Arena Meeting In Dallas

[Eze]

So, with the NBA essentially telling the Maloofs no need to show for a meeting that directly deals with their franchises future, seems as if they're almost growing tired of them and their fickleness.

Pretty telling that KJ, the fans and city were able to easily scrounge up 10 million dollars in the snap of a finger while the Maloof's spent years pissing and moaning they couldn't.

[nuraman00]

http://www.kfbk.com/pages/robmcalliste.html?article=9213532


Wednesday, October 05, 2011
City 'Updates' NBA On Arena Effort



NBA representatives met with local officials to discuss the progress the City of Sacramento is making in its quest to construct a new entertainment and sports center at the Railyards.

The meeting was described as an “update” by one city staffer and was not a negotiation session. Councilman Rob Fong was not a part of these talks in Dallas, but said, “It has been a while since the NBA, the city and others had been in the same room. What transpired (Wednesday) was really just, ‘What is the city doing?’ ‘What are the broad out lines?’ and a little about timelines too.”

Mayor Kevin Johnson’s Chief of Staff, Kunal Merchant, Assistant City Manager John Dangberg along with the ICON/Taylor development team sat down with Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clay Bennett at the Dallas Fort Worth Hyatt for most of Wednesday afternoon. It appears that the financial options and a pre-development plan were discussed; however, how the Kings would contribute was not a part of the meeting.

Merchant and Dangberg could not immediately be reached for comment, but a statement was issued by the pair.

“(Wednesday’s) preliminary working session was positive and constructive regarding the steps that need to be taken relating to the development and financing of a new entertainment and sports complex…All sides expressed a desire to continue to work collaboratively.”

The Maloof family was not at the meeting in Dallas and there is no time table that currently details when the Kings’ owners will join the negotiations. Fong said he expects the “Maloofs to be apart of the talks,” even though the city has been dealing directly with the NBA.

While most of the league owners haggle over the labor situation, it seems for now that Bennett, who heads the NBA Relocation Committee, will stay involved through out Sacramento’s arena effort.

-Rob McAllister

[nuraman00]

Maybe they want to figure out the city contributions, and the other business contributions, before figuring out the rental terms with the Maloofs.

[Gunshot]

"and R.E. Graswich was seen in the parking lot picking lint out of his belly button"

[nuraman00]

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2011/10/sacramento-city-officials-meeting-with-nba-about-new-kings-arena/



Thursday, October 6th, 2011 at 9:10 am |


Sacramento City Officials Meeting With NBA About New Kings Arena





After meeting for the first time with NBA officials about their plans to build a new gym for the Kings, the city of Sacramento reps called the talk “constructive”. Reports the Sac Bee: “Sacramento city officials described their initial arena meeting with the NBA on Wednesday as constructive. The meeting, held in Dallas, is expected to be the first in a series of discussions between the National Basketball Association and the city as the two sides attempt to agree on financing and development plans for a new sports-and-entertainment facility in downtown Sacramento. In a joint statement, Mayor Kevin Johnson and City Manager John Shirey said the conversation focused on making progress before the end of the year. ‘All sides expressed a desire to continue to work collaboratively,’ it read. ‘Our focus is on putting in place a public-private partnership that will put the taxpayers first and generate more than 4,000 jobs and $150 million in annual economic activity in the city.’ NBA officials could not be reached for comment. Sacramento Kings officials were not present. Team officials said they expected to be briefed by the NBA.”

[Eze]

As big of a dbag Bennett was to Seattle, he seems to have Sacramento's best interest at heart. At least on the surface.

[ctba]

As big of a dbag Bennett was to Seattle, he seems to have Sacramento's best interest at heart. At least on the surface.

I think Stern has told him to be since he fucked over seattle

[bloatedmaniac]

Yep, its much easier for Bennett to play nice when he isn't the one screwing the city to gain control of the team for his own purposes. It was obvious the NBA allowed Bennett to bend Seattle over for his own gain. Now fortunately the Kings benefit from the NBA trying to save face a bit.

[ctba]

I am pretty sure that the Kings will be staying in sactown.

[Eze]

Just my personal feeling, but it seems like the NBA has soured on the Maloof's. I mean, all they've done for years is say how they can't compete, they can't financially back the team, how they can't get corporate sponsorships, yada yada. So then here comes Johnson in a late hour ditch, gets them 10 million in corporate money pretty much overnight, gets every suite sold out for the season and guys like Burkle come in saying "I'll buy the team". It was clear the relocation committee thought their "plan" that they presented was crap considering the comments that were made about it.

The billionare boys club would love another high priced friend - something the Maloof's no longer are in that circle. So, if they don't place nice and do as they're told, I wonder if they're going to be forced out eventually.

What is the greater Sacramento area? The 20th largest market? You can't ditch that place, after a lockout, with a potential new arena gaining steam. Especially given the support the franchise has had over the years.

[bloatedmaniac]

Just my personal feeling, but it seems like the NBA has soured on the Maloof's. I mean, all they've done for years is say how they can't compete, they can't financially back the team, how they can't get corporate sponsorships, yada yada. So then here comes Johnson in a late hour ditch, gets them 10 million in corporate money pretty much overnight, gets every suite sold out for the season and guys like Burkle come in saying "I'll buy the team". It was clear the relocation committee thought their "plan" that they presented was crap considering the comments that were made about it.

The billionare boys club would love another high priced friend - something the Maloof's no longer are in that circle. So, if they don't place nice and do as they're told, I wonder if they're going to be forced out eventually.

What is the greater Sacramento area? The 20th largest market? You can't ditch that place, after a lockout, with a potential new arena gaining steam. Especially given the support the franchise has had over the years.

Well the Maloofs have an heir about them, that attracts people. They come off easy going and have kid-like qualities which Stern and other officials around the league liked. Reality though sets in at some point, and the Maloofs are full of negative vibes these days from their poor decisions.

The league hated the way they literally dumped the Monarchs cold turkey without giving them a chance to find new owners. They have lost out on virtually every other business venture they had. The Kings were a very lucrative and successful team for nearly a decade but turned bad, due in large part by bad ownership decisions. As the team got worse, ticket prices increased. Then the past few seasons, the Maloofs have been sold contracts from other teams just to earn money and stay above the MINIMUM salary cap threshold. That looks really shady to everyone around the league.

At this point the NBA has no reason to trust the Maloofs' business sense, let alone allow them to move from an already proven market to a different market that already has lots of other teams surrounding it which is in conflict of league interests. The Maloofs blamed Sacramento and the mayor for the arena debacle, yet both groups have now both proven the willingness and ability to get things done. What are the Maloofs doing? Crying and pointing fingers while doing nothing to help.

[nuraman00]

So then here comes Johnson in a late hour ditch, gets them 10 million in corporate money pretty much overnight, gets every suite sold out for the season

Did Johnson really get every suite sold out? Link? While I do think Johnson had made significant headway in getting more corporate money, I thought there were still a moderate amount of suites unsold.


Well the Maloofs have an heir about them, that attracts people. They come off easy going and have kid-like qualities which Stern and other officials around the league liked. Reality though sets in at some point, and the Maloofs are full of negative vibes these days from their poor decisions.

The league hated the way they literally dumped the Monarchs cold turkey without giving them a chance to find new owners. They have lost out on virtually every other business venture they had. The Kings were a very lucrative and successful team for nearly a decade but turned bad, due in large part by bad ownership decisions. As the team got worse, ticket prices increased. Then the past few seasons, the Maloofs have been sold contracts from other teams just to earn money and stay above the MINIMUM salary cap threshold. That looks really shady to everyone around the league.

At this point the NBA has no reason to trust the Maloofs' business sense, let alone allow them to move from an already proven market to a different market that already has lots of other teams surrounding it which is in conflict of league interests. The Maloofs blamed Sacramento and the mayor for the arena debacle, yet both groups have now both proven the willingness and ability to get things done. What are the Maloofs doing? Crying and pointing fingers while doing nothing to help.

Agree with most of this. I do think Johnson has put forth much more of an effort than the previous city leaders. I don't think they wanted an arena as much, and it wasn't as high of a priority to them. They would put forth some effort, but Johnson has done 4-6 more things than they'd ever done, IMO.

As for the Maloofs, they haven't said anything negative about the arena progress lately, they've been positive about it. Their complaints are now about the CBA exclusively.

Also, since they're just going to be tenants, and not owners, their role would naturally be less.

[Eze]

Did Johnson really get every suite sold out? Link?

I saw it on SacTownRoyalty a few months ago I believe - I couldn't find the exact link saying they were completely sold out, but I think somebody who works within the organization mentioned they were sold out.

This says they were almost sold out at the time though:


The Sacramento Kings have sold nearly 2,000 new season tickets since team owners Joe and Gavin Maloof announced on May 2 their plan for the franchise to stay in Sacramento for at least one more season.

In addition, the team has sold 26 new corporate partnerships and has a season-ticket renewal rate of 80 percent behind a new “beHEARD” marketing campaign rolled out on May 13 to help push sales. The Kings also have sold most of the 30 suites at Power Balance Pavilion, adding around 15 new suite deals since the end of the season, though team executives did not disclose the specific number of suites sold.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/05/30/Franchises/Kings.aspx

[nuraman00]

I saw it on SacTownRoyalty a few months ago I believe - I couldn't find the exact link saying they were completely sold out, but I think somebody who works within the organization mentioned they were sold out.

This says they were almost sold out at the time though:



http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/05/30/Franchises/Kings.aspx

Thanks.

[bloatedmaniac]

Did Johnson really get every suite sold out? Link? While I do think Johnson had made significant headway in getting more corporate money, I thought there were still a moderate amount of suites unsold.



Agree with most of this. I do think Johnson has put forth much more of an effort than the previous city leaders. I don't think they wanted an arena as much, and it wasn't as high of a priority to them. They would put forth some effort, but Johnson has done 4-6 more things than they'd ever done, IMO.

As for the Maloofs, they haven't said anything negative about the arena progress lately, they've been positive about it. Their complaints are now about the CBA exclusively.

Also, since they're just going to be tenants, and not owners, their role would naturally be less.

Johnson defiantely got the wheels turning to get the arena deal done. He wanted the Kings to stay and almost single handedly achieved that goal. I as well, don't think the previous leaders felt the money for an arena was worth it. It certainly didn't help though, the in previous discussions back then, the Maloofs wanted the city to full fund the arena while giving the Maloofs majority control. Circumstances like that would make it hard for anyone to take the situation seriously.

Any interesting comments from the Maloofs in regards to the CBA issue? I haven't paid attention to things from individual owner comments.