Friday, March 4th, 2011 at 8:00 am  |  4 responses

Kings Relocation: KJ on Maloofs Meeting

Three points to consider following the mayor’s Thursday presser.

by Jonathan Santiago / @itsJONsantiago

Talks between Sacramento city officials and its lone NBA franchise continue as the Kings mull over a potential move to Anaheim. Mayor Kevin Johnson held another press conference yesterday to inform the media and public the results of his first formal meeting, which took place Wednesday, with the Maloofs since relocation chatter surfaced during All-Star Weekend.

There are three key points to take away from KJ’s presser yesterday.

1.  The Maloofs are not interested in selling.

One Sacramento politician suggested that a group of local investors come together to buy the Kings from the Maloofs.  That’s not going to happen.  The Maloofs made it clear in their meeting with Johnson that they have no desire to sell the team at this point.

2.  According to Johnson, the Maloofs “are not comfortable sharing the financial documents at this time” with the city’s handpicked arena development group.

The Maloofs were supposed to deliver documents showing the revenues generated by the Kings’ arena presence (such as suites, tickets, concessions, parking sales, etc.) to Sacramento developer David Taylor and Colorado-based ICON Venue Group last Friday.

They did not.

The Kings owners did however pass along some of their findings on Monday, but not all of them.  How does Johnson read their actions?

3.  More lucrative revenue streams near the world’s entertainment capital attract the Maloofs to Anaheim.

KJ emphasized that the Maloofs told him they’d like to stay in Sacramento.  But financially, a deal in Anaheim could make more sense for them if a new arena is not built anytime soon.

But what makes Anaheim more financially sensible than Sacramento or other potential NBA markets?  A particular cartoon mouse and more actually.  KJ breaks it down:

Johnson also confirmed a Wednesday meeting with Commissioner David Stern yesterday, who told the mayor that he would support the Maloofs in any decision they make regarding the franchise’s future.  The former NBA point guard also said there aren’t any future meetings planned with the Maloofs, but that the two parties would continue to have an ongoing dialogue before the Kings’ new relocation filing deadline of April 18.

Press conference audio courtesy of KFBK Radio in Sacramento.

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  • http://Slamonline.com Caboose

    Does this mean the Clips might move to San Diego? And Seattle still isn’t getting a team back but Socal gets 3…that’s depressing…

  • http://slamonline.com Jonathan Santiago

    The Clippers won’t move to San Diego if the Kings move to Anaheim. They’d make more money staying in Los Angeles than they would leaving that market. The Clippers are terrible practically every year because Sterling doesn’t have to put a winning team on the floor to make money. Since the Clippers plays in LA, win or lose, they will always make money off other revenue streams outside of ticket sales.

    It doesn’t make sense basketball-wise to have three teams in Los Angeles. But because LA is the number 2 media market in the country, moving to Anaheim makes perfect financial sense for the Kings. It’s a big enough market to sustain three NBA squads.

    And the reason why Seattle can’t get a team back is because they don’t have a new arena built. If Seattle ever gets around to it (I think they will eventually), they will be at the top of the list as far as markets looking to acquire an NBA team.

    Why doesn’t Seattle have an arena built yet? Mainly because it’s hard to sell tax payers on building another sports and entertainment venue when they recently just built Safeco Field (the Mariner’s ballpark) and Qwest Field (the Seahawks’ home stadium).

  • http://www.sonicbids.com doyouwantmore

    Go Kings

  • stu514

    Anaheim would not work great. montreal is the best choice as the arena of 22,500 is already there followed by vancouver. don’t bother moving to Anaheim there better off staying in sacramento. i do think that moving the clippers to anaheim is a good idea thought.

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