to the (Sacramento) Kings, but any other pending or future similar situations,” said Mark Hedlund, spokesman for Steinberg.

“We’re not trying to stop business from moving,” he added, “we’re trying to protect taxpayer money – city bonds and loans are taxpayer dollars.”

The bill, SB 652, was authored by Steinberg and coauthored by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento), Senator Ted Gaines (R-Fair Oaks) and Assemblyman Richard Pan (D-Sacramento).

It was introduced as an urgency measure, Hedlund said, meaning it requires a two-thirds vote, but would go into effect immediately upon passing, as opposed to other laws which are implemented at the beginning of subsequent calendar or fiscal years.

“We’re obviously trying to have it move as quickly as it can,” he said, adding that it will now have to go through the appropriate committees in both the Assembly and the Senate before it can be voted on and sent to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk.

“I don’t know if that means it’s going to take a few weeks or a couple of months or whatever,” Hedlund said, adding that it will affect any agreements made after Jan. 1.

According to a press release issued by Steinberg’s office, “SB 652 also requires any professional sports franchise previously entering into a financial agreement with a California local government entity to provide a ‘bond, undertaking or deposit’ adequate to ensure its obligations will be satisfied before that franchise signs an agreement to move to another California location.”

The bill includes all professional sports and is not specifically intended to target basketball, Hedlund said.

“Pro sports teams frequently create partnerships with local government, but let’s not forget these are tax dollars at work,” Steinberg said in the release. “No one is saying sports franchises, like any other business, shouldn’t be able to move to another city. However, taxpayers in one city shouldn’t be left holding the bag for the benefit of another city.”

Dickinson spoke with The Sacramento Press Monday afternoon and outlined the reasons for the bill.

“It’s hopefully a measure that would provide the assurance to any community in California that’s going to be put in a position of losing a pro sports team to another place in California would at least have any financial obligations by the team to the community taken care of,” he said.

The bill would essentially enforce contract language that is already in place in the case with the Kings as well as protect other cities in the future, Dickinson said, adding that he thinks it may be necessary with the Kings as well, despite the 1997 contract language.

“I think it’s unfortunate that we even have to contemplate legislation of this kind,” Dickinson said. “One would hope the statements by the Kings organization by this point would have been more clear and definitive, their responses to the city more straightforward, that it would not leave doubt in the minds of many people.”

Gaines and Pan expressed similar sentiments in the press release.

“Sacramento taxpayers can’t play second-string to Anaheim,” Gaines said. “Losing the team is bad enough, and there is no way Sacramento can eat the nearly $80 million owed by the Maloofs.”

The private sector is already gathering signatures in Anaheim to stop the bonds being issued before voters can approve them in an election. For more information on that effort, click here.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Editorial Note: A correction has been made to this story after it was published. The incorrect information has been struck out and the correct information has been added.

Councilman wants written assurance from team

2011-04-12T00:11:38Z

Sacramento officials anticipate that if the Kings move, the $77 million in bonds issued by the city will be paid off, but City Councilman Kevin McCarty said he is concerned about when.

He said they could do one of three things: “They could move and pay back their loan, or they could move and make minimum payments for the next 15 years, or, No. 3, they could move and default” He added that he is pushing for a single lump sum payoff if the Kings do move.

He said his reading of the 1997 contract for the loan with former Kings owner Jim Thomas is that the loan must be paid in full if the Kings move, but he has his doubts.

“How are they going to pay off the city’s (loan) if they don’t have the cash right now?” he asked. “We don’t have an equal amount of collateral if it goes south. That puts us in a very precarious financial situation.”

McCarty said the collateral amounts to a $25 million stake in the Kings and ownership of Power Balance Pavilion, which was recently assessed at a value of $30 million.

“The collateral is 60 cents on the dollar,” he said.

City Treasurer Russ Fehr said Monday the contract clearly states in four different places that the loan must be paid off in full if the Kings do relocate.

“The precise timing is unclear – it ranges on when the league approves (the move) to when they play their first game elsewhere, but that’s only a couple of months. It’s not a big deal,” he said.

McCarty said the 1997 contract wasn’t enough and that he wants a written agreement from the Maloofs that the loan will be paid in full if the team does leave.

“I don’t think (the 1997 contract) has the rock-solid, 100 percent protection that we’d like,” he said.

If the loan isn’t paid in full, McCarty said he would support litigation to get the loan paid up-front.

He added that a number of problems could arise if the payments were spread out.

“We don’t want them making monthly payments for the next 15 years,” he said. “What if something goes wrong (or the NBA) has a work stoppage?”

The City Council revisited the loan agreement in September, and voted not to overturn a 2003 amendment executed by then-City Treasurer Tom Friery, which subordinated the loan behind another loan from the NBA.

In the event of the Kings going bankrupt, Sacramento would be in line after an NBA loan when it comes to repayment.

Fehr brought the matter to the council in 2010 because he said he didn’t think it was within Friery’s authority to amend the contract as he had without council approval.

“I voted no, because I thought it was a bad deal,” McCarty said. “We could be in serious trouble, and the city is much more at risk because of the action in further subordinating the loan.”

Fehr added that it only becomes an issue in the event of a bankruptcy or league downsizing.

City Councilman Steve Cohn said he voted to keep the 2003 amendment in effect because he feared the city would have been sued otherwise.

“I don’t think at the time we really had much choice,” Cohn said. “We would have gotten in litigation because the treasurer had already approved that, and it had been in place for seven years. Had I been asked to enter into that in 2003, that’s a different question.”

Both Cohn and Fehr said they want the loan to be paid back in one lump sum.

“That’s what they’re required to do,” Cohn said, adding that under any other scenario, the city would need something in return.

“I think we are entitled to be paid back a lump sum, so for us to agree to something less than that, we would need something in return,” he said, though he declined to speculate on what that “something in return” would be, but said it would be a subject for negotiations.

Fehr said the Maloofs have never missed a payment and have always provided confidential financial information required in the contract – though that information cannot be released under the terms of the contract.

“They’ve said they would pay the loan,” he said. “The league said it expects teams to fulfill their obligations, but there’s always some uncertainty. Until it’s done, it will be of great concern to the city.”

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City treasurer explains Kings' contracts

2011-04-06T00:41:58Z

City Treasurer Russ Fehr explained the city’s contracts with the Sacramento Kings in a Tuesday interview, saying that the 1997 contracts anticipated a scenario in which the Kings may move.

Kings owners are legally bound to pay the city $77 million in lease revenue bonds before relocating.

Fehr pointed out specific paragraphs in July 1, 1997 agreements that say that if the Kings have not paid their loan, they cannot move out of town. The city’s concern that the Kings repay the loan in light of the team’s possible move is not a new development, Fehr said.

“It was thought of 14 years ago” in the 1997 contract, Fehr said.

The 1997 agreements were made between the city and the Kings’ former owner, Jim Thomas. The Maloofs assumed the debt to the city in 1999, when they purchased a majority share of the team.

A “team owner’s relocation assurance agreement” between the Sacramento Kings Limited Partnership and the city includes language saying that the Kings must pay their debt.

“That’s what we’re trying to enforce,” Fehr said last week, referring to the relocation agreement, which is a public document.

The agreement confronts the possibility of the Kings leaving town without paying the loan.

“The team owner hereby covenants and agrees it will not relocate the Kings from Sacramento, California to another venue if the city obligation is not satisfied,” according to the document.

If the Kings move to Anaheim despite the rules in the contract, they would still have to pay back the loan and would also be the arena’s owner.

The Kings face an April 18 deadline to ask the NBA if the team can be relocated.

View the contract here.

Staff reporter Suzanne Hurt contributed to this report. Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Mayor to address NBA; city still in dark about arena's future

2011-04-01T03:03:43Z

The Sacramento Kings’ owners won’t be the only ones talking about their possible departure with the National Basketball Association next month. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson will be there, too, the mayor said Thursday.

Johnson announced he has been granted permission to address the NBA Board of Governors at their meeting in mid-April – just days before the Kings’ deadline to file a relocation request.

He expects to take “a contingent of Sacramentans” to New York with him to help explain that Sacramento would like to continue its partnership with the Kings and is seriously pursuing construction of a new arena, he blogged Thursday evening.

“They will want to know about possibilities of a new arena in Sacramento, and whether after all these years, our community can finally deliver,” he wrote. “But the bottom line is, the opportunity to speak straight to the NBA is a huge step for our community.”

With the Sacramento Kings' departure looming over the region, the city is facing at least two possibilities that depend on whether the team pays off a $77 million debt or defaults.

City officials have not yet been able to discuss a possible compromise with the Maloofs, who own a majority stake in the Kings.

There has been little dialogue between the Maloofs and the city regarding the team's plans to resolve the debt and the arena's future if the Kings leave. However, the Maloofs did indicate this week to Mayor Kevin Johnson they'd repay the debt.

"We are encouraged that they've said they will do what's in the best interests of the city," Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said Thursday.

Two outcomes are outlined in agreements established between the city and the Kings in 1997, when the city sold $73,725,000 in lease revenue bonds to refinance the Kings' debt on Arco Arena, recently renamed Power Balance Pavilion. The city then bought the arena from the Kings and set the team up on a 30-year plan to repay the debt through lease payments made to the city.

Two Possible Outcomes

The Maloofs bought a majority share of the Kings in 1999 and in acquiring the Kings also acquired the debt.

Under those agreements, if the Kings leave now, they must pay off a $77 million debt – which includes a roughly $10 million early payment penalty – and Maloof Sports and Entertainment will then own the city's aging arena.

But if the Maloofs default on the debt, that leaves the city to pay back the bond holders. If that were to happen, the city of Sacramento would get a $25 million stake in the team and retain full ownership of the arena, a practice facility and 85 acres of land there.

The city would owe about $67 million if it doesn't make an early payoff within the next seven years. The city would hire an arena operator to manage Power Balance Pavilion and bring concerts, shows and other events there, rather than operate the arena, Dangberg said.

"The city doesn't have the capacity to operate the facility," he said.

The Maloofs could still turn over operation of the facility to the city if they pay off their debt and continue to own the arena after leaving Sacramento. City officials hope the Maloofs would give the city control over operations there, Dangberg said.

"Our assumption is they would continue to operate the facility. That's not an obligation or a guarantee," he said. "So that's what we are eager to sit down and discuss with them – the future operation of that facility."

However, countless compromises could be negotiated between the city and the Kings.

Other Scenarios

The city could retain arena ownership, and the Kings could offer to pay cash for the difference between the value of the arena, which the city has not had appraised, and land and their $77 million debt. If the city operates the arena or hires an arena operator, the city would receive revenue needed to continue paying the debt service on the bonds, Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn said.

In another scenario, the Kings could pay back the $77 million and then sell the property to someone who wants to use the facility or land for a purpose other than an arena, he said.

Cohn and other city officials have said the Kings have made every payment on their loan since 1997.

“Right now, I just want to emphasize, we have no reason to believe they are going to default,” Cohn said.

The city hasn't spent money to get the value of the arena and land appraised, which is "a lengthy process," Dangberg said.

Within the last few days, the Assessment Appeals Board for Sacramento County lowered a 2008/2009 assessed value of Arco Arena and the land it sits on, which impacts its current assessment, said Assistant County Assessor John Solie.

The board expects the assessed value of the parcel will be $33 million - $35 million for 2010/11, he said. Three other involved parcels are assessed at a total of $5,185,000.

In late February, the Kings asked for an extension on the NBA's March 1 deadline for relocation requests for next season.

On Tuesday, the Anaheim City Council made a Kings move easier by agreeing to issue $75 million in bonds – $25 million to improve the Honda Center and build a practice facility and $50 million for a loan to the Kings.

Anaheim Arena Management, which operates the Anaheim-owned Honda Center, could not be reached for comment on a contract with the Kings.

The NBA granted the extension, giving the team until April 18 to file a request for relocation. However, the April 18 deadline may be to seek approval to study relocation.

It remains unclear whether the Kings will request relocation before or during a meeting of the NBA Board of Governors April 14 or 15, or later.

The relocation request may be a two-step process involving two separate NBA Board of Governor meetings. At the April meeting, the Kings may first announce they're pursuing relocation to Anaheim and ask for permission to explore the opportunity.

They may request relocation later. That request would likely be voted on in a different meeting.

Neither the NBA nor the Kings would discuss the timing or the process for the Kings' relocation request and the NBA Board of Governors' vote on that request.

"The Kings have not applied at this point, so there is no timeframe," Tim Frank, senior vice president for NBA basketball communications, said in an email Thursday.

"As far as the board meeting, all we know at this point is that Kings ownership wants to discuss this situation with the board. There is no other information I have at this time," he added. "I have no idea what will happen until we see if they apply or not."

Staff reporter Kathleen Haley contributed to this report. Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @Suzanne Hurt.

Sacramento wants Kings promise, NBA backing

2011-03-31T02:50:26Z

The city of Sacramento fired off another round of letters Wednesday in an attempt to stop the Sacramento Kings from moving or at least get assurances in writing that they'll repay a $77 million loan from the city.

A day after the Anaheim City Council approved issuing $75 million in lease revenue bonds to entice the team to relocate, Sacramento officials sent a letter to the King s requesting the team's owners promise in writing to repay Sacramento.

Assistant City Manager John Dangberg also sent a letter to National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern and the NBA Board of Governors. Dangberg wrote that the city is asking the board to make its approval of the team's relocation contingent upon the Kings paying its debt.

"In recent weeks, the Kings have taken steps and made statements that indicate it would be prudent and appropriate for the city to request that the Kings now put in writing the assurance" owner George Maloof has made publicly, but not to the city, Dangberg said in the letter.

None of the Maloofs wished to comment Wednesday. But on Tuesday, Kings owner Joe Maloof issued a statement to the media calling the loan from Sacramento a "non-issue."

"We’ve always paid our financial obligations in the past, we’re going to do it in the present and we’re going to do it in the future," Maloof said in the statement. "Whatever the future holds to ensure the long-term viability of the team, the city of Sacramento will be paid in full.”

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson also said Tuesday that the Maloofs personally assured him on Monday they would pay off their debt.

The city could sue the Kings for breach of contract if they fail to pay off the debt and any other outstanding obligations. But city officials are making these requests in an effort to follow standard business protocol as the team’s owners make a serious effort to leave, city spokesman Maurice Chaney said.

“I think we just want to take some reasonable precautions to protect the taxpayers of Sacramento,” he said. “The Maloofs have been very great owners. The comments they made are encouraging.”

NBA representatives could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Editorial: Relax, the end is near

2011-03-30T06:10:38Z

I can’t be the only person who breathed a sigh of relief when the Anaheim City Council voted Tuesday night to issue $75 million in bonds to help the Sacramento Kings move to Orange County. This signals, many think, the end of the peripatetic team’s time in our town. Finally.

In fact, I know I wasn’t the only one. I spent Tuesday night riding my bike around town, talking to friends and strangers, enjoying a cheap pint or two, listening to live music and taking in the first hints of spring.

Everywhere I went, I asked people about the Kings. Most people expressed disinterest, ignorance, or, when I told them the news, relief. A few expressed regrets, but not many. Some younger guys gave the subject a moment or two, and one – one – signed with resignation. I can’t say any seemed sad, exactly.

A lot of us don’t care. And we never did.

It’s just a basketball team, people. So much drama over so little.

Not only are they just a basketball team, they are a lousy one, and have been for years. This is a team that is arguably the worst in the NBA. Its fan base is largely alienated, the romance long ago gone sour. Its bachelor owners, once admired for bringing some flash to town, are now widely reviled. Its arena is wholly inadequate, and the general public is in no mood, and never has been, to chip in for a new one.

Why is anyone still hanging on to this drama? The $77 million loan? They said they’re going to pay it off, and they’ve paid consistently. At this point, we should take them at their word. If they renege, we have a contract and lots of eager lawyers.

So, can we move on to things that are actually important now? Things like fixing our broken government and mending our damaged credit and rebuilding our schools and funding our parks and cleaning our streets and co-creating a town that doesn’t depend on an NBA franchise to feel good about itself?

Perhaps we can now get past the spectacle of Sacramento’s desperate and probably unnecessary legal maneuvers of the last week, the public posturing and not-so-veiled threats to the Maloofs. Such desperate moves made us look pathetic.

Sacramento is not pathetic. We’re just losing a basketball team, one that most of us don’t care about. Is Seattle pathetic because the city lost a sports franchise? No. What’s pathetic is such desperation over losing a basketball team.

Sure, the area around the Kings’ arena will take a hit. But Natomas is already taking hits far bigger than the loss of the Kings. Home foreclosures and failng businesses are bigger deals than losing a losing sports franchise.

As Suzanne Hurt’s reporting last week shows, the departure of the Kings may, in the end, be no big deal financially. Certainly, having them here, while entertaining a substantial number of people, didn’t make Sacramento any more capable of keeping its fiscal and governmental house in order. It didn't get us a new arena. Having the Kings didn’t prevent the real estate meltdown, nor the explosion of government debt, nor the homeless problem.

The illusion that the Kings made us something better than we’d been before they showed up is just that: an illusion. It is a silly notion.

The Sacramento Kings were never Sacramento. I know hundreds of people who never went to games, never watched games on TV, and could not tell you the name of more than the big star of the moment. Those people are Sacramentans, too, and they’re proud of their city, too. And the Kings were nothing to them.

Nothing.

And if by some “miracle” they stay, those folks are still not going to care much about them.

The media is obsessed by the Kings because it’s an easy story and, for some reason, a lot of journalists, especially the guys, are crazy for sports. Guys are funny that way. Even journalists.

Sacramento is a lovely place to live. It’s the capital of the greatest state in the country. It’s our home. If the Kings decide to move away, that’s their loss, not ours.

Anaheim approves $75 million in bonds for Kings, Honda Center

2011-03-30T05:28:52Z

In less than two hours Tuesday night, the Anaheim City Council paved the way for the Sacramento Kings to relocate there by agreeing to issue $75 million in bonds – $25 million to improve the Honda Center and $50 million for a loan to the Kings.

The council's unanimous vote by its five members propelled Sacramento further on its path toward losing the National Basketball Association team that has made its home in the state capital for 26 years.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait presided over what he described as a historic meeting.

"Tonight, Anahiem took a giant step closer to bringing an NBA team to Anaheim and the Honda Center," Tait said. "I am thrilled. I think a better word is 'stoked.' "

The council's move was supported by many in Anaheim and Orange County's business community, who spoke during a public hearing that preceded the vote. Neither the Kings' owners, the Maloofs, nor Anaheim Arena Management owner, billionaire Henry Samueli, spoke at the meeting at Anaheim City Hall.

Anaheim Arena Management later issued a statement saying the council's vote was sure to be seen favorably by the NBA board of directors, which is expected to vote April 14 or 15 on a request from the Kings to relocate. The Kings must file a request for relocation by April 18.

“We are grateful to the entire leadership group of the city of Anaheim, who tonight fully endorsed our shared efforts to bring an NBA franchise to the region,” Michael Schulman, chairman of Anaheim Arena Management, said in the prepared statement. "This vote is an important first step as we continue working toward hosting an NBA franchise at Honda Center.”

The loan to the Kings is expected to cover the team’s moving costs, which include a hefty relocation fee from the NBA.

The bonds will be issued only if the team and Anaheim Arena Management sign a venue contract within 180 days and the team relocates, Anaheim spokeswoman Ruth Ruiz confirmed.

The Kings' name was never mentioned Tuesday during consecutive meetings of the Anaheim City Council and the city's Public Financing Authority. The authority, consisting of the same members as the council, also approved authorizing the bond issuance and the terms.

The taxable lease revenue bonds will be issued by the Anaheim Public Financing Authority and financed by three private investment companies. Anaheim and its taxpayers won't be obligated to repay the bonds under any circumstances, Anaheim Finance Director Bob Wingenroth said.

The bonds have a 10-year term, and investors will be reimbursed from arena revenue over that period.

The agreement requires the team name to include "Anaheim," rather than "Orange County" or any other location identifier.

The council's decision ignored a request made Monday by Sacramento city officials that Anaheim drop the financing plan and stop negotiating with the Kings. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson indicated Tuesday afternoon he wouldn't oppose the team's move if the Maloofs repay $77 million in lease revenue bonds owed to Sacramento – and the Maloofs assured him Monday that they would.

Johnson also said the Maloofs may agree to let the city run Power Balance Pavilion after paying off the loan. The Maloofs agreed to be "good partners" and do what is in the city's best interest, Johnson said during a press conference in North Highlands Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday morning, Kings owner Joe Maloof issued a statement calling the loan from Sacramento a "non-issue."

The council approved a venue contract between the team and Anaheim Arena Management that requires the team to use the Honda Center as its home base for at least 15 years. The council also approved extending its facility management agreement with Anaheim Arena Management by another 10 years to June 2033.

Anaheim's 18,336-seat arena, which the city owns, was built to accommodate two professional sports teams and opened in 1993. Anaheim is close to realizing a "20-year dream" to bring an NBA team to the city, Anaheim Councilwoman Kris Murray said.

Also Tuesday, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento promised to do everything he could to protect the Sacramento region's "economic well-being." He is considering legislation, as requested by the city, to force the Maloofs to repay the Sacramento loan if needed, Steinberg spokesman Mark Hedlund said.

"His primary concern is to ensure Sacramento is made whole by full repayment of the city's $70-plus million loan if the Kings leave," Hedlund said in an emailed statement. "He's also concerned with the possibility Anaheim may use taxpayer funds to entice a business to leave one major California city to relocate in another major California city."

Meanwhile, the ICON-Taylor group, which is studying the feasibility of building a new arena in Sacramento, has not met with the Maloofs, Sacramento Assistant City Manager John Dangberg told the Sacramento City Council Tuesday evening.

The ICON-Taylor group is making “significant progress in their analysis and are moving forward regardless of what happens with Anaheim,” Dangberg said.

The developers are likely to complete their arena analysis in mid-May, he said.

Before the vote, city attorney Eileen Teichert fired off a letter to Tait asking Anaheim to continue consideration of the environmental impacts of the new Honda Center operations until conducting a "proper" environmental review or issuing a mitigated negative declaration saying the project will have no impact. Anaheim did not respond to that request.

At the Sacramento City Council meeting, the mayor said Anaheim’s decision to give $75 million in financial incentives to the Kings was not a surprise.

“I think it’s disappointing," Johnson said. "(But) I think Anaheim made a decision that’s in their best interest.”

Staff reporter Kathleen Haley contributed to this report. Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

City of Sacramento asks Anaheim to end negotiations with Kings

2011-03-29T02:22:39Z

Sacramento officials asked the city of Anaheim Monday to stop all negotiations with the Sacramento Kings and drop plans to issue $75 million in lease revenue bonds to entice the team to move.

Otherwise, Sacramento expects Anaheim and the Anaheim Public Finance Authority to contractually require the Kings' owners to first repay Sacramento $77 million for lease revenue bonds issued here in 1997, according to a letter emailed late Monday afternoon to Anaheim City Manager Tom Wood.

"I am deeply concerned about the potential for Anaheim's actions causing irreparable harm to the city of Sacramento," Sacramento Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said in the letter. "As the Anaheim city manager, you certainly understand the financial and budgetary implications for Sacramento were the Kings to relocate without satisfying their approximately $77 million obligation to pay off the city's bonds."

The letter was issued on a day when Sacramento city staff were off work for the César Chavéz holiday. Dangberg was not available to comment.

A public hearing and vote is scheduled before the Anaheim City Council at 5 p.m. Tuesday. The only two items on the agenda involve a resolution to approve Anaheim Public Financing Authority lease revenue bonds for improvements and working capital for the Honda Center – an arena owned by the city of Anaheim.

Billionaire Henry Samueli owns Anaheim Arena Management, which manages the arena, and the Anaheim Ducks hockey team.

The financing authority is scheduled to meet immediately after the council adjourns for a vote on a consent calendar item authorizing issuance of the bonds.

The Kings agreed to pay off outstanding bonds in Sacramento if it moved to another city before 2027, according to Dangberg’s letter.

A move by the Kings would lead to "blighting impacts" for Sacramento, Dangberg wrote, adding that city officials are working on another letter addressing what they see as an inadequate review of the environmental impacts of projects Anaheim is now considering funding. Legal challenges to public projects are sometimes filed over claims involving environmental impact concerns.

Anaheim has failed to turn over all records relating to the Kings, the National Basketball Association and the Maloofs as requested in a public records act filed by Sacramento March 4, the letter stated.

The letter was sent to Anaheim at 4 p.m. Copies of the letter were also emailed to the Sacramento City Council, Mayor Kevin Johnson, the Anaheim City Council, Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait, the Anaheim city clerk, State Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, The Sacramento Bee and The Orange County Register.

Monday evening, Mayor Kevin Johnson's office issued a statement reiterating his expectation that the Maloofs will repay their loan from Sacramento.

"The mayor continues his laser focus on fighting for what’s best for Sacramento. First and foremost, that means doing everything we can to keep the Kings, and all the economic and community benefits they provide," mayoral spokesman Joaquin McPeek said in the statement. "But it also means taking basic precautionary measures to protect taxpayers in case the team does relocate."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Echoes of Kings' last move reverberate today

2011-03-26T01:30:39Z

The Sacramento Kings have a history of leaving town.

If the team's current majority owners work out a deal soon in Anaheim, Sacramento will become just one more city in a long string of former hometowns.

News of their possible departure emerged a little more than a month ago, leaving many people still trying to understand what the loss of the Kings might mean to the city and the region. That raises the question of what happened in Kansas City, Mo., which lost the team to Sacramento in 1985.

People who lost their jobs because of the move and the hardcore fans felt it most, say those in the pro sports industry. But others who watched the team closely at that time said the team's loss meant little to the city, financially or emotionally.

"It was minimal to none in terms of the impact," said TV and radio sports announcer Kevin Harlan, who started his career doing TV and radio play-by-plays for the Kansas City Kings in 1982.

The Kings were based in the Midwest in an earlier era for the National Basketball Association and basketball. The league wasn't that big and didn't have as many fans.

"It was certainly a different time," said Bob Whitsitt, who was vice president and assistant general manager of the Kansas City Kings and the Sacramento Kings from 1984 to 1986.

The Cincinnati Royals – a team that began in Rochester, N.Y., in the 1920s – moved west in 1972. For the first three years, the team was shared by Kansas City and Omaha, Neb. The name was initially changed to the Kansas City-Omaha Kings because Kansas City already had a major league baseball team called the Royals.

Splitting home games between two cities didn't help when it came to building a fan base. The team gave up its Omaha base in 1975.

The Kings also faced a lot of competition for sports fans and sports dollars in Kansas City, which had a National Football League team that had recently won the Super Bowl, the extremely popular baseball team and a National Hockey League team for a short time in the 1970s.

Kansas City was the smallest market to have teams from all four major sports leagues, Whitsitt said.

Kansas City and the surrounding region were devoted to college athletics, including basketball. One of the country's elite basketball teams is based 40 miles away at the University of Kansas, and two others are close by. Kansas City is also the "epicenter" of the Big 12 basketball tournaments, Harlan said.

"The professional basketball frankly never really caught on," said Dick Berkley, mayor of Kansas City at the time.

In 1981, the Kings also started competing for winter sports dollars against the Kansas City Comets. The pro indoor soccer team shared 19,500-seat Kemper Arena with the basketball team.

The Comets' owners were better marketers who appealed to a very young fan base. Downtown Kansas City wasn't much at the time, and people who lived in the suburbs usually stayed in the suburbs. The Comets changed that by getting kids to drag their parents downtown for soccer matches, Harlan said.

"The soccer team, I thought, probably had as much to do with the downfall of the team as anything," he said. "The NBA just really never had a shot."

The Kings were only able to attract an average of more than 10,000 fans to home games in the 1978/79 season. Turnout was usually far below 8,000 and less than 4,000 after the team's sale to Sacramento owners for $10.5 million was announced in 1984 – unless they were playing a popular team like the Los Angeles Lakers.

It wasn't until after Michael Jordan joined the league that the NBA really took off. Jordan started playing with the Chicago Bulls the year the Kings were sold to Sacramento.

The team's exodus after 13 years had a "modest" impact on property, sales and income tax collections. But there was no emotional impact from the loss, Berkley said.

"Frankly, I thought I would catch a lot of flak on it, because they left very abruptly," Berkley said. "I got four or five phone calls. I thought I would get hundreds.

"We were glad they were here. But the community did not gasp when they left," he added.

The Kings immediately found much more ardent fans in Sacramento, which has no other pro sports team. The Kings sold out many home games at Arco Arena.

"In Sacramento, it's the only thing in town," Harlan said. "It's the big show."

The reaction to the Kings' possible departure has been mixed in Sacramento. Die-hard fans have waged campaigns to keep them here. Local business leaders warn of an expected heavy financial loss to the region.

Other local residents, who voted down a past attempt to build the team a new arena, are equally passionate about their desire to see the Kings and their owners, the Maloofs, hit the road.

Determining what the team's loss might mean to Sacramento isn't easy.

Experts don't agree on what the financial impact might be. The 2010/2011 property tax bill for Arco Arena is about $1 million, with collected revenue split between the city and county.

Forbes listed the team's value at $293 million in January and annual revenue at $103 million.

The city can't provide information about property or sales taxes paid by the Kings' owners, said City Treasurer Russ Fehr. The California State Board of Equalization also can't reveal how much the Kings and Arco Arena pay in sales taxes.

Losing the team would negatively impact the region economically and psychologically. A generation of fans have grown up with the team, Whitsitt said.

"Certainly, if it left Sacramento, that would be a hardship for a lot of people in the community," he said.

The Kings also give Sacramento a lot of exposure on a national scale, said Whitsitt and Harlan.

"It makes your town feel like a big-league town," Harlan said.

Those outside the pro sports industry who have studied the question don't agree.

Dan Rascher, director of academic programs for the University of San Francisco's Sport Management Program, estimates the Kings bring $50 million in direct spending to the city – with about $10 million of that from the team's operational expenditures and the rest from people living outside the metropolitan area who travel here for games.

Indirect spending is estimated to be about 50 to 60 percent above that, said Rascher, who was hired 10 years ago by the city, the Kings and Union Pacific Railroad, which owned the downtown railyards, to create a feasibility study for building a new arena in the railyards.

The financial impact can depend on terms of the lease agreement teams have with government agencies for sports facilities.

Numerous studies of what happens to jobs, tax revenues and all other measures before and after teams move into cities have come to the same conclusion: There's no measurable impact, said Roger Noll, professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University. He co-wrote the book, "Sports, Jobs, and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums."

Jobs and money spent to attend a game or on other area businesses before and after a game just gets redistributed, he said.

"There's no region-wide economic hit," Noll said. "From the point of view of the city itself, it's basically no effect. It's 98 percent hype that it matters to a city."

Government officials and business leaders are pushing forward on plans to build a new arena in Sacramento even if the Kings leave. Having a new arena is the city's only hope to draw another NBA team here, said Harlan, adding he thinks the Maloofs don't want to move.

The chances of getting a new NBA team may be "very, very slim" – partly because other cities are trying to lure teams, too, and there may not be enough companies in Sacramento to sponsor luxury suites, Harlan said.

“I would say if the Kings were to leave, I doubt the NBA would ever go back there," he said. "We said that about Kansas City. And now there's talk Kansas City might get a (new basketball) team."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

'Here We Stay' to rally outside council meeting

2011-03-15T05:19:21Z

With the Sacramento Kings on the verge of possibly ending their almost 30-year tenure in the Capitol, fans aren’t going down without a fight.

“The chances that the Kings are staying are really slim,” said Eddie Montes, part of the Here We Stay campaign to keep the Kings in Sacramento. “It’ll be better to go out swinging, throw a couple punches and maybe land something, and have a miracle.”

Here We Stay is organizing a small demonstration at City Hall at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday before the scheduled City Council meeting.

Montes said he estimates anywhere from 15 to 35 people will show up.

“We honestly don’t know how many people will come,” he said. “We just want to make sure the council members know we’re here and we still want to fight.”

Blake Ellington, founder of the Here We Stay campaign, said he isn’t willing to sit idly as the mid-April decision by the NBA Board of Governors draws closer.

“They aren’t gone yet, so as far as right now, they’re still the Sacramento Kings, and this rally ... a lot of the fans wanted to do this, so we’re organizing it for them,” he said.

Fans, spurred on by Here We Stay, sold out the Feb. 28 game against the Los Angeles Clippers, and Ellington said a similar plan is in the works for the second-to-last home game, when the Kings will play the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 11.

“We want them to have another game where they can show everyone they want the Kings to stay,” he said, adding that the final home game against the Los Angeles Lakers is one that will likely be harder to get tickets to.

For Tuesday’s protest, fans are meeting in front of Old City Hall at 915 I St.

“We hope people from the Feb. 28 game against the Clippers will come with the posters they had and get loud out front before the (City Council) meeting,” he said, adding that he plans to have about five people speak to the council regarding the team.

“We’re meeting in front of the Old City Hall on I Street so people can do some chants and have their posters out so the traffic can see them,” he said.

After that, they will go into the new City Hall, which is adjacent to Old City Hall.

Kings fan Rob Small will be at the rally.

“They’re basically out the door right now,” he said. “If everything goes according to plan with the move to Anaheim, it’s pretty much a done deal.”

Despite that, he said he will do anything he can to help the Kings stay.

“I expect a lot of Kings support over there,” he said, referring to City Hall. “This is an NBA city, and we deserve an NBA team.”

Small said he will be at the game against the Thunder on April 11, as well as the game Wednesday and what could be the Kings’ final game in Sacramento against the Lakers.

For more information, keep up with Here We Stay on Facebook and Twitter.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

FOX40 Reporter Plays Cruel Prank On Kings Fans Through Twitter

2011-03-10T08:25:07Z

Since it was first reported on radio station KFBK in January, the city has been waiting on pins and needles for an announcement from the National Basketball Association or the Maloof Family surrounding the fate of the much beloved Sacramento Kings.

Two months have passed since KFBK's Rob McAllister reported the Maloofs were debating whether or not to move the Kings to Anaheim -- news that upset Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson and put plans on building a new arena within the city in limbo.

The game of "Will they, won't they?" has been unbearable between city officials, sports fans and the talking heads of Sacramento television and radio, but it seemed as if an answer had finally arrived ~~Thursday~~ Wednesday evening from a news organization that touts itself as the leader in sports news.

Veteran sports director Jim Crandell with FOX affiliate KTXL sent out a tweet around 9pm ~~Thursday~~ Wednesday that had many Kings fans fearing the worse.

"Coming up in my show at 10PM, David Stern makes the announcement no Kings (fan) wants to hear," Crandell tweeted.

~~Thursday's~~ Wednesday's late night newscast on KTXL opened with Crandell saying he "felt everybody's pain," then playing an archival clip from 1985 in which NBA commissioner David Stern announced the arrival of the Kings from Kansas City ~~Louisville~~ to Sacramento.

The clip was followed by Crandell introducing a clip of "another announcement" in which Stern's original words were dubbed over by a FOX40 photographer, this time making it appear as if Stern was sending the Kings to Anaheim.

"If you don't laugh, you'll cry," Crandell said after the doctored video played.

Not the announcement most were expecting to hear.

"You know what the Kings mean to us," Juan Primo wrote on Twitter following the prank. "This isn't the time to be 'cute and lighthearted.'"

"You seriously owe the city an apology for that BS you pulled tonight," a Twitter user by the name of "LocalStreetHero" wrote.

Crandell seemed to shrug off the criticism following the late night newscast.

"You are one mad dude," Crandell wrote to an angry Twitter follower. "Sorry you got so upset. Thankfully, most people took it in the spirit it was intended."

Crandell has served as KTXL's sports director since 1984 and is one of Sacramento's most-veteran news personalities.

---

Matthew Keys is a freelance journalist and former online news producer for KTXL FOX40 Sacramento. He can be reached at mail@matthewkeys.net.

Anaheim's economics luring Kings, mayor says

2011-03-04T03:51:08Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson on Thursday sounded resigned to the idea Sacramento may soon lose its professional basketball team.

A day after his first conversation with the Sacramento Kings' owners in more than a month, Johnson said Anaheim and its city-owned arena, the Honda Center, have this city beaten on too many fronts.

Anaheim has a lucrative TV market and the Walt Disney Company’s Disneyland and other Fortune 500 companies that can buy sponsorships and luxury boxes and suites – critical revenue streams for basketball teams, in addition to ticket sales. Sacramento's economy is struggling and its arena is outdated, he said.

"It's a business decision and the economics of Anaheim are better than the economics for them at this state here in Sacramento," Johnson said in a late-afternoon press conference at City Hall. "They are fully exploring their options, which appears to be Anaheim."

Johnson has been trying to meet with the Maloof brothers, who own a majority share of the Sacramento Kings, since Feb. 19 during National Basketball Association All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, when NBA Commissioner David Stern confirmed rumors the Maloofs have been talking with Anaheim officials about a possible move.

The Maloofs also made it clear during the discussion with Johnson before Wednesday night's game against the Portland Trail Blazers that they will not sell their interests in the Kings.

The Maloofs aren't willing to negotiate a deal for the Kings to stay in Sacramento or share any financial documents about Kings and Arco Arena revenue unless a deal in Anaheim falls through, Johnson said.

"I do not think Sacramento can influence the outcome of their decision," he said. "I'm OK with that. I think we're all OK with that. It's a decision they're going to have to make."

During a phone call with the mayor Wednesday, NBA Commissioner David Stern encouraged Johnson to continue to "fight" for the Kings – but said he'd support the Maloofs when they make a case to move to Anaheim to other team owners during the NBA Board of Governors meeting April 14-15.

On Tuesday, the NBA board extended the Kings’ deadline to file a relocation request to April 18.

Bracing for the likelihood the Sacramento Kings will be leaving town, business leaders said in a separate press conference Thursday that the time is right for the region to pull together to get a new sports and entertainment center built downtown.

Downtown redevelopment and the region's $2.4 billion convention and tourism industry and other businesses would benefit by having a state-of-the art facility downtown, said Sacramento Convention and Visitor's Bureau President Steve Hammond.

"This is about so much more than the Kings," said Downtown Sacramento Partnership Executive Director Michael Ault at a morning press conference inside the Sacramento Convention Center. "There are too many examples of urban centers .... where these facilities have been catalysts."

In a rare joint press conference, Ault, Hammond and Sacramento Metro Chamber President Matt Mahood threw their support behind an arena effort led by Johnson – who until now has been the lone leader addressing the unfolding situation involving a possible Kings departure.

An arena and events center can be expected to draw 3 million visitors to at least 225 events each year, they said.

Leaders from 14 business chambers throughout the area recently met and agreed to collaborate to determine what type of arena and event center is needed and how to get it built. The community must "prepare itself" that public investment will be needed, Mahood said.

Hammond quickly added that efforts to fund the facility must include "opportunities" for the businesses that would benefit and that business leaders couldn't expect all the funding to come from taxes.

Just what that would mean – whether it might be businesses buying luxury suites at a new arena or some other type of funding – is uncertain. Business leaders are awaiting a list of financing options being put together by a development team, they said.

The Sacramento area has lost several major conventions, primarily religious conventions, that would have brought 10,000 to 15,000 visitors to the area because there isn't a big enough facility near downtown's hotels. Those visitors would stay at hotels, eat at restaurants and spend money in other ways, Hammond said.

The six-county region's 2 million residents would benefit by having a facility that could accommodate much more than just professional basketball, which Arco Arena was built for. A newer and bigger facility could handle the kinds of events and concerts that residents must drive to the Bay Area for, such as hockey games and big concerts, they said.

Leaders of the ICON-Taylor development team told Johnson after Stern confirmed rumors about the Kings' possible move to Anaheim they would use financial data from comparable NBA markets to prepare a financial analysis for building an arena.

The Maloofs agreed to communicate more quickly and openly with Johnson and the city in the future. They'll make sure he's one of the first to know once a decision about a move has been made.

"They told me if they do decide they don't want to be here, they'll let me know immediately," Johnson said.

Kings officials declined to comment Thursday.

Videos by Brandon Darnell. Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

NBA gives Kings more time to request move

2011-03-01T22:03:34Z

The National Basketball Association extended the Sacramento Kings' relocation request deadline on Tuesday – after which Mayor Kevin Johnson said the only way the Kings will stay in this city is if a deal falls through in Anaheim.

The NBA Board of Governors is giving the team's owners until April 18 to file a request to move the team to another city after the current season ends, according to a statement issued by the NBA Tuesday morning.

"The deadline, which is typically March 1 prior to the season for which a team wants to relocate, has now been moved to April 18 to give Kings ownership the opportunity to discuss its options with the NBA Board of Governors at its meeting on April 14-15," NBA officials said in the statement.

The Kings will stay in Sacramento only if they have to, Johnson said in a press conference at City Hall shortly after hearing the news.

"It would be great if we would be competing with Anaheim. I don't think Sacramento has a whole lot of say right now," he said. "I am rooting against them."

The Maloofs, who are the team's majority owners, have stalled on setting up a meeting with Johnson and turning over requested financial documents to a development team studying how a new arena might be built in the current economy.

Johnson said he expects to meet with the Maloofs Wednesday or Thursday, but nothing has been scheduled. They originally said they'd meet with him Tuesday.

The mayor said he plans to let them know how seriously the city is working toward building an arena to replace the Kings' current home and what the city's expectations are, as well as ask what the city can do to improve its chances of keeping the Kings.

"We're going to reiterate how badly we would like to keep them here in Sacramento," he said. "I think there's a chance to reset the good-faith nature of this partnership."

The Maloofs have turned over some documents to the ICON-Taylor development team. However, they haven't provided any marketing studies or information about revenue streams from parking, ticket sales, concessions and the like, which are really needed for a thorough analysis, he said.

The Kings had planned to change the name of the team's stadium from Arco Arena to Power Balance Pavilion on Tuesday. Arco Arena will remain the name of the stadium until a decision is made about the Kings' move. The Maloofs will continue to own the facility if they repay a $70 million loan from the city, Johnson said.

Johnson said he had a "good-natured" conversation with Joe and Gavin Maloof at the Kings' game Monday night. They talked about how the sold-out stadium reminded them of the Kings' glory days over the last quarter century in Sacramento.

Kings fans approached Johnson at halftime to offer the mayor encouragement in the effort to keep the team. Johnson, in turn, encouraged fans to keep supporting the team.

Johnson recently told Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait that he hopes a deal with the Kings doesn't pan out. If that happens, Johnson said he'll turn to NBA Commissioner David Stern to help the city "solidify" its relationship with the Maloofs.

In the meantime, Johnson said Sacramento must now develop contingency plans in case the Kings leave. Three months ago, the mayor recruited ICON Venue Group, a prominent arena builder, to compete in the city's process to build an arena. Now the ICON-Taylor team is preparing two analyses – one with the Kings as tenants and one without them.

At the same time, the NBA is grappling with the issue of how small NBA markets like Sacramento can compete with bigger markets.

Johnson said it was "premature" to discuss whether he's talking to other NBA teams to see who might be interested in coming here. But he has been talking with people throughout the region about what can be done to have an NBA team in Sacramento – even if it's not the Kings.

"I'm not a mayor who'll just be sitting on his hands," Johnson said.

Maloofs stay quiet as deadline looms

2011-02-24T01:13:23Z

A development team spearheading the process to build Sacramento a new arena has been talking with the Kings' owners but has been unable to meet with them – even as a deadline for the team's possible move draws near.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson would like to talk with the Maloofs as well, after not speaking with them in a month. A process to build a new facility to replace Arco Arena, the current home of the Kings basketball team, is underway.

Communication from the Maloofs appears limited. But the Kings' owners have not tried to leverage the possibility of moving to another city like Anaheim to get a better deal in Sacramento, said Bob Graswich, special assistant to the mayor.

"They have not drawn a line in the sand. They have not made any threats," Graswich said. "The Maloofs have not called up the mayor and said, 'Hey, we're going to Anaheim.' "

March 1 is the deadline for the Maloofs to file a request to move the team in 2011. The NBA Board of Governors could vote to approve a deadline extension.

Johnson, a former NBA basketball player, has seen that tactic used by some team owners to get new or better deals out of other cities by pitting one city against another. But reports about the Maloofs' possible interest in Anaheim are coming from other sources – not the Maloofs, Graswich said.

National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern confirmed over the weekend that the Maloofs have talked to Anaheim officials. The Orange County Register reported Tuesday that the Maloofs met with Honda Center management and Anaheim officials, including the city manager, earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Sacramento developer David Taylor and ICON Venue Group are still trying to set up a meeting with the Maloofs, more than two weeks after the Sacramento City Council gave the developers only 90 days to study what it would take to build Sacramento a new sports and entertainment center.

The developers and the Maloofs have been talking regularly. But they haven't spoken about how likely it is the Kings will move to another city, said Adam Mendelsohn, a partner at Mercury Public Affairs and a former member of Johnson's arena task force.

"There's regular discussion back and forth on both sides," Mendelsohn said. "The only thing that's been talked about is the exchange of information and the possibility for a formal meeting."

The mayor was in Washington, D.C., Wednesday doing business with the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Johnson is expected to talk with the Maloofs soon, but efforts to set that up are ongoing, mayoral aides said.

On Tuesday, Johnson said he expects the Maloofs to turn over promised research on arena expenses, revenue and other information this week and to meet with the developers next week.

"He made it clear he expects them to deal with the ICON-Taylor group," Graswich said. "The ball's in their court. Certainly the team knows the ICON-Taylor group has gotten the blessing by the city."

The Maloofs won't provide updated information to reporters or respond to questions about a potential move and the effort to build a new arena in Sacramento, according to a Kings spokesman.

The developers have just started the due diligence process of gathering information requested by the city and needed by the developers before possibly entering a contract to build an arena.

"We are moving forward with our commitment to deliver a plan to the city," Mendelsohn said.

On Wednesday, even the mayor didn't know whether the Kings will stay in Sacramento.

"All he knows is they haven't announced they're leaving," Graswich said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Council weighs arena teams

2011-02-08T03:50:21Z

The Sacramento City Council will take a closer look Tuesday at four development teams competing for a new Sacramento Kings arena project.

The teams will take turns presenting credentials, experience and plans to analyze the financial feasibility of building a new sports and entertainment center to replace the Kings' current home, Arco Arena – soon to be known as the Power Balance Pavilion.

The City Council is expected to decide at its Tuesday night meeting which team will work exclusively with the city for the next three months. The council postponed that decision two weeks ago so council members could get more information about the developers.

The teams are:

• The ICON-Taylor team, put together by Mayor Kevin Johnson and led by Sacramento developer David Taylor and Tim Romani, president and CEO of ICON Venue Group, a prominent Colorado sports facility developer;

• The CORE team, led by entrepreneur Ali Mackani and McClellan Park developer Larry Kelley;

• Natomas Entertainment Sports Center Partners, led by Jeff Baize of Brookhurst Development Corp., Mike Corrick of Nacht & Lewis Architects and Rick Millitello, general manager of Skanska USA Building Inc. of Oakland;

• The Convergence Team, led by Sacramento developer Gerry Kamilos.

Prior to the meeting, at least one team expressed confusion over an inability to meet with the Kings' owners, the Maloofs. Other teams discussed efforts to move their plans forward.

Natomas ESC Partners tried to set up a meeting with the Maloofs last week to get information and feedback on the team's financial plan and to see if the Kings' owners were open to the ideas. An attorney for the Maloofs said a meeting wasn't possible, Natomas Chamber of Commerce President Ed Koop said.

"The response back was we needed to get in touch with Mayor Johnson, because he was coordinating any potential projects with the Maloofs going forward," Koop said.

Two other teams – the CORE team and the Convergence Team – will be able to tell the council that they have been able to set up or held meetings with stakeholders in their plans.

The CORE team has a Feb. 16 meeting set up with the Westfield Group to begin negotiations to buy Westfield Downtown Plaza after securing commitments for up to $100 million. If that happens, they'd begin talks with Macy's to see if the department store chain would be interested in expanding its store there. The team believes that site makes the most sense financially for a new arena, Mackani said.

But the CORE team doesn't want to be part of a continued four-way competition. The Kings' owners won't be involved in a process like that, he added.

"The Maloofs aren't going to sit across the table from four teams," Mackani said. "That's not how business is done."

The Convergence Team has continued negotiations with California Exposition and State Fair officials on a scaled-down plan to privately develop the existing state fair site to help fund an arena, said Jeff Raimundo, a communications consultant on the team.

Last September, Cal Expo board members voted against the team's plan to relocate the fairgrounds to Arco Arena in Natomas and develop the 350-acre Cal Expo site to finance an arena. A Cal Expo manager told the mayor's arena task force this month that agency officials are reluctant to consider the updated plan.*** See correction at the bottom of the story

City staff will recommend the council choose one of the teams Tuesday night, as the task force suggested two weeks ago. Last month, the task force recommended the city work with the ICON-Taylor team in an effort to build a new arena. The task force ranked the CORE team second.

The team should be chosen based on its experience developing arenas or other large entertainment venues and using public/private funding for big projects and ability to analyze the project’s feasibility in the scheduled time frame, rather than on its proposed arena site, according to a city staff report.

The selected team will then work with city staff to analyze the project's financial viability.

Correction:

When appearing before the task force in January, Cal Expo Deputy General Manager Brian May had addressed questions concerning Cal Expo officials' reluctance to consider the Convergence Team's original proposal, which involved a three-way land swap.

Cal Expo officials are willing to consider the team's new proposal, but only as part of a competitive process. They have met with Kamilos and others proposing plans to rebuild the state fairgrounds and develop other property there, May said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

You mess with the bull. . .

2011-01-15T01:52:57Z

The Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series is in town this weekend for its second stop of the 2011 season. In conjunction with the appearance, the PBR held a media hour on Thursday afternoon where I had the opportunity to meet and interview Bull Rider McKennon Wimberly.

Also in attendance was Zorro, a 25-year-old, 1,700-pound bull. More on him later.

I met Wimberly in the Kings store. The 5-foot-9-inch, 150-pound Cool, Texas, native was wearing a black banded cowboy hat that matched his boots, blue jeans, a light brown vest (that matched the band on his hat) and a collared shirt which read Neckover, a brand of horse trailer, down the sleeve. He looks every bit the professional bull rider.

His manner is befitting his hometown, and he speaks with a laid-back Texas drawl that becomes less so when he's excitedly discussing his chosen career. The man clearly loves what he does, and he's good at it. Over the course of his career, he's made more than $400,000. Through one event this season, he's 12th in the BFTS standings. But jaded professional athlete he is not.

As someone who learned everything I know about bull riding from the Woody Harrelson, Kiefer Sutherland classic "The Cowboy Wa y," I kept the questions fairly elementary. For a more in-depth breakdown, try the PBR website.

The Sacramento Press: What would you say to someone who is kind of thinking about going, but has never been?

McKennon Wimberly: I'd say somebody that hasn't been to bull riding, but is thinking ’bout going, I'd say you need to go. Any sport you've ever seen, there's nothing like it. There's no other sport where it's man versus beast. It's a great show, too. It's not just a bunch of redneck cowboys hitting around and . . . bucking bulls, you know? It's a good show. We have the best entertainment in the business: great bull riders, some of the best fans . . . It's pretty exciting. There's good music, a lot of pyro – it's a show for sure.

SP: Is bull riding something that's just in your blood? I know your dad did it. . .

MW: Yeah, my dad was a bull rider, and I always just wanted to be like him, you know? Then once I got old enough to make my own decisions and stuff, I loved the sport, and that's what I always wanted to do.

SP: How would you describe riding a 2,000-pound bull that doesn't want you to be riding it?

MW: Ah, there's nothing else like it. I'd say maybe getting on the wildest roller coaster you've ever seen, without a seat belt. That's about the closest thing I can come up with.

SP: Yeah, I was watching a couple clips of you man . . . I saw a clip of you on Charlie?

MW: Charlie Bullware.

SP: Yeah. Do you want to talk about that? That was kind of hard for me to watch. . .

MW: (Laughs) Yeah, it was actually . . . other than getting bucked off – and it cost me winning that event – it was actually kinda fun. It's all an adrenaline rush, you know? That bull bucked me off about four or five seconds and, uh, I got hung up. My hand was tied to my rope and wouldn't come out, and he was slinging me around . . . I just kinda looked like a rag doll on him.
There wasn't much I could do. You just try to get your hand out and stay in control, but . . . when the bull’s bucking that hard and moving that fast, it's hard to stay in control. Aah, it was still a little bit a fun.

SP: How do you feel about helmets?

MW: I wear a helmet. I think they are a great idea, especially for young guys coming up. It's not just the danger of the bull jerking you down. They step on your head, they throw you into a fence, in the bucking shoot they might hit you on the fence – there's always something. There's so many dangers in this sport. Some of the guys think it's not tough to wear helmets, well, gladiators wore helmets when they were fighting. What's not tough about it? We're riding bulls. I mean, we're not in a cage fighting somebody, it's a completely different deal. We have a protective vest that . . . when a bull steps on you it kinda absorbs the pressure and spreads it out. I think the helmet's a great idea. I've seen a lot of my friends get their heads stepped on and live through it, and I've seen a couple without the helmet, and it's been bad.

SP: A couple friends wanted me to ask if you have any extra protection down in the . . . uh. . . groin region?

MW: Actually, no, it wouldn't help you out any. If a bull stepped on you there, it'd just crush the cup and go on about it. And, as far as riding, it doesn't bother you like people would think, you know? I mean, there's times that it . . . catches wrong . . . but for the most part, it's all good.

SP: I was wondering about what kind of injuries you have had? Is it hard to wake up the next day?

MW: You know, sometimes it's a little rough getting out of bed, even at 22 years old. I've broken my leg twice, I've dislocated both shoulders, broke my elbow, broke my jaw and broke my back.

SP: And you've been riding how long?

MW: I've been riding professionally for four years, but I've been riding all my life.

SP: Most Sacramento Press readers (I went out on a limb here), the closest they've ever come to riding a bull is a mechanical bull ride. Does that compare in any way? Do you ever ride ’em?

MW: Yeah, I do it some. It's a little bit similar just by, you have to put out the effort to stay on top, but it doesn't really feel like a bull. If you get on a bull that feels like a bucking machine, you're going, "What the heck?" (laughs) It just feels completely different. There's no forward motion, there's not that power, that big strong jump yanking you . . . it's just kinda little short, quick yanks. But, I have a bucking machine at my house, and some of us use ’em for practice. They're a little different than the ones you might see at the bar, but, still, anything that you ride is good practice.

SP: How long does you're average bull riding career last? With how rough it is and the beating you take. . .

MW: It depends on the guy, and it depends on the injuries. Back in the day, it used to last a lot longer. The bulls just weren't . . . well, they had some that were just as bad, but there just weren't as many as they have now. Now, there are stock contractors from all over the world, and every guy brings his best five or 10 bulls. It's great bulls from all over, and it's hard to stay healthy. The average career for a bull rider nowadays is probably around 10 years.

SP: So then you’ve got another six left?

MW: Yeah. I might even have more than that. I just really love the sport. Even if I retire from professional bull riding, I could see myself probably still getting on bulls at the house just for fun, you know?

SP: Is there a particular bull . . . Charlie, we talked about . . . that is the badass?

MW: There's one called "Bushwacker" that's gonna be bucking here. He's a pretty tough one. He's unridden. I look forward to drawing him. I like to be the guy . . . the first one to ride him. I think a few guys have let him slip through their fingers. I'm not gonna be that guy.

When I agreed to do the interview, I had no idea that the story would end with me "riding" (struggling to mount, clinging to for dear life and eventually dragging myself to a seated position atop?) a bull in the parking lot. Even when Casey, my Sac Press liaison, later mentioned the possibility, I kind of thought she was joking. "I get on the bull? Sweet. 'Fat kid falls off bull.' This story writes itself."

As soon as we finished the interview, Alex Sigua, a public relations coordinator for Maloof Sports and Entertainment, made it clear that Casey had not been joking.

"Hey, Lindol, we've got the bull outside, are you ready to ride?" he asked.

"Seriously?"

Jack Carnefix, who's Senior Manager of Public Relations for the PBR, sensed my trepidation and made it clear that I didn't have to ride the bull if I was nervous about it, but in his next breath mentioned that a nice young lady had just ridden Zorro that morning.

Gauntlet thrown. I knew then what I had to do.

I had to tame the mighty beast.

We walked out to the parking lot where Zorro was waiting. As Dennis, Zorro's handler, brought the bull out of his trailer, Wimberly mentioned that whereas the young lady had three fellas offering to help her on to the bull (and one actually doing so), I would have no such luxury.

Upon seeing the brute, I had two thoughts: "OK, think I can do this," and "Man, I wish I had a stool."

The latter was far louder in my mind than the former.

Zorro stood about chest high on me, a wee (good?) bit higher than I can comfortably swing myself. It would take every bit of my prodigious 3-inch vertical jump to catapult myself atop him, and, to be honest, I wasn't sure that would be enough. Also, crediting myself a 3-inch vert may be generous at this point.

Two tears in a bucket . . . I reached across Zorro’s back, grabbed hold and swung my 230-odd pounds up as high as I could . . . and Zorro took off.

Now Zorro isn't as young as he used to be (who is?), so when I say "took off," I mean "walked off."

It wasn't a rampaging bull situation by any stretch of the imagination, but my hold upon him was tenuous at best(see image #6). Despite my arms and legs both being wrapped around the beast, for a moment I was facing the very real possibility of being "bucked" and ending up tossed to the asphalt.

Although I was not fearing for my for my safety, I was in terror for my pride.

It didn't help that every person in attendance was already laughing heartily. Maybe a little with me, but mostly at me.

Did I mention Zorro was sopping wet?

Right when I was sure I was done for, Dennis was able to stop Zorro's progress, and in the calm I was able to yank myself up to an awkwardly seated position.

Eventually I was even able to offer a double thumbs up for what I thought at the time was the only picture taken of the fiasco.

It was only when I got home that I realized Alex had gotten the full play-by-play on film.

It was then that I realized how silly it had been for me to be fearful of hurting my pride.

Needless to say, I have a newfound appreciation for bull riding.

The PBR BFTS begins tonight, Friday January 14th, at Arco Arena at 8pm and continues tomorrow beginning at 7pm. Tickets start at $10 and can be purchased here.

OPINION: Proposed Renaming Of Arco Arena Disrespectful To Citizens Of Sacramento

2011-01-12T01:33:43Z

I have lived in Sacramento my whole life, so I’ve come to grow a thick skin when it comes to the jokes about our little “cow town.” I usually brush them off as uninformed comments from people who don’t know what this city has to offer. Sacramento boasts a terrific history, with ties going all the way back to the Gold Rush, and a rich and diverse landscape. That is why today I hang my head in shame with the reported news that the Maloofs are seriously considering selling the naming rights to our only corporately sponsored arena to a company who admits that their “Power Balance” products are nothing more than a scam.

Sure, there are no laws that says the Maloofs cannot do what is being reported by multiple news outlets. We live in a capitalist society, and the right to naming Arco Arena is up for sale to the highest bidder.

That being said, I can only see this move as a poke in the eye by the Maloofs while they already have one and a half feet out the door. Was the loyalty and cash generated over the past 15 years not enough to prevent such a tasteless decision? Are they really so hard-up for cash that the Maloofs are willing to get into bed with admitted scam artists? And what of the reputation of Sacramento? Add this to the list of jokes made at our expense, I suppose.

I can only guess that this is nothing more than another calculated move on the part of the Maloofs to build their argument that Sacramento is no longer a city conducive to operating a professional basketball team.

As public sentiment begins to turn against the Maloofs and attendance drops at Arco, it’s easy to foresee a future where the Kings franchise is more valuable to the Maloof family as a commodity to be sold, rather than an institution to be nourished.

Make no mistake, folks, the golden days of the Sacramento Kings are long behind us, and the final chapters of professional basketball in Sacramento may be being written as you read this.

It’s unfortunate that it seems we will not be parting ways with mutual respect and admiration for one another. Rather, it seems the Maloofs would have a “Fire-Sale” and squeeze every last dime out of Sacramento while they still can, leaving us citizens once again as the butt of the nation’s jokes.

More info here:

http://consumerist.com/2011/01/powerbalance-admits-theres-no-proof-it-works.html

Kings stomp Nuggets

2011-01-08T02:59:27Z

Thursday nights, the NBA belongs to TNT. Whereas Wednesdays and Fridays might have a dozen games on the schedule (This week featured 11 games on each day), Thursday nights generally feature at most three games, and often only two (this week, just two).

Those two games are featured, consecutively, nationally, on TNT. Usually, of course, these games will feature some combination of the Celtics, Heat, Lakers, Spurs, Bulls, Magic, Mavericks, Nuggets and Thunder – teams with a national fan base or a superstar player.

Once or twice a year, however, in the interest of fairness, the Thursday night spotlight will shine on one of the smaller, oft-forgotten NBA cities. (Almost without exception, it'll be when one of the big boys are visiting. We won't be seeing Steve Kerr and Marv Albert doing a Kings/TWolves game anytime soon).

Thursday, the Denver Nuggets were in town to play your Sacramento Kings, and the national spotlight alit, however briefly, on our fair hamlet.

For a moment, Sacramento was the center of the NBA universe.

Apparently, the Kings like the attention.

'Reke and the boys played easily their best game of the season, handily beating Carmelo and the Nuggets, 122 to 102. The team with the worst record in basketball (Entering the evening. The win put them a game up on the lowly Cavs.) thoroughly outclassed the team that would be the seven seed in the West were the playoffs to start today.

It was a very impressive performance.

The opening stanza of the game was not a harbinger of the symphonic performance to come as the home team fell behind 15-9 despite scoring the first five points of the game on long jumpers by DeMarcus Cousins and Francisco Garcia.

Following a Kings timeout, recently inserted Carl Landry drained a long jumper to get the home team off the schneid. By the time the first quarter ended, the Kings had retaken the lead, 29-27, thanks in large part to Garcia's dead-eye from long range (4 of 6 on threes in the quarter) and Landry's spark off the bench (7 points, 2 of 2 from the floor, 3 of 3 from the line)

In the second quarter, Tyreke Evans took over, looking every bit like the superstar Sacramento fans have been waiting to see all season. He was a perfect 4 of 4 from the floor on two long jumpers and two athletic driving layups. He matched that with a perfect 4 of 4 from the charity stripe. And when he wasn't scoring, he was dishing it with five second-quarter dimes.

By the time it was all said and done, the Kings had put up 40 points in the quarter and built a 69-55 halftime lead.

It was most certainly the best first half of basketball the Kings have played all season, but the game was far from over. Right before play resumed, one of my compatriots in the press box offered ominously "I've got a bad feeling about this."

If you watch enough Kings games, you’re bound to become a bit defeatist, but if you were ever gonna feel good about a Kings performance, this was it.

That being said, the Kings came out in the second half-sloppy and lackadaisical, and the Nuggets, led by Carmelo Anthony (26 points), came storming back. What had been a 16-point lead after Evans scored the first points of the half on a pull-up jumper at the 11:19 mark had totally evaporated less than eight minutes later, when Anthony tied the game at 79 apiece on an 18-foot jumper.

As recently as two weeks ago, this Kings team may have folded like a cheap suit at this point. Coughing up a double-digit lead on national TV to a would-be playoff team probably would have proved too much to bear, and next thing you know, a 16-point lead would have turned into a 16-point deficit. (Ignore, for a moment, that two weeks ago they wouldn't have had the 16 point lead to begin with).

That was then. This is now.

The Kings didn't panic. Without calling a timeout, they calmly took the ball back up the court, and Beno Udrih drained an 18-footer from the elbow.

After Al Harrington missed a three-pointer on the other end, Omri Casspi swished a three-pointer of his own, and the crowd exploded, and the Nuggets were forced to call a timeout.

These were the first five points in a 23-2 run that for all intents and purposes put the game away. It was the Nuggets who folded up shop, unable to put up any kind of a fight in the fourth quarter.

This Kings team bore no resemblance to the one that I saw in my two previous trips to Arco this season, the first a mauling by the Timberwolves, the second a devastating collapse against the Warriors. This is a team reborn.

“It certainly shows what type of team we’re trying to be. To move the ball like we did all night, to play through Tyreke, play through DeMarcus, space the floor and hit shots – it was the way we want to play." Head Coach Paul Westphal said in the postgame press conference.

When he was asked about the team’s recent transformation, Westphal again related it to his two young stars: "Tyreke has had a tough time being healthy, couldn’t be himself, and DeMarcus is early in his career and is learning his game. Those are two players that have been contributing lately at a level that they weren’t able to contribute earlier and that makes everybody else play so much better."

Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups was asked about the game and payed the Kings a backhanded compliment: “They played well and everything, but that team is not supposed to beat us."

Maybe they weren't "supposed' to, but they certainly did. And they did it while the rest of the NBA watched.

Notes-
-It was the Kings first victory of the season over a team with a winning record.

-The Kings are now 3-2 in their last five games after having lost 22 of their previous 24.

-The Kings’ lead (15) and their point total (69) were both season highs for a first half.

-The point total for the game (122) was also a season high.

-They had six players in double figures in points, led by Evans’ 27 and Cousins' 20.

- At the end of the first quarter, the arena announcer introduced the TNT commentators:
-Chris Webber was greeted with a standing ovation. He responded by waving one arm in a circular motion, in a manner that I will always associate with Arsenio Hall. Roof, roof , roof, roof, roof.
-Keven Harlan received some polite applause.
-Reggie Miller was roundly booed. (Awesome).

All images are the work of my main man David Alvarez.

Kings Conspiracy - Part 1

2011-01-01T20:22:35Z

I've been a Kings fan for a long time, and I never had a chance to attend regular-season games until I started going to college. I frequently watched Kings games on local TV and saw many calls that would make you scratch your head more times than a kid with lice. Many of those calls took me back to the 2002 Western Conference Finals where the Kings were royally robbed of the championship. After attending many games last year and becoming a first time season ticket holder this year, I've come to see too many foul calls that are blatantly wrong and unjustified. As I look around at all the obstacles that the Kings organization is facing thus far, I can't help but believe that there is some conspiracy going around to get the Kings moved out of Sacramento. Now don't get scared yet, but be aware of everything that happens from this time going forward, because this article is to inform all Kings fans of the smoke and mirrors that's been going around to keep you from seeing what's really happening.

A little over a month ago, I attended the Kings and Bulls game with a friend of mine, and the contest was going really well until the referees started calling ridiculous fouls on DeMarcus Cousins, Jason Thompson and Tyreke Evans. They even hit Beno Udrih with a foul that I felt was unnecessary. On the other hand, the Bulls didn't even get called for as many fouls that the Kings did, and they were fouling every time a white uniform drove to the basket, but that’s been common when attending a Kings game. I won't elaborate too much on this night, but as the game came to a close, I started getting the idea that maybe all this foul stuff is being done on purpose to lure the fans away from Arco so that the team can find a new home.

This past summer, Arco representatives informed the Maloofs that they were not going to renew the naming rights for the Sacramento Sports Arena. This came at a very bad time for a small-market team like the Kings because naming rights bring in revenue, and seeing that Arco hasn't been packed lately, that money is desperately needed. I feel that this decision made the Maloofs angry, and they started contemplating a move even though they said they would remain faithful to the city of Sacramento. Furthermore, George Maloof took a trip to Seattle this past summer as well to speak with former Supersonics President Wally Walker. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer cites that George claimed to have spoken specifically on why Seattle was unable to build a new arena and ultimately moved them out of town. I have my doubts about this claim because the Maloofs approved of the Sonics’ move with 27 other teams three years ago.

Now those are just a few situations to keep in mind, but what about that nice new shiny arena? Back in 2006, the Maloofs met with city and county officials to finalize an agreement on a new facility that would be built in the downtown railyard. City & county officials said they would split the cost of the arena with the Maloofs, but that wasn't acceptable. The deal enraged both Joe & Gavin Maloof, and they stormed out the building, which was reported by the Sacramento Bee. Then later on, they put a tax increase proposal on the fall election ballot, which became known as measures Q and R, to raise taxes by a quarter cent to pay for a new arena. Both measures were overwhelmingly rejected by voters, and this became the beginning of the Maloofs considering relocation. However, the Maloofs would continue to pursue new avenues in getting an arena built in Sacramento, but that was only because there weren't any other viable areas to move to in that span of time. Cal Expo attempted to construct a blueprint of fitting an arena on its fairgrounds, but that idea was too farfetched, because the housing market was plummeting around that time, and local funding was nowhere to be found.

Finally, there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel when Mayor Kevin Johnson was voted into office and started the Sacramento First Task Force. David Stern even came out to Sacramento himself to talk to the mayor about the arena issue. But even though six developers came to the table with ideas for a new arena, only one could be chosen. That “one” happened to be the Land Swap Proposal, seeing that it was backed by David Stern and the NBA, and that it seemed realistic with the funding and needs of each party involved.

As time ticked away, it became less and less likely that this whole idea would pan out, and Cal Expo put the finishing touches on it when their representatives came to the conclusion that Arco Arena wasn't fit for a brand-new fairgrounds. Not only that, but David Stern informed the Maloofs and the task force that they would no longer be helping in any capacity with getting a new arena built. Now even though the mayor is continuing his pursuit of getting an arena built here, I feel that the Maloofs are livid from the decisions of the city and Cal Expo and have come to the end of the road with their efforts here in Sacramento.

I feel that the Maloofs and David Stern are working together to have the Kings moved out of town because of this. As I look at the product on the floor, I don't really see any improvement, and I feel that Geoff Petrie and Paul Westphal are being told what to do as well in order to keep fans from supporting the team. The referees are also playing a huge part in it, calling fouls on whoever they feel just to screw us over. All this adds up to fans being uninterested in attending games and despising the direction management is going. Furthermore, when Stern isn't giving his support anymore for a particular market, that essentially means he's giving the green light to the owners to file for relocation. Similar examples of this would be the Grizzlies’ move to Memphis from Vancouver, the Hornets’ move from Charlotte to New Orleans, and the most recent disappointing move the Sonics made to Oklahoma City from Seattle. Stern didn't care one bit about either of those markets, because they weren't willing to provide the teams with new arenas, and that's exactly the case with the Kings. The NBA is all about making money, and it's likely that Sacramento hasn't been doing that for years now which makes me feel that they're setting the wheels in motion for a move.

Lastly, I would like to point out the new arena rumblings that were going around in Las Vegas this past summer. According to an article in the Las Vegas Sun, Chris Milam; the CEO of International Development Management LLC, was quoted as saying that they already had an NBA team under contract (read here). The city is putting all its efforts into building it on the Las Vegas Strip, and I already feel that this deal is in place for the Kings to move if the arena is approved by the county. The Maloofs own The Palms Casino and Hotel there, and much of their business activities are done in Sin City. What would be better than to have the Kings moved into a brand-spanking-new arena that would suit all their needs and generate income? All this makes me skeptical of what the Maloofs are really up to, and I hope it doesn't lead to the Kings bolting from town.

So don't let all the marketing schemes and talk deter you from seeing what could ultimately happen if an arena isn't built sooner rather than later. I think the Maloofs want out of Sacramento, and it seems to me like it's trickling all the way down to the team. Just a couple weeks ago, Petrie said he had no talks with any other team about trading Jason Thompson, but Marc Stein from ESPN confirmed that he indeed tried to trade him to the Hawks for Jeff Teague. Now I hear Westphal is putting him into the starting lineup, but this is nothing more than a ploy to showcase his talents so that other teams will come calling.

And speaking of Westphal, throughout most of the games this season he's used terrible rotations and hasn't gone with the guys who have been doing good for us in the beginning of games. A good example of this would be the Kings and Bulls game I mentioned earlier. Westphal never bothered to go back to the starting five of Head, Evans, Greene, Thompson and Dalembert, who were playing very energetically and executing on plays. Afterward, Westphal had the audacity to blame his players and call them guilty. This came off very fishy to fans, and it made me wonder what was truly going on.

I hate to say it, but I feel the team is being run terribly, and it's being done on purpose to sway fans away from Arco. These guys need more time to gel, but the Maloofs aren't having it, and it's all because of a bigger plan to move the team out of town in the near future. With all this being said, have no fear Kings fans, because this is just a warning. I highly suggest getting involved with the “Here We Stay” and “Keep the Kings in Sactown” movements, because these groups are trying to make extra efforts to keep our only professional sports team around.

Photos by Rob Small, David Alvarez, Marc Mclaughlin & Steven Chea

Four teams vie for arena project

2010-12-31T02:41:25Z

A team handpicked by Mayor Kevin Johnson and led by Sacramento developer David Taylor and national sports facility builders has emerged as one of the frontrunners to develop a new arena.

Taylor quietly ended his partnership with developer Gerry Kamilos after their first proposal, a complicated land swap, didn't produce a viable proposal by its October deadline. Taylor is now partnering with the historic railyards' new owner, Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, and others. On Thursday, his group submitted a letter of interest to Johnson's arena task force briefly outlining a proposed process for developing a sports and entertainment center.

Another three teams submitted new or modified arena proposals by a noon deadline Thursday. This time, none of the teams have the backing of the National Basketball Association or the Maloof family, which owns the Sacramento Kings.

The other candidates were among the seven original teams that submitted arena proposals last year. They include the Sacramento Convergence team led by Kamilos; the CORE team led by entrepreneur Ali Mackani and two former arena task force members, real estate attorney Mike Kvarme and developer Larry Kelley, president of McClellan Park; and Natomas Entertainment Sports Center Partners, the only team proposing a plan for the existing Arco Arena site.

The NBA has also ended its partnership with the Convergence team after endorsing that plan in January 2010 during a bold press conference across from City Hall.

"The NBA is not backing any one of the arena initiatives, and we will have no further comment at this time," NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in an e-mail to The Sacramento Press Thursday.

The Maloofs have been trying to get an arena built to replace Arco for 11 years. But the family isn't joining any teams in the current effort to get a new arena built. Johnson, a former NBA player, is leading the effort and will brief the Maloofs on the second round of ideas once he gets the proposals, Kings spokesman Mitch Germann said.

"The Maloofs aren't tied to any of the groups that are giving presentations," Germann said. "They're excited to see the proposals that come as a result of this."

Johnson put out a call for proposals late last year, then put together a task force to analyze the proposals. The mayor reconvened the task force in November and put out a call for a second round of new or updated proposals.

The players left in the game are teaming up with national firms that have substantial experience developing, designing and building stadiums and arenas for professional football, baseball and basketball teams.

ICON-Taylor
Taylor has joined a team put together by the mayor that includes Inland, which owns the land adjacent to city property where some teams have proposed a new arena be built; Populous, a global sports architecture firm based in Kansas City, Mo.; New York-based Turner Construction; former arena task force member Dan Meis, who designed the Staples Center in Los Angeles; and ICON Venue, an owner's representative company whose website says it specializes in delivering home venues for pro sports teams. ICON’s projects have included Denver's Pepsi Center and the Chicago White Sox's new Comiskey Park, named US Cellular Field.

Taylor said Johnson contacted him about joining a new team after he left the Sacramento Convergence team.

"I felt the prior effort was not going to have the legs I would have liked it to have," Taylor said. "After being asked to look at this other team and talking to them at length, I was convinced it made sense to give it another try."

The ICON-Taylor team would focus on identifying strategies to finance an integrated arena and regional transit center in the railyards. The team offered to refine designs, present cost and revenue information and develop a conceptual approach for the project by April.

Sacramento Convergence Team
In a letter submitted to the task force Thursday, Kamilos and his team have altered their original proposal, but key elements remain. The team still proposes to build the arena on city railyards land and the Maloofs would operate the facility under a 30-year lease. The plan would still require state legislation to move forward.

But the team's proposed real estate deal has been simplified somewhat, and the price tag for the "Downtown Events Center" has been cut from $400 million to $350 million. Developers also propose buying an adjacent two to six acres from Inland to accommodate parking and a hotel, retail and dining adjacent to the arena and the future regional transit center, Kamilos said.

However, the team now proposes working with the California Exposition and State Fair board to build new fairgrounds at the existing state fair site and to privately develop 125 acres for destination retail, dining and entertainment and other mixed use, including residential and possibly office. State fair operations would remain with the Cal Expo board, but other events at the site would be run privately by VisionMaker Worldwide, a member of the Convergence Team.

The plan would also redevelop the 184-acre site containing Arco Arena in Natomas for mixed use. The arena would be retooled and existing parking would remain.

Under the plan, the Maloofs would share parking revenue and possibly a ticket fee. The Maloofs would operate the arena and collect revenue from facility rentals. The developers would assume the Maloofs’ $67 million Arco Arena debt and pay it off under the current schedule over 17 more years.

"It's essential in a small market that the facility is operated by the team ownership, especially in these times, in order for teams to break even on a cash flow basis," Kamilos said.

The Convergence team has added new members, including AECOM; Hunt Construction Group, which is building the Barclays Center in Brooklyn; Tutor Perini Corp., which has built sports centers and regional transit facilities; and POSCO Engineering & Construction. The group expects to finish a project analysis by May, which would allow construction to begin in 2013 and the new arena to open in summer 2015, according to the letter.

CORE Team
The CORE team – chosen by the task force as one of the top three candidates last spring – has altered its proposal by adding the railyards as a second possible location for an arena and recruiting Kelley, a former Kings owner, to lead the effort. The team also added Kvarme and his law firm, Weintraub Genshlea Chediak. Kelley and Kvarme were key players in one of the country's biggest infill developments and public/private partnerships involving redevelopment of McClellan Air Force Base.

The team continues to offer Westfield Downtown Plaza as another viable location and met briefly with representatives of Westfield and the Maloofs to discuss whether they might be able to work together on the project. The response was positive, but more information must still be gathered to create a workable financing plan under a public/private partnership, Mackani said.

The team will seek assistance from consultants such as Flintco, which has worked on such projects as the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn., he added.

"But at the end of the day, it's about how to fund a project like this. Not how to build it," Mackani said. "That's where our focus is going to be."

Natomas ESC Partners
Natomas ESC Partners didn't make any significant changes to its proposal, but resubmitted it after getting Johnson's assurance it would be reconsidered, said team member Mike Corrick of Nacht & Lewis Architects in Sacramento.

The plan proposes building a $410.6 million, 950,000-square-foot sports and entertainment complex on 100 acres of city-owned land just north of Arco Arena. Arco would become a science park, possibly containing a science museum. Developers would also add a wetlands greenbelt, 250,000-square-foot office park, a spa hotel, retail and housing built in phases to the site.

The team includes Wisconsin-based Hammes Company, which developed the $1.6 billion New Meadowlands stadium that opened in April for the New York Giants and the New York Jets; Skanska, the construction firm that built New Meadowlands; NBBJ, a Seattle firm that built the Staples Center in Los Angeles and six other arenas or stadiums; municipal financing expert Jeff Baize of Brookhurst Development Corp.; and Nacht & Lewis Architects.

The project would be funded by Citigroup issuing taxable bonds that would be repaid over 25 years through the Kings' $10 million annual lease of the property, 50 percent of game day ticket revenues totaling $25.4 million a year, new naming rights, parking fees, facility rental and other revenue. The city would provide the land.

"We thought we had a very viable plan for the Natomas property and we had a very qualified team and a feasible financing plan," Corrick said.

In an e-mailed statement, Johnson said he recognizes developing the project will be challenging, especially in such a tough economy. But the four teams now vying for the project have substantial track records, he said.

"The game is now on," he said in the statement. "And these four different teams will compete with one another and the people of Sacramento, who care about jobs, will be the real winners of this competition."

The arena task force released the four project concepts shortly before 4:30 p.m. A public hearing is set for 10 a.m. Jan. 6 at historic City Hall. The task force will release an analysis of the concepts on Jan. 21, prior to a Sacramento City Council discussion Jan. 25.

In the end, the winning proposal will be the one with the best financing plan, Corrick said.

"It'll be interesting to see what comes out of this round," he said.

Graphic 1 provided by the ICON-Taylor team. Photo of Gerry Kamilos by Suzanne Hurt. Graphic 2 provided by the CORE Team. Graphic 3 provided by Natomas ESC Partners. Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Believe it. That just happened.

2010-12-23T02:15:58Z

"If we didn't need that game so badly I could talk about what a great game it was, but I'm not going to do that," Kings Head Coach Paul Westphal, addressing the media following Tuesday night's game.

This is why we love sports.

Because at any given time, on any given night, you may witness something incredible.

A few years ago, the NBA had a slogan: "Where Amazing Happens."

Tuesday night, amazing happened, all over the Kings’ collective faces.

On Tuesday night, a bad (9-18 record coming in, having lost 14 of their last 16 games) and beat-up (missing their starters at point guard and center, Stephan Curry and Andres Biedrins) Golden State Warriors squad came to Arco for a tilt against your Sacramento Kings.

The Kings were less banged-up, missing only sometime-starting forward Jason Thompson, but they made up for their lack of injuries by being even more lackluster than their NorCal rivals (5-20 coming in, having lost, well, 20 of their last 25).

It had all the makings of an awful game, and for most of the night, it lived up to the billing. But thanks to a furious and totally improbable fourth quarter comeback by the visiting team (epic collapse by the home team?), it ended up being one of the most memorable games I've ever had the privilege of witnessing.

The Warriors trailed by 16 points with 9:20 left in the game.

They trailed by 5 points with 19.3 seconds left.

They trailed by 4 points with 3.4 seconds left.

Through all that, they ended up winning the game, 117-109 in overtime, as the Kings were unable to make any of those seemingly insurmountable leads hold up.

There was no inkling of the epic finish to come as the Kings struggled out of the gates. The Warriors shot 65 percent in the first quarter to jump out to a 26-18 lead over the ice-cold home team (29 percent). The only reason the Kings were able to stay within shouting distance was the inspired play of Beno Udrih, who had 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting, en route to a career-high 34-point night.

The Warriors kept the Kings at arm’s length for the first half the second quarter, maintaining an eight-point lead until Tyreke Evans finally broke through with his first field goal of the night (after an 0-for-6 start) with 5:11 left before halftime.

This seemed to spark the Kings, as they played out the half with a new level of intensity.

Carl Landry (13 points in the quarter) took over, scoring or assisting on each of the next five Kings baskets, but they could still pull no closer than six points until Donte Greene scored five straight in the final minute to cut the lead to one.

Following two free throws by Monte Ellis with 1.3 seconds remaining, Demarcus Cousins threw a perfect length-of-the court baseball pass to Tyreke, who made a touch pass to Pooh Jeter, who laid it in at the buzzer. It was beautiful basketball play to return the defecit to one, get the crowd on it's feet and give the home team the momentum going into the half.

The third quarter started with the Warriors scoring the first five points on jumpers by Ellis (36 points) and Reggie Williams (24 points). The Kings didn't make their first bucket of the quarter until Greene hit his second three-pointer of the night at the 10:04 mark.

That first bucket, however, was the start of a 36-16 run wherein they thoroughly outclassed the Warriors. It may have been the best 10-minute stretch of basketball that the Kings have played all season: crisp ball movement, attacking the basket, getting to the line, forcing turnovers . . . for a few fleeting moments the Kings looked like, *gasp*, a very good basketball team.

Of course, the Warriors have a knack for making other teams look good.

But, then again, so do the Kings.

The fourth quarter started with the teams trading buckets, and at 9:20, Landry (22 points) scored his last points of the night to put the Kings ahead 94-78.

They would not score again until Evans hit a layup with 4:21 to go. Luckily for them, the Warriors weren't exactly lighting it up, and despite being shut out for nearly five full minutes, they still held a 96-89 lead at the time. With 2:05 left, Ellis made a driving layup to make the score 98-93.

The two teams proceeded to trade turnovers, ill-advised three-point attempts and general poor play for the next 100 or so seconds.

Then it got ridiculous.

For some reason, Francisco Garcia took and missed a long three-pointer with 25 seconds left, despite having well over 10 seconds left on the shot clock and a five-point lead.

Egregious error No. 1.

David Lee rebounded the miss and pushed the ball to Reggie Williams, who got Udrih up in the air beyond the three-point line and drew the shooting foul with 19 seconds left.

Egregious error No. 2.

Williams missed the first free throw, made the second and missed the third. The Kings failed to box out, and Radmonovich got the rebound.

Egregious error No. 3.

Radmonovich swung the ball out to Dorrell Wright beyond the three-point line, and he got Landry off his feat and drew another shooting foul with 15 seconds left.

Egregious error No. 4.

Wright made two of three to make the score 98-96, and with 14 seconds, the Warriors sent Udrih to the line. He made both free throws. Kings 100, Warriors 96.
After Radmonovich hit a running hook shot with 10 seconds left, the Warriors again fouled Udrih, who again hit both free throws. Kings 102, Warriors 98.
Following a time-out, Ellis missed a three-pointer, but Williams got the rebound and was fouled on his follow with 3.4 seconds left.

Egregious error No. 5.

Williams made the first free throw, then missed the second. Cousins mishandled the rebound, and it squirted out of bounds.

Egregious error No. 6.

Wright was inbounding the ball down three with two seconds to play, and was left unfettered by the Kings defenders, which is fine, if you want an extra defender to keep the players on the court from getting open. But then they left Radmanovich unattended above the top of the key, Wright found him and he drained a 28-foot bomb as time expired.

Egregious error No. 7, all in the final 26 seconds.

Game tied at 102.

Kings announcer Grant Napear was nonplussed: "You know, honestly, if I wasn't sitting here watching this, I would not believe it . . . we're gonna go to overtime."

The Kings scored the first four points of overtime, but couldn't keep it up. Ellis ended up outscoring the Kings by himself in the extra period, 9-7.
Final score: Warriors 117, Kings 109.

I'll give the final word to Westphal: "Amazing things happened. How do you explain those? Nine-hundred ninety-nine times out of 1,000, the game is put away . . . There's crazy endings in the NBA, and we were the victim of one tonight."

Amazing.

All images are the fine work of the one and only David Alvarez.

Arena stalled

2010-10-23T01:13:19Z

Arena plans submitted to the city last December will get a second chance after developers behind a complicated land swap didn't produce a viable proposal on schedule, a city official said Friday.

At least one of the teams behind the other six proposals is still interested.

The exclusive negotiating period granted to the Sacramento Convergence Team, led by developers Gerry Kamilos and David Taylor, ends Monday. At Tuesday's City Council meeting, city staff will propose spending the next few months determining whether any of the other proposals seem possible.

"It's now time to regroup and touch base with our stakeholders – the NBA, for the most part, and Maloof Sports and Entertainment – and determine how to move forward from here," Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said.

On Sept. 28, the Sacramento City Council voted against Mayor Kevin Johnson's suggestion to end the exclusive period early. Johnson made that proposal after the developers couldn't sell Cal Expo officials on their idea to move the state fairgrounds to Arco Arena and allow private development of the existing fairgrounds in a deal to build an arena downtown.

The council also gave the group a chance to submit an alternative proposal.

But the group failed to present any additional information to city staff by a deadline two weeks ago and notified the city that it would not present an updated plan before the negotiating period expires.

"We have to admit up front that we have yet to find a solution that works for all the key stakeholders," Kamilos wrote in a letter dated Oct. 20.

"We know now what each of these stakeholders, what their needs and limitations are," he added later. "The real challenge is how do we mesh all those wants and needs and limitations together into a plan."

The group will continue to work on an alternative, which could involve a request for a bigger chunk of city railyards land to develop downtown. The group hopes to submit another proposal in January, according to the letter.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said he's lost hope that the Sacramento Kings will get a new arena.

"My optimism on there being a new building has faded completely," he said during a media conference call Friday. "We really tried hard. The Maloof family has spent an enormous sum of money. People of goodwill – from Senator Steinberg to the governor to Mayor Johnson – have joined in, and frankly it wasn't – I guess – to be, because we were missing an essential party."

However, Stern said he'll watch to see what other ideas may come forward.

Jeff Baize of Brookhurst Corp. said his team, Natomas Entertainment Sports Center Partners, welcomes another opportunity to plan to build a new entertainment complex on 100 acres of city-owned land just north of Arco Arena. The team includes Citibank, which would structure the plan's financing.

The group chose that location because it has existing infrastructure, traffic wouldn't be a problem as it could be downtown, and funding would be more attainable. But they're not sure a plan involving the Natomas site would be considered, he said.

"It's our team's firm belief that the city is not interested in looking at any other sites outside of the downtown area," he said. "This would present a challenge for anybody interested in a site other than the downtown location."

Johnson believes the railyards are the best location for a new arena, Johnson's special assistant, R.E. Graswich, said Friday.

The city won't give up until a new arena gets built, Dangberg said.

"The city remains as committed as ever to finding a solution to bring an entertainment and sports venue to Sacramento that is befitting of this region," he said. "It is not easy to do in this economic climate – especially with a real-estate based solution, as the convergence recommendation was."

Graphic provided by Thomas Enterprises in its proposal to build a downtown arena.

Cal Expo: No arena deal

2010-09-25T00:56:10Z

California Exposition and State Fair officials said no Friday to being part of an arena land swap deal.

At the end of a four-hour meeting, the board voted 7-2 against further study of a proposal by developer Gerry Kamilos and the Sacramento Convergence team to relocate the state fairgrounds to Arco Arena in Natomas and to develop the 350-acre Cal Expo site to help finance a new arena downtown.

Board members said they want proceeds from Cal Expo's development to benefit the state fairgrounds and the state, rather than a private company and an arena. The Cal Expo board has already spent too much time studying ideas to modernize the fairgrounds by helping to get an arena built, they said.

"We've got to finally come to our senses and get rid of this arena deal," said board member Steve Beneto.

The latest proposal would have turned ownership and operation of the fairgrounds and the annual state fair over to a private company, VisionMaker Worldwide. The company was founded by former Disney and Universal Studios executives. But a private equity firm, Makan Capital Group based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, bought the company in 2007, according to the company's website.

Under the plan, Cal Expo officials and staff would have had creative control of the fair and ownership of the land. VisionMaker would have returned ownership of the facilities to the state after 30 years.

The board had been willing to consider a proposal to move the fairgrounds if the site was better and brought more revenue to Cal Expo than the existing one, board members said.

"We've been working on this for three years. We have explored one alternative after another," said board member Marko Mlikotin. "Our best interests are served by staying put."

Cal Expo staff have told the developers repeatedly that Arco Arena wouldn't work for the fairgrounds and asked them to propose other locations, Cal Expo General Manager Norb Bartosik said.

The 184-acre Arco site is too small and loses Cal Expo's visibility because it can't be seen from highways. Existing neighbors have also expressed opposition to the fairgrounds relocating there, said consultant Andy Plescia.

But the $400 million arena project is not dead, Kamilos said.

He and Sacramento developer David Taylor and the other stakeholders, which include the city, VisionMaker and the Maloof family, will come up with another strategy that could involve developing the Arco Arena site to help finance building a new arena in downtown's railyards. The Convergence team is considering "a number of options" and will discuss alternatives at a workshop with the Sacramento City Council Tuesday.

The Maloofs, who own the Sacramento Kings, will now work on alternatives to get an arena built.

“We must continue to work hard to find a solution," co-owner Joe Maloof said in a prepared statement late Friday afternoon. "We look forward to hearing what are the next steps and options."

Cal Expo officials must focus on developing or selling some of the existing land to rebuild the fairgrounds at its current location, said board member Paul “Rick” Stacey.

"Maybe that is a public-private partnership," he said. "But on our terms."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

King for a Day. . .

2010-03-22T00:44:32Z

"How do you feel about the Sacramento Kings?"

When I was first asked this question a few weeks ago, my initial response was "luke warm". I am from the Bay Area, and, besides a youthful dalliance with the Detroit Pistons (spurred on by an Adrian Dantley signed basketball I received for Christmas, 1987), a lifelong Warriors fan. Now, you might think I would hate the Kings, seeing as they and the Warriors are geographic rivals and all, but you'd be mistaken. I don't hate the Kings.

I hate the Lakers. I hate them intensely. And, as the proverb goes, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". For the last 20 years, the Warriors have been mostly impotent, unable to present any kind of threat to the Purple and Gold Menace to south. The Kings, however, have often been a worthy foe. Come playoff time, I would often hitch my wagon to the Kings horses. I loved watching the teams of the late 90's with Jason Williams at PG, and Corliss Williamson up front.

I was watching when the Kings realized they weren't gonna get any further with "White Chocolate" and "Big Nasty", they traded them for Mike Bibby and Doug Christie (and his wife) and almost brought a championship to Sacramento. That 2002 series against the Lakers is the 2nd most memorable series of my life (behind the Warriors improbable first round sweep of the Mavericks a few years back, I believe!), and I spent it rooting passionately for the boys from Nor Cal. I remember how raucous Arco would get, and thinking that it must be an amazing place to see a game. I also remember thinking that the best team lost. (Sorry to bring up old stuff but. . . 27 Laker free throws in the 4th quarter? come on!)

The point is, when offered tickets to go to the Kings/Bucks game Friday night, I jumped at the chance. I even headed down to a Sac Press Reke ROY sign making party before the game. I sat with a group of the nicest Kings fans I could ever hope to meet. In the interest of full disclosure I copped to being a Warriors fan soon after joining them. They saw past my Golden State affinity, treated me as one of their own, and for that I am grateful. I went to work on my sign, and I came to a sad realization.

My name is Lindol, I'm 31 years old, the equivalent of a 25th grader, and I make signs at a 3rd grade level. Looking back on it now, I may be giving myself too much credit. At no higher than a 3rd grade level. Mr. and Mrs. Sign Lady were at the party, when they saw my sign, they openly mocked me. By which I mean they did nothing of the sort, and were exceedingly friendly and supportive. They were just being nice, as they would be to any developmentally disabled 31 year old man.

So I took my sad little sign ('Reke Da Freak!), grabbed a 20 ounce Tecate (only 50 cents an ounce!) and headed to my seat, excited to see Tyreke Evans and Brandon Jennings, two of the leaders in the Rookie of the Year chase, go at it. My impressions from the game:

-NBA introductions are fantastic, by far the best of any sport. Being there in person you get to see all the players little ritualized dances and handshakes and what not. Very cool.

-Tyreke showed flashes of greatness, but struggled getting into a rhythm.

-Brandon Jennings did get into a rhythm and was pretty spectacular, 8 of 13 on 3 pointers.

-Where as beers are marked up 700%, a Round Table Pizza that costs 6 bucks in the restaurant, costs 7 at the game and is delivered to your seat. Best deal in the house.

-Lior Suchard is able to bend spoons, guess halftime scores, and turn 1 dollar bills into hundreds, but he isn't able to say please, apparently. Where'd you learn your manners, guy?

-Beno Udrih is pretty darn good.

-Spencer Hawes is also pretty darn good.

-Sean May must not be, double overtime game and he didn't sniff the court.

-Slamson, the Kings Mascot, is trying to bring back rollerblading, I don't like his chances.

-The Kings dance team > The Warriors dance team.

-Mr. Sign Lady sits directly behind Mrs. Sign Lady. Like Goose behind Maverick. Awesome.

-The crowd was raucous, but the arena seemed only about two thirds full. It was a far cry from the cowbell glory days of yore.

-That was the first Israeli flag I've seen held up at an NBA game. Omri Casspi is a pretty cool story.

-It's my fault that the Kings lost. . . . wait, what?

I mean, if you're looking for someone to blame, you could blame the officials who blew an obvious traveling call on Brandon Jennings down the stretch that led to a John Salmons 3 pointer. You could blame Ersan Ilyasova (if that's even his real name!) and his errant elbow that knocked Tyreke out of the game with lacerated gums, chipped tooth, concussion and potentially fractured jaw. Ouch. Or you could blame Ersan a second time for that ridiculous three pointer he hit to tie the game at the end of regulation. You could do all of these things, but you would be wrong.

If you want to know why the Kings blew a 9 point lead with 2 minutes remaining, it's cause that was the point I left my seat and went out to my car to beat traffic. And as I was about to leave the Arena, I actually thought to myself "If you leave, you do know that the Bucks are gonna come back and send it to overtime, if not double overtime, and the Kings are probably going to lose". I said to the voice in my head, "you're probably right, but I don't know how to get out of here, I'm kinda tired, and lets be honest, I'm a Warriors fan, it's a chance I'm willing to take". I was almost home when Ersan hit that 3 pointer, and I didn't need Lior Suchard to tell me what would happen next. Oops, my bad.

You can send your angry emails to lindol@gmail.com, best one gets a sweet "Reke Da Freak" sign, only used once.

NBA consultant presses council on Kamilos arena plan

2010-02-12T06:22:03Z

A consultant for the National Basketball Association pressed the City Council earlier this week to back its proposal for a new arena in Sacramento.

The NBA, developer Gerry Kamilos and the Maloofs are working together on the proposal, which is led by Kamilos.

John Moag, a consultant for the National Basketball Association, expressed his preference for the NBA/Kamilos plan in a Feb. 9 letter sent to Mayor Kevin Johnson and City Council members.

“We expect the City of Sacramento will be the lead agency on the convergence project with a major role being played by the state of California,” Moag wrote. “We urge you to make the review and consideration of the convergence plan a priority of the city.”

If the plan advances, the Downtown railyards will be the site of a 19,000-seat sports and entertainment arena. In a second part of the plan, a new fairgrounds would be built at Arco Arena and on nearby land.

The arena task force has been analyzing the seven proposals that were submitted last year. City Council members have expressed concern that the arena task force does not represent the city of Sacramento.

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy read Moag's letter out loud during Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

Read Moag’s letter here.

For more information about arena proposals, read staff reporter Suzanne Hurt’s Feb. 3 story.

Sacramento Press reporter Suzanne Hurt contributed to this story. Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Arena task force begins reviewing proposals

2010-02-05T06:21:55Z

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson's arena task force will focus on giving all proposals a fair hearing over the next four weeks, an arena team leader said Thursday.

Four task force subcommittees on finance, transportation, site evaluation, and business and community impact will collect more detailed information from the development teams that have pitched seven arena options. The subcommittees will also consider renovating Arco Arena, the current home of the Kings, and a previous proposal to build at Cal Expo, said Chris Lehane, co-chair of the Sacramento First Task Force.

Subcommittee work will not be public. The information gathered will be used to create a scoring matrix to weigh the proposals, and the scoring matrix will be released to the public, he said.

"We're going to be kicking the tires pretty hard on this," he said at a press conference Thursday at the Citizen Hotel.

Lehane unveiled eight priorities created during the task force's first phase that will be used during the evaluation process:

• No Direct Taxes: Other potential revenue sources, including tax increment financing and fees on "tourists," will be considered;
• Economic Impact: Speedy creation of work for local construction companies and construction jobs and long-term economic benefits;
• Full Loan Repayment: Maloofs must address their outstanding $68.5 million city loan by paying it back in a lump sum or payments, through equity in a new facility or in another way;
• Regional Contribution: Financial contribution to construction costs, possibly through event ticket fees but not likely to come from surrounding towns or the county;
• Community Benefits: Could include a labor agreement, affordable housing, environmentally sensitive construction, cultural contributions and more;
• Minimize Environmental Impacts, partly with a focus on public transit;
• Fair Share for Use of City Land: "Given that the NBA and/or the Kings will likely seek a controlling interest in the facility, any facility developed as a true public-private partnership ... must ensure that the team/league pays its fair share," determined by the level of public support, according to a document Lehane provided outlining the priorities. The amount the public is compensated must be adjusted for inflation, Lehane said.
• No funding from the city's general fund.

Lehane would not respond to reports that the National Basketball Association is upset about comments he made on the task force blog Tuesday. He called the NBA's previous attempts to get an arena built here "two air balls" and made other comments in a post asserting that the NBA's support for one arena proposal doesn't guarantee that plan will be adopted by the task force or the city.

Several Sacramento City Council members were also upset about the comments and felt he was speaking on behalf of the city.

"Maybe I should have said 'two fumbles.' Maybe I should have said 'two strikes.' But I said 'airballs,' " he said Thursday.

Lehane also said he recognizes the task force is a group of "citizens" attempting to represent the public in an effort to get an arena built as quickly as possible.

"We're not the City Council," he said.

While Lehane lives in San Francisco and another task force member lives in Los Angeles, nine others live in Sacramento and the other member lives in Stockton, he said.

Lehane said he was recruited to the task force because he has no pre-existing relationships in Sacramento or any vested interest in a particular outcome.

"That allows me to ask the tough questions," he said.

Councilmembers, NBA upset over arena task force comments

2010-02-04T05:53:04Z

Sacramento City Council members and the National Basketball Association are angry or unhappy with comments made Tuesday by the mayor's arena team leader.

Several council members are upset after Sacramento First Task Force co-chair Chris Lehane seemed to be speaking on behalf of the city when he called the NBA's previous attempts to get an arena built here "air balls" and made other comments on the organization's website blog Tuesday morning.

Council members Ray Tretheway and Rob Fong responded to Lehane's comments at the end of Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

"I was terribly embarrassed by the disrespectful message that publicly humiliated the commissioner of basketball that came out of Sacramento First," said Tretheway, whose district includes Downtown, proposed as one potential location for a new arena. "The NBA officially has been a great partner with the city — a longtime partner."

At least two other council members privately said they were upset over the comments, he added Wednesday.

NBA Commissioner David Stern and consultant John Moag, who owns the sports investment banking firm Moag & Co., spent two years working on a plan to build the new arena at Cal Expo. Three weeks ago, Moag and Stern, together with the Maloofs and local developers, pitched a new plan to build the arena in the Downtown railyards.

Mayor Kevin Johnson, once an NBA star, formed the volunteer task force three months ago to expedite development of a new arena to spur the city's economic growth — which he has identified as top priorities. Johnson has said he'd like the arena built Downtown and that the railyards would be one possible site. While playing for the Phoenix Suns, he saw Phoenix get revitalized after he helped bring an arena to that city's downtown.

Johnson recruited task force co-chair Lehane, a San Francisco political and public relations strategist who was dubbed one of the "masters of disaster" for his work controlling damage during President Bill Clinton's administration. Lehane is volunteering on the task force, as are 11 others, who work in business, finance, politics, development and labor.

Tuesday night, Fong said the task force's efforts should not be disregarded. However, he, Tretheway and other council members don't like the way Lehane's comments seemed to be representing the official city position.

“I do think lines get crossed when they pretend to speak for the city of Sacramento because it is a volunteer effort," Fong said. “If at some point, if the city of Sacramento is to be the lead agency, so to speak, on arena efforts, then it really should be the city of Sacramento that’s speaking on its own behalf.”

Lehane is expected to discuss the start of the task force's four-week proposal-review process at a press conference at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Citizen Hotel, 926 J St.

His comments that upset council members were made Tuesday in a blog post, where he explained the NBA's support for one of seven Sacramento arena proposals doesn't guarantee that plan will be adopted by the task force or the city.

The NBA and other development teams have been "lobbying public officials" and "putting out their spin." But the sports and entertainment center task force is just starting to evaluate the proposals and doesn't want to "give the public the bum's rush," Lehane blogged.

“Since 2006, the NBA has ‘endorsed’ two other proposals that never came to fruition. Just because a deal may sound like a lay-up to the NBA doesn't mean it is a finger roll for Sacramento," he wrote. “Despite well-meaning work over the years, the NBA has shot two air balls in its past efforts — the city needs to make sure that this process results in a slam dunk for the public.”

Lehane's comments were later released to reporters. On Tuesday, Tretheway and Fong spoke to NBA representatives, including someone working for Moag. Those representatives "confirmed how upset the NBA was," Tretheway said.

The NBA and Moag did not wish to respond publicly to Lehane's comments.

"We're not going to comment," said Karen Skelton of the Boston-based public relations firm Dewey Square Group, which represents Moag and the NBA.

Johnson didn't respond to Tretheway's and Fong's concerns at the council meeting. Earlier that day, neither he nor his staff would discuss Lehane's comments or any lobbying that has been going on.

But Jeremiah Jackson, a task force project coordinator, said lobbying on behalf of certain proposals won't change the arena team's mission as the task force begins weighing all the proposals.

"We know the NBA will support a deal that works for them," he said. "But we want to make sure Sacramento gets behind a deal that works for us."

The NBA is a partner in a plan spearheaded by developer Gerry Kamilos. The NBA and Moag are negotiating on behalf of the Maloofs, who own the Sacramento Kings franchise and its current home, Arco Arena.

The plan proposes building a 19,000-seat sports and entertainment arena at the Downtown railyards on land donated by the city. That project would be financed in part by the group's ability to buy Cal Expo and developing a mixed-use, master-planned neighborhood there, Moag said. The group also proposes the city and the Maloofs turn Arco Arena and the adjacent land over to the state for the new fairgrounds, and that the city forgive a $68.5 million loan to the Maloofs.

Tuesday night, council members directed the city manager's office to draft a letter for the council "to reaffirm how much we value the partnership and long-time support of the NBA to have an NBA team in Sacramento," Tretheway said Wednesday.

Development teams will make half-hour presentations to the task force in two weeks. The task force is expected to make recommendations to the mayor on March 11.

Vote for your preferred location for a sports and entertainment arena at sacramentofirst.org.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for the Sacramento Press. Sacramento Press reporter Kathleen Haley contributed to this report.

Chamber Kicks Off 'Keep Arena In Natomas' Campaign

2010-01-17T17:11:20Z

City councilman Ray Tretheway, District One, takes the podium Saturday at a press conference held by the Natomas Chamber of Commerce to launch its "Keep the Arena In Natomas" campaign.

The Chamber has gone on record criticizing the NBA and Maloof family for endorsing a complex land swap proposal that would move the arena to the railyards downtoan and the state fairgrounds to Natomas. The Chamber backs a proposal to build a new sports and entertainment complex on 100-acres adjacent to the existing site.

Says Natomas business owner and chamber board member Marni Leger, "We don't want the door to be shut just because the NBA has annointed one proposal."

Photo by LARRY RODDA/PhreePhotography.COM

NBA proposes Sacramento arena deal

2010-01-16T04:40:28Z

The ongoing drama over a new Sacramento arena was kicked up a notch Thursday when a consortium of investors and local developers, together with the NBA, proposed a complex real estate deal involving the Railyards, Cal Expo and Arco Arena. Whether or not that deal eclipses all the other proposals on the table remains to be seen.

But regardless of which arena proposal ultimately becomes reality, it will be a game-changer for Sacramento.

Just how much depends on which of seven proposals the city and the Sacramento Kings' owners agree on. The Maloof/NBA proposal involves real estate deals that would lead to Cal Expo being sold to private developers for a mixed-use neighborhood, Arco Arena and adjacent land being transformed into the new state fairgrounds, and a sports arena being built on donated city land adjacent to the train station.

The backers of all seven proposals made brief pitches to more than 120 people at a sometimes raucous, fairly informal open house held Thursday night in the lobby of City Hall. But the biggest surprise came after the event organized by Mayor Kevin Johnson's arena task force, when developers and investors behind a complex real estate proposal held a separate press conference at the Citizen Hotel.

Representing the National Basketball Association at the second press conference, John Moag, who heads the sports investment banking company Moag & Co., outlined a complicated plan spearheaded by developer Gerry Kamilos.

"I think we can all agree we have a building that needs to be replaced. The real question has always been, 'How?' " Moag said. "We came with the assumption we were not going to raise new taxes. That made for a very difficult and complicated scenario."

The NBA has become a partner to negotiate for the project on behalf of the Maloofs, which own the Sacramento Kings franchise and its current home, Arco Arena. The city owns land around the arena. The Maloofs did not attend the press conference.

Kamilos, developer David Taylor and two investment companies would form a private consortium that proposes building a 19,000-seat sports and entertainment arena adjacent to the historic train depot on land donated by the city of Sacramento. That project would be financed in part by the group buying Cal Expo and developing a mixed-use, master-planned neighborhood there. The group also proposes the city and the Maloofs turn Arco Arena and the adjacent land over to the state for the new fairgrounds, Moag said.

The Maloofs would contribute $300 million to the new arena, he said. However, the proposal also calls for retiring a $68.5 million city loan to the Maloofs. The Kings would sign a 30-year lease. The private group would own and operate the new sports and entertainment arena for 30 years, then turn it over to the city.

Proponents of other projects proposed building at a variety of locations, from the same city-owned railyards land to the east end of Downtown Plaza, the Sacramento River waterfront in the Docks Area and Arco Arena. Some proposed funding mechanisms, but not all.

Thomas Enterprises, which is developing the former railyards, proposes building a sports and entertainment center in the same city-owned railyards location as the third phase of the current regional transportation center project. Under that proposal, the historic train depot would serve as the lobby and ticketing center for the arena, as well as the future transportation center. A passenger concourse would wrap around the side of the arena to the relocated tracks and a multi-level, shared parking garage would be built.

A performing arts center is proposed for a new fourth phase. The proposal would decrease the cost of both the transportation center and the arena and allow the use of transportation funding not available to other projects, Thomas Enterprises Vice President Suheil Totah said.

"It will help establish the historic depot as the Grand Central Station of the West," he said at City Hall. "This event center is the next logical step to the redevelopment of the railyards and the revitalization of Downtown Sacramento."

Graphic provided by Thomas Enterprises.

Other proposals include:

— Natomas Entertainment Sports Center Partners, led by Jeff Baize of Brookhurst Corp., proposes building a new entertainment complex on 100 acres of city-owned land adjacent to Arco Arena. The complex would include a mixed-use neighborhood emphasizing green technology and re-purposing Arco Arena as a power generation facility. "That site has been working from a traffic and infrastructure capacity," he said.

— Matt Haines of M & M Group and owner of 33rd Street Bistro presented a plan developed more than a decade ago for then-Mayor Joe Serna. Haines proposes building a sports and entertainment center on the waterfront in the future Docks Area. A location near Miller Park would bring needed development to the riverfront and nearby Capitol Mall, and encourage the use of Broadway and R Street as access routes, he said. "Our river will come alive like never before," he said. He proposes financing the project through equity seat rights, or selling individual seats in the center, which Haines said has raised $200 million for UC Berkeley.

— Ali Mackani, who owns Lounge on 20, and a group called CORE propose redeveloping the east end of Westfield Downtown Plaza into a retail and entertainment district, with two floors of retail and an outdoor public park on the third floor. "Our downtown lacks energy," Mackani said. "We don't have a destination. We need to make sure our core is strong. We have to do a better job in creating an attraction for everyone."

— Rick Tripp of Tripp Development also sees the east end of Downtown Plaza as the best location. This proposal focused on financing, rather than design. Tripp proposed private financing and no requirement for publicly owned real estate — or compensating taxpayers for real estate at market rate, he said.

— Doug Tatara proposes building an entertainment complex including a sports and entertainment arena, a California theme park and a monorail connecting Cal Expo to downtown. He proposes raising money for the arena through the recruitment of 25 corporate sponsors who would have advertising contracts with the arena.

The mayor's task force will visit proposed locations on Feb. 18 and conduct a review of the proposals with each group on March 4. The task force will make recommendations to the mayor on March 11.

Railyards photo by Eric Whalen.

Natomas Chamber Campaigns To Keep Arena In Natomas

2010-01-16T01:57:57Z

The Natomas Chamber of Commerce today criticized the NBA and Maloofs for backing an arena plan weeks before the Sacramento First task force is scheduled to make its recommendations to Mayor Kevin Johnson and the public.

In a statment released today, chamber officials announced plans to launch a "Keep The Arena In Natomas" campaign during a press conference set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Five Star Way and Del Paso Road. The chamber is a partner in the Natomas ESC group which presented a proposal at City Hall yesterday for an arena and entertainment complex on 100 city-owned acres located north of Arco Arena.

"Natomas needs representation in the discussion about where a new sports complex should be located," said Marni Leger, a chamber board member and "Keep the Arena in Natomas" campaign chairperson.

Chamber officials said they were disappointed in the NBA and Maloofs who yesterday announced support for a plan that would involve complex land swaps and relocating the State fairgrounds onto the current arena site in Natomas. The 12-person Sacramento First task force has yet to fully review all seven proposals put forth by developers and is not scheduled to make a recommendation until March 11.

Said Leger, "In tight times, the more economical proposal to build a new arena in Natomas should be considered."

Mayor Kevin Johnson introduces "Rules of the Game" for new arena

2009-10-30T03:14:16Z

At a news conference Thursday, Mayor Kevin Johnson introduced his "Rules of the Game" plan to build an arena and entertainment complex in Sacramento. It was held on the 25th floor of the US Bank building downtown, featuring panoramic views of the skyline with Cal Expo and the Sacramento Railyards in the background.

Johnson's "rules" include coming up with a plan that doesn't depend on taxes, making sure the city is not a "stalking horse" for a deal elsewhere and utilizing experienced community members. He also announced that a task force will be established and that there will be an open call for proposals, with guidelines coming in the next few days.

"I think it's time to reinvigorate an arena discussion," Johnson said. "If you look out over Sacramento, it's clear that rebuilding Cal Expo cannot be the only option. We need a new sports and entertainment center."

Two weeks ago, after the NCAA deemed ARCO Arena outdated for an NCAA tournament, Johnson declared finding a new arena a "front-burner issue." He also has called a new arena part of a larger plan to revitalize Sacramento's economy.

Johnson said Thursday that the arena, host to more than 190 events last year, was not about the Maloofs or even the Kings.

"We've got to prove that we can build major projects here in Sacramento," he said. "I'm talking about an entertainment complex that lights up the next six blocks right outside of its boundaries, something that works hand in hand with transit, smart growth and green ambitions."

When asked about the Railyards as a potential site, Johnson said, "I have said all along that I would have loved to see an arena downtown and my favorite site was the Railyards. At the end of the day, it all boils down to 'How are you going to pay for it?' "

Johnson said he wants public input, adding that there will be a monthly events to discuss the complex.

"I challenge everyone to think big, and think about what great cities have done over the last 3,000 years," the mayor said. "Think about how we can join that list of great cities."

Please view a transcript of the speech here.