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[Deleted member 38182]

damn

Now is the time where as a proud city, we need to act with class and faith. Stand tall as we always have.If not for this team, for the next.
— Carmichael Dave (@CarmichaelDave) January 9, 2013

 

[Deleted member 38182]

[h1] [/h1]

[h1]Kings to Seattle? NBA musical franchises takes another cruel twist[/h1]
By Ken Berger  | NBA Insider
January 9, 2013 4:05 pm ET
RENO, Nev. -- As the Maloof family reportedly closed in Wednesday on a deal to sell the Sacramento Kings to a Seattle group that wants to move the team to Key Arena as early as next season, the NBA's shameful game of musical franchises took perhaps its cruelest twist yet.

Cruel, because stakeholders in the two cities involved and NBA executives of the highest order still were unable to say -- hours after the report surfaced on Yahoo Sports  -- that a deal was in place or even close. Cruel, because Sacramento and some of the best fans in the NBA deserved better than this.

Better than having their team shipped to Seattle, even if it somehow would represent some cosmic justice for a city that lost the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City in much the same way. Better than being used as a collective negotiating pawn for the bumbling Maloofs to get the best deal for themselves.

The Yahoo report pointed out that no deal has been signed, and given the Maloofs' chronic waffling, no deal is done until it's signed. So as the city of Sacramento -- and fans who've inexplicably remained loyal to a team that's been run straight into the scorched Earth -- once again began the early stages of mourning, the unspoken backlash of a deal not yet finalized was this: It ain't over til it's over. Don't give up.

With all due respect and a keen understanding of what an NBA team means to a one-sport city, here's some tough-love advice for Sacramento: Give up. Bid the Kings and the Maloofs and the NBA good riddance. Empower your city officials to lawyer up and sue anyone who's breathing. But do not invest another dime of your money or ounce of your passion in a team that is, at the end of the day, little more than a dilapidated storefront for owners who could not get out of their own way -- who could not sell lemonade if spotted 100 acres of lemon trees and an endless supply of 100-degree days.

Sacramento, led by Mayor Kevin Johnson, stepped up with an arena deal that was more than fair, under which it would've been more than feasible for a competent owner to run a successful basketball franchise. The Maloofs embraced the deal, shed their tears, raised their arms in celebration with the mayor, and then decided it wasn't the best they could do. Local ownership groups stepped forward with credible offers to buy the team and keep it in Sacramento, and the Maloofs steadfastly refused to sell -- and even, unconscionably, proclaimed that they weren't selling or moving because they were "all about Sacramento."

Alas, an NBA team located in Sacramento is not worth nearly what an NBA team is worth in Seattle. Thus, the $500 million that Yahoo reported is the price the Seattle group of Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer is discussing represents the price of an NBA team located in Seattle. It's what they call a "win-win" in sports, as in the owners win and the owners win.

The Maloofs, evidently, don't share the league's confidence that the new collective bargaining agreement and revenue-sharing plan will level the playing field for small markets. So in the end, the Maloofs served their purpose: losing ungodly sums of money on purpose for years to help bolster the league's case that a massive financial reset in their agreement with the players was needed, only to prove the other side's point by cashing in on all that equity when the dust settled.

If and when this deal to send the Kings to Seattle is finalized, the people of Sacramento should consider the Kings extinct as of today. Enough money and loyalty and sweat and emotion have been invested, spent and lost. No more.

It should surprise no one that this is where we are. Absent an arena deal they backed out of, the Maloofs basically had a two-year commitment from dwindling sponsors and partners to stay in Sacramento, and that commitment expires after this season. According to league sources familiar with the dynamics of the situation, the Maloofs knew that they could not keep the team in Sacramento and still own it beyond this season. The charade was over.

So the options were simple:

1) Move the team. But there were no viable options, given the family's suffering financial position and the debilitating expense of a relocation fee. One league source told CBSSports.com Wednesday that NBA officials viewed the Maloofs' flirtation with Virginia Beach as a "laughable" alternative.

2) Sell the team to investors committed to keeping it in Sacramento. The Maloofs were "all about Sacramento," after all), or ...

3) Sell it to someone who would move it somewhere else.

In the end, you simply have to follow the money. The Hansen-Ballmer group is proposing to pay a premium for an NBA team that will do business in Seattle. The $500 million figure represents a substantial premium to whatever the team was worth it stayed in Sacramento, no matter who owned it or where it played. So it goes.

"If money mattered to them," a league source said of the Maloofs, "the team was always going to go to Seattle. And money mattered to them."

As for Sacramento, money should matter to you now. So should your civic pride, and all you have invested emotionally in a team that should have given you a better outcome.

You should read the articles and listen to the commentators and feel awful for a while. You should feel cheated. You should be angry. But you should not invest another dime of your money or ounce of your passion in a team that, in the end, only represents two words on a term sheet.

You deserve better. But the Maloofs, the Kings and the NBA do not deserve you anymore. Move on with your heads high, and don't look back at the empty seats.

 

[bluedeniro]

feel sorry for you guys, i live here and for the first time in my life im going to witness a franchise leave, i hope you guys get another soon.

 

[Deleted member 38182]

feel sorry for you guys, i live here and for the first time in my life im going to witness a franchise leave, i hope you guys get another soon.

we won't 

Smartest thing I heard today, cautioning about potential Kings sale: Remember, this is the Maloofs. They could $&#^ it up.
— Brian Mahoney (@briancmahoney) January 9, 2013

in Maloofs we trust.

 

[Deleted member 38182]

Long live Sacramento. 

We had a good run yall

 

[senorroboto2k5]

Mayor KJ is holding a press conference to "respond to the news" at 3:30 and he says "#keepthefaith"

 

[Deleted member 38182]

Bottom line Sacramento: it's not over... #keepthefaith #playingtowin
— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) January 9, 2013

meeting with the press to respond to #SacKings news...3:30PM @ city hall #keepthefaith
— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) January 9, 2013

 

[christopepper]

 

[Deleted member 38182]

 

[Deleted member 38182]

DEAD

 

[senorroboto2k5]

Mayor's conference should be streaming here http://www.news10.net/video/liveonline/default.aspx

 

[Deleted member 38182]

its coming on now yall

 

[Deleted member 38182]

KJ looking a little bummed right now... kinda like he just got kicked in the nuts

 

[senorroboto2k5]

His message was basically, "this is the first time we've been told the team is up for sale."

Scummy Maloofs.

 

[tsamshox]

It's been real y'all. Sadly, I can't take this anymore. You got me Magoofs. As a diehard fan, I'm defeated and have accepted the eventual faith of the Kings. All I can do now is catch as much games as I can before the season is over, and just enjoy the squad. Feel like a damn B**** in an abusive relationship

 

[Deleted member 38182]

[h1] [/h1]

[h1]Mayor Kevin Johnson Press Conference Notes: "We're Going to Fight Like Crazy"[/h1]
With all the news swirling about the Sacramento Kings possibly being sold to the Hansen-Ballmer group in Seattle, Mayor Kevin Johnson today held a press conference to discuss the situation.

Here are the highlights. Quotes may not be exactly verbatim as I was writing them down as the press conference was happening:

• "Today is a significant day because for the first time it appears the Sacramento Kings are officially up for sale".
• Sacramento is a proven NBA market and has supported the Kings faithfully for 28 years.
• "I will make every effort to insure that a potential buyer(s) are made available to keep this team in Sacramento."
• "We've always said we're in control of our destiny and feel this gives us the opportunity to do so"
• NBA has 100% market share in Sacramento.
• "We need to put ourselves in a position to find an ownership group to buy and keep the team here"
• "We're going to do our part to be competitive" in regards to offers.
• "We've heard from a number of people, if the team was for sale they would be interested in buying."
• It will be cheaper to remain in Sacramento for a potential owner, KJ cited the fact that there is no relocation fee as one reason.
• KJ says he's speculating a bit, but thinks the deadline to operate under is March 1st since that's the relocation deadline.
• KJ brought up the San Francisco Giants model from when it appeared they were heading to Florida of a local presence funded by outside interests rising up to save the team as something Sacramento would pursue.
• KJ has reached out to both David Stern and the Maloofs today but has not heard back from either party yet.
• KJ never thought Virginia Beach deal was going to go through.
• KJ says that any potential deal would have to be "in writing." "A lesson learned" he added with a smirk.
• Repeated that this was bigger than basketball, and doesn't want to see another business leave Sacramento like Campbell's Soup and Comcast have so recently. The Kings leaving would immediately cost the city around 600-1,000 jobs.
• KJ says he cannot identify potential buyers but there have been more than one and that city will "fight like crazy" and talks will intensify after today's news. Any potential investor in Sacramento has some sort of local presence, keep the team here, and agree to arena deal.
• KJ also adds that he has had consistent conversations with Ron Burkle, but made it clear that Burkle was not the only person who he had been in contact with regarding potentially buying the Kings.
• Mayor added that AEG is still on board with the arena plan that was constructed back in April.

 

[tyrekeevans]

im at work and i cant believe this **** is happening. Its so surreal. I cant see why the maloofs want to sell to a non-local buyer. It just doesnt make sense unless they really want to screw sactown. Its not like there weren't any interested buyers in the past (Burkle, possibly MVP)

with a sale to the hansen group, its just their way of saying

**** you sacramento

Sincerely,
the maloofs

 

[tsamshox]

Anybody remember when Jim Kozimor used to host the Kings pregame show? You can tell he ******g hates the Maloofs

 

[Deleted member 38182]

Anybody remember when Jim Kozimor used to host the Kings pregame show? You can tell he ******g hates the Maloofs

 I love Koz. Where you listening to him on?

 

[tsamshox]

TV. Chronicle Live.on CSN. He does a damn good job at that show btw...

 

[thedeek]

Damn. Damn damn. The sad part is, we're not getting any other major franchise teams to this city ever again.

 

[eracism]

Hey guys, Lakers could use some new fans right about now.

 

[GreenNGold89]

If the deal goes through, will this be there last season in Sac?

 

[Deleted member 38182]

If the deal goes through, will this be there last season in Sac?

Ya. As long as they get a deal done by the relocation deadline on March 1st, they should be playing in Seattle this fall.

 

[TheGodFresco]

Well. you guys still have the river cats