Thursday, April 28th, 2011 at 4:04 pm  |  16 responses

NBA to Maloofs: Stay in Sacramento

by Jonathan Santiago / @itsJONsantiago

NBA relocation chairman Clay Bennett arranged a conference call with the Maloofs and Anaheim officials yesterday.

And according to the Sac Bee, the league sided with Sacramento.

“The Kings owners expressed appreciation for local businesses that have pledged $10 million in sponsorship support for next year, but also shared concerns about whether their finances can withstand several years of waiting for a new arena to be built, and whether Sacramento will be able to come up with an arena plan that is financially feasible, given past failures. NBA officials, in turn, told the Maloofs to stay in Sacramento.“

Meanwhile in Sacramento, Mayor Kevin Johnson was holding a morning news conference today, when it was abruptly interrupted by presumably an important phone call. Rob McAllister of KFBK Radio has the details:

“The Mayor ran into his black SUV at 10:40 in the morning and remained on the line for 20 minutes. When he emerged form the right back seat, Johnson appeared with a smile on his face. The Mayor would not say who he spoke with. “That is a private call,” he said.

Johnson did say he has not spoken with NBA Relocation Committee Chair Clay Bennett, but asked if it was NBA Commissioner David Stern on the call, “I am refusing to answer that question right now.” Mayor Johnson also would not say whether he knew if the Maloofs had made a decision or not.”

McAllister also added that he has never seen KJ let a phone call interrupt an event or press conference in the three years he’s covered the mayor.

It is believed that an announcement on the Kings future will come before this weekend. The deadline to file for relocation is Monday, May 2nd.

Editor’s Note: Updated at 2:07 pm PST

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , ,

  • http://slamonline.com AlbertBarr

    Well this is getting interesting…
    and just for good measure @AnaheimRoyals: F*CK OFF! I know you will eventually post on here. Nothing personal BTW.

  • http://slamonline.com walt williams

    If you can’t afford to lose money with an NBA team, you can’t afford to own an NBA team, plain and simple. Sell the team to Burkle so Petrie can have some mother*ucking freedom to make this team better.

  • http://slamonline.com AlbertBarr

    Co-sign Walt

  • http://counterkicks.com Quinned

    Well tell that to Seattle. I just think that there is an overemphasis on the arena rather than the fan base and overall city support. The small market teams always seem to have some of the most passionate fans

  • SOS

    I agree with Quinned. There is a massive overemphasis on the arena. I’ve been to Key Arena dozens of times and can tell you that there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. In fact, I submit that Key Arena offers a better fan experience than Staples Center. At the Key, fans are right on top of the players, whereas in LA, the game is almost being played on a stage where fans are removed and the lights dimmed. Sure, the Key might not have AS MANY luxury boxes as the other palaces of basketball, and I get that it is a money maker, but I don’t think that’s a reason to move a team. Demolishing or gutting Key Arena to build a new one would be en egregious waste. It’s sad to see that the NBA didn’t get that.

  • burnt_chicken

    and so ends the brief, smug, commenting era of Anaheim Royals. Alas, Royals, we barely knew ye

  • Bad Bad Leroy Brown

    There’s WAAAAAAY too much whining about new arenas these days.

  • Cronkite Kid

    I agree that a lot of stuff is being said about Arco, but it’s really not much of an arena. It’s small, old, and can’t support a team anymore. The new arena is necessary, I don’t think there was ever any doubt that the Kings fans deserve a team

  • http://Slamonline.com Caboose

    Cosign Cronkite Kid. I’ve been to hundreds of Kings games and honestly, Arco (err Power Balance) is a joke. A bunch of mismatched plastic seats, creaky stairs, narrow concourse, tiny and outdated scoreboard, and generally old amenities just isn’t worth $80 to see the team play.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    The Staples Center stage-esque set-up is really cool to watch on TV. No other arena, not even MSG gives you that kind of atmosphere. I’ve never seen a live Lakers’ game but on TV at least, it looks incredible.

  • Majic

    Now the real work begins. Its a must we get this arena built. This is a minor victory in the main drive to keep the team in town for the long term. Props to KJ whose really quarter backed this move.

  • http://twitter.com/BeezKneezy LA Huey

    SOS is right, there’s nothing wrong with KeyArena. I’ve watched games there from various differents seats: nosebleeds, lower bowl, 20 rows from the floor. It’s a good arena and as much as I love NBA basketball, I did not want our legislature to put hundreds of millions of tax dollars on a brand new building.

  • http://bigleaguewiffleball.com/ Jon L.

    Not for long….I think they will definitely move to Anaheim in the next couple of years.

  • maloofant

    me to maloofs: stay in sacramento.

    GO KINGS! (….next year)

  • Groves

    @walt, i love that the small market has won this time, but no owner should tolerate losing money on an investment just because it is is deemed the right thing to do by the majority. the maloofs probably can afford to lose money, but why should they

  • Ali

    SacTown!

Advertisement