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The NBA announced today that the league’s Relocation Committee has unanimously recommended that the NBA Board of Governors deny the application of the Sacramento Kings to relocate to Seattle.
The Board will convene during the week of May 13 to vote on this matter.
Anything can happen in the full vote, but unless something drastically changes it’s expected to that the full board will follow suit and vote to keep the Kings in Sacramento.
Microsoft Chairman Steve Ballmer, part of the group attempting to purchase the Sacramento Kings and move them to Seattle, said Thursday he believes ”there will never be a better opportunity” than now to bring back professional basketball to the Puget Sound.
Ballmer, who has been mostly quiet about his basketball pursuit, spoke briefly Thursday before a fundraising luncheon for the A PLUS youth program in Seattle. His brief comment came hours after an NBA spokesman confirmed that the NBA committee deciding whether the Sacramento Kings should be sold and relocated to Seattle will hold a meeting via conference call Monday.
”Today is about A PLUS. I will say that we’ve got our fingers crossed. Chris Hansen has worked really, really hard, really intelligently,” Ballmer said. ”Seattle has got a great bid. We’ve got a great arena plan. I think we’ve got the better arena plan. We’ve got a good offer, it’s been accepted by current owners. We’ve got a great market. It seems like there will never be a better opportunity. But it will be up to the NBA owners.”
— Reported by Tim Booth of the Associated Press
The Seattle group attempting to buy the Sacramento Kings says it has reached agreement to raise the purchase price by $25 million.
Chris Hansen, teaming with Steve Ballmer to lead the group, Hansen announced the decision to raise the valuation late Friday night. In a statement on his website, Sonicsarena.com, Hansen says the group has voluntarily raised the purchase price as a “sign of our commitment to bring basketball back to our city.”
Hansen’s group entered into a binding agreement with the Maloof family in January to purchase the controlling interest of the franchise based on a $525 million value.
— Reported by the Associated Press
Sacramento developer Mark Friedman said today he’s joining the bid to buy the Kings and build the team a new arena at Downtown Plaza.
Friedman said today he’ll also participate in the non-arena development that’s being proposed for the Downtown Plaza site.
Friedman’s emergence comes one day after Mayor Kevin Johnson revealed that Southern California billionaire Ron Burkle had to reduce his role in the project because of a conflict of interest. Johnson hinted at a press conference Monday that there might be additional changes in the ownership structure.
— Reported by Dale Kasler and Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee
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The end of this season is beginning to feel a lot like the end of the Paul Westphal coaching era in Sacramento.
There are obvious issues between center DeMarcus Cousins and coach Keith Smart, like there were with Cousins and Westphal.
And just like the end of Westphal’s time before he was fired early in the 2011-12 season, Cousins found himself in an unusual spot Friday night – coming off the bench.
Cousins played just nine minutes – all in the second quarter – of the Kings’ 117-108 loss to the Dallas Mavericks at Sleep Train Arena.
Cousins was benched for the first time this season when healthy and dressed for a game. In December, Smart left Cousins in Sacramento for a road game in Portland as part of a disciplinary action for a verbal altercation in Los Angeles.
— Reported by Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee
Dueling teams of billionaires and mayors are heading to New York for a pivotal Wednesday showdown over the future of the Sacramento Kings.
Before an elite committee of NBA owners, delegations from Sacramento and Seattle will present their arguments on the issue that’s been making headlines for weeks: Should the Kings stay put or be allowed to move to the Pacific Northwest?
The meeting, to be held at a Manhattan hotel, comes a week after the Sacramento City Council approved a non-binding term sheet for a new $448 million arena at Downtown Plaza – a crucial piece in the city’s attempt to keep the team.
The committee is likely to make a recommendation sometime this month. A final decision is expected April 18 or 19, when the league’s Board of Governors, consisting of all the team owners, convenes in New York.
NBA Commissioner David Stern has said deciding between Sacramento and Seattle will be tough. Seattle offers a larger and wealthier population, but Sacramento has had a strong track record of supporting the league. Both cities are offering to build new arenas.
— Reported by Dale Kasler and Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee
With the clock clicking down, the Sacramento City Council took its last shot at keeping the NBA Kings in California’s capital by approving a public-private deal Tuesday to build a new 18,500-seat arena and retail center downtown.
Approval of the arena was the last step in what has been a full court press by Mayor Kevin Johnson to keep the city’s only major league sports team from bolting to Seattle, where a new ownership group and arena deal awaits. He now must convince NBA owners to block the Maloof family from initiating the move, a deal made public in January.
Since then, the mayor, himself a former NBA All-Star, has scrambled to assemble a group to buy the team, convince Commissioner David Stern to consider a counter offer, and get approval for the financial deal that would build a $448 million arena on the site of a shopping mall – a development many say will revitalize a problem area in its bustling city core.
Next week, Johnson will present the arena plan and purchase offer to an NBA committee. The following week, the NBA Board of Governors will vote on whether the team can be sold, and whether it will stay or move.
— Reported by the Associated Press
There were no surprises at the City Council meetings that ended a few hours. Council members voted 7-2 to approve a term sheet detailing the public’s contribution to the proposed $448 million downtown sports and entertainment complex, with Kevin McCarty and Darrell Fong – both of whom expressed concern about the city’s risk and the lack of time to more closely vet the agreement – voting against the agreement.
Tuesday’s vote was the latest development in Mayor Kevin Johnson’s campaign to keep the Kings in Sacramento. The Maloofs already sold their majority interest in the team to the Seattle-based group headed by Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer, but the league’s other owners (as stated in the NBA by-laws) have to approve all sales and relocations. Within the past several weeks, Johnson, attempting to come up with a counter bid, has put together a potential Kings ownership group that includes billionaire Ron Burkle, 24 Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov, Golden State Warriors minority owner Vivek Ranadive and Steve Jacobs, founder of San Diego-based-Qualcomm.
— Reported by the Sacramento Bee
City officials reached a preliminary agreement Saturday night for a new downtown arena with an investment group that hopes to keep the Kings from moving to Seattle.
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson first announced the deal on his Twitter account. A few hours later, the city released the details of the non-binding term sheet.
The group includes Silicon Valley software tycoon Vivek Ranadive, 24 Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov and billionaire Ron Burkle. The City Council is planning to vote on the agreement Tuesday.
“Once again, we’re proving the strength of our market — both as host to an NBA team, but as an emerging region with global potential,” Johnson said.
The city of Sacramento plans to contribute $258 million to the $447 million project, mostly by leasing out parking garages and land. The other $189 million will come from the investment group.
— Reported by the Orange County Register
The effort to keep the Sacramento Kings from moving to Seattle got a boost from a Silicon Valley software tycoon who stepped forward as lead investor.
The Sacramento Bee reports that Vivek Ranadive will lead Sacramento’s bid to keep the team, joining health-club financier Mark Mastrov and billionaire Ron Burkle.
Ranadive’s involvement comes after NBA Commissioner David Stern said earlier this month that the Sacramento group’s offer needed to be increased before league owners would consider it.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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Once again, the Kings had only 11 players available for a game.
Center DeMarcus Cousins missed his second consecutive game because of a left quadriceps contusion when the Kings faced the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on Sunday night.
Cousins, who did not travel to Los Angeles, will test his quad today at practice to see if he might play Tuesday against the visiting Los Angeles Clippers.
“He did some things on the floor (Saturday) but more treatment than anything else,” coach Keith Smart said. “He won’t do anything until (today).”
— Reported by Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee