Seattle SuperSonics Thread

[Deleted member 38182]

Why isn't Hansen even mentioning Seattle

 

[lightweight champion]

NBA rarely blocks teams from moving, but Timberwolves case gives Sacramento Kings fans hope
By Dale Kasler

When NBA teams try to move to another city, they generally get their way.

But not always.

As Mayor Kevin Johnson tries to keep the Sacramento Kings from moving to Seattle, he can take heart from the story of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The NBA prohibited the team from moving to New Orleans in 1994. It's believed to be the last time the NBA rejected a formal relocation request.

The NBA even sued the Timberwolves to make sure they stayed put. The team eventually sold to local owners.

"The NBA told them, 'Look for other buyers,' and they did," said attorney Elliott Kaplan, who represented the NBA in the case.

Sacramento's circumstance is different. But as was the case in Minnesota, Johnson's strategy relies on persuading the NBA to take the unusual step of vetoing a team's relocation petition.

Johnson plans to present the NBA with a local purchase offer to compete against the reported $525 million offered to the Kings' owners, the Maloofs, by a group from Seattle.

He appears to have the support of NBA Commissioner David Stern. Stern gave him permission to speak this spring to the NBA's board of governors, a group made up of the league's 30 team owners. Stern also got entertainment conglomerate AEG – which would have run the arena proposed for downtown Sacramento last year if the Maloofs hadn't abandoned the plan – to declare that it remains committed to the project if the team stays in town.

Still, there's no predicting which city will win.

Former NBA executive Andy Dolich said the owners will weigh Sacramento's past success and loyalty to the NBA against Seattle's ample wealth. The board of governors will insist on seeing revenue projections for the team in its proposed new home.

"You have to be pretty specific," said Dolich, who was president of the Vancouver Grizzlies when they moved to Memphis in 2001. "The building, demographics of the marketplace, broadcasting."

Dolich said NBA owners want the Kings located in whatever market enhances the overall prosperity of the league – and their own franchises.

"The blood of this is green – it's money," he said.

The Maloofs have bumped into relocation resistance before. They were on the verge of applying to move to Anaheim in 2011. Then Johnson, a former NBA star, breezed into New York's St. Regis Hotel and persuaded the board of governors to give Sacramento one more chance. The Maloofs backed away from Anaheim without petitioning for relocation.

Dolich said the NBA doesn't take relocation lightly – "stability is important."

But the league is also wary of picking a fight with one of its owners, especially if it could spill into the courts.

When the Maloofs went to the board of governors last year to explain why they were abandoning an arena project for downtown Sacramento, they brought with them a lawyer specializing in antitrust cases.

Attorney Barry McNeil never mentioned antitrust, the law of anti-competitive behavior. But his credentials were duly noted by Stern at a press conference later, and the issue makes sports leagues jumpy.

The NFL lost a famous antitrust suit to the Oakland Raiders' Al Davis in 1982 when the league tried to block his move to Los Angeles.

Legal experts said it's not clear if the Maloofs would have a case, especially if a Sacramento bidder offers as much for the team as Seattle. Still, it might make the NBA think twice about blocking a relocation.

"Leagues certainly have to consider the possibility of an antitrust claim by a person who's denied the right to buy a club and move it," said Matt Mitten, a sports-law expert at Marquette University. "I don't think leagues are terrified … but it's something they've got to consider."

In the past 35 years, five teams have been granted permission to move. Only one – Minnesota – has been turned down. The list of movers includes the Kings, who left Kansas City in 1985, and the Seattle SuperSonics, who moved to Oklahoma in 2008.

A sixth team, the Los Angeles Clippers, didn't bother seeking permission when they left San Diego in 1984. The NBA sued the team after the move, but the Clippers stayed in L.A. and settled the case by paying the league $6 million.

The Clippers debacle was still fresh in NBA executives' minds when the Timberwolves sold in 1994 to boxing promoter Top Rank.

NBA officials said the $152 million deal was riddled with shaky financing, resting largely on bank loans that hadn't been secured.

On June 15, 1994, the NBA's relocation committee, an enormously influential group consisting of six team owners, voted unanimously to block the sale.

The committee's vote was enough for Stern to declare the Timberwolves weren't moving. The full board of governors ratified the panel's recommendation a week later. To make sure, the NBA sued the Timberwolves and Top Rank to get an injunction blocking relocation.

"Sometimes we have lawsuits in a drawer for special occasions – birthdays, weddings and franchise transfers," Stern said at the time.

It got messy for a while. Top Rank filed its own lawsuit in a Louisiana court. But the NBA prevailed, and the team was sold to a local owner.

No one is questioning the financial pedigree of the Seattle group bidding for the Kings. The group includes Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer and the Nordstrom family.

But Johnson contends he can provide a competitive counteroffer. Potential bidders include investor Mark Mastrov, who tried to buy the Golden State Warriors in 2010. Also in the mix is grocery tycoon Ron Burkle, whose effort to buy the Kings in 2011 was instrumental in Johnson's drive to keep the team from going to Anaheim.

The mayor said he also has to convince the NBA that Sacramento is a better market than Seattle, which was home to the Sonics for 41 years.

Selling the market to the NBA is crucial. When Minnesota was fighting to save the Timberwolves, then-Gov. Arne Carlson flew to New York to talk to NBA owners. City leaders put on a public relations push.

"We wanted to show the league it was in their interest to keep the team in our market," said Henry Savelkoul, who was chairman of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission at the time.

[emoji]169[/emoji] Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

 

[lightweight champion]

Chris Hansen statement on agreement to purchase the Kings

We are happy to announce that we have entered into a binding agreement with the Maloofs to purchase a controlling interest in the Sacramento Kings NBA franchise. The sale is obviously subject to approval by the NBA Board of Governors, and we look forward to working with the League in the coming months to consummate the transaction.
While we are not at liberty to discuss the terms of the transaction or our plans for the franchise given the confidential nature of the agreement and NBA regulations regarding public comments during a pending transaction, we would just like to extend our sincerest compliments and gratitude toward the Maloof family. Our negotiations with the family were handled with the utmost honor and professionalism and we hope to continue their legacy and be great stewards of this NBA franchise in the coming years and decades.
— Chris Hansen

 

[Sinner]

Wow, Phil Jackson rumored to be part of the front-office?

 

[elpablo21]

Wow, Phil Jackson rumored to be part of the front-office?

They're saying it's a "lock" too?

Where did this come from?

 

[Sinner]

^ Saw a Tweet about it... looking for it now.

Listening to 710 Kiro right now and they're talking about Jackson too... they're making "Seattle Sonics" sound like it's 100%.  Buying the team is one thing, but isn't relocating another?

 

[Deleted member 38182]

^in this case it should be one in the same

 

[dakid23]

Can't wait for next fall!!!!!!!

NBA 2k14 will be copped!

even if we (Sonics) suck

 

[jquadz34]

That would be nice

 

[supremekickz]

I can't wait for next fall! Rain City is back.

 

[Sinner]

Plus the retro of GP's Gloves! 

 

[Deleted member 38182]

Plus the retro of GP's Gloves! 

Aren't those supposed to be coming out in October?? I remember reading bout those rereleasing a year or two ago

 

[elpablo21]

Yeah they drop in October

Didnt the Kemps drop recently too?

 

[Deleted member 38182]

I thought those came back in some weird remake?

 

[elpablo21]

I think youre right looks like a different remake and the OG style both dropped

had to google, so hard to keep up

 

[Deleted member 38182]

From Seattle..good for @kj_mayorjohnson. Doing what a mayor ought to do.
— Kenny Mayne (@Kenny_Mayne) January 22, 2013

 

[dmbrhs]

It's a jab at that spineless, gutless clown Greg Nickels, who was mayor during that whole debacle. I talked to Mayne once about the Sonics debacle (he's from here) and he gets HEATED about it.

 

[Deleted member 38182]

 ya I figured it was more a jab than giving KJ/Sac props 

 

[niketalker23]

The push to keep the Sacramento Kings from moving to Seattle has officially become political. And the gloves, as was expected, have come off in this seemingly-unfair fight.

In a letter intended for California Department of General Services director Fred Klass that was distributed to USA TODAY Sports and a select few other media outlets, California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg raises questions and concerns about Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's involvement in the proposed purchase of the Kings while lobbing veiled threats all along the way. Ballmer is part of the Seattle-based group that has reached an agreement with the Maloof family that owns the team to buy a majority interest for approximately $341 million (based on a $525 million total valuation of the franchise).

With a net worth that is reportedly $15.7 billion and the recent revelation that he appears to be all in when it comes to bringing the Sonics back to Seattle, Ballmer finds himself in these political crosshairs because of his extensive business dealings in California and, specifically, the epicenter of the technology industry: Silicon Valley in Northern California.

Steinberg, a former Sacramento City Council member who has no shortage of influence in California's Capitol, has shown a willingness to fight to keep the Kings before: When they were on the verge of moving to Anaheim in April of 2011, Steinberg threatened to introduce legislation that would force a team's owners to pay off all outstanding debt to the city in which it plays before signing a lease in another California city. The Maloofs inherited a $77 million loan (including a prepayment penalty) from the city of Sacramento that must be repaid if the team leaves.

Steinberg is hardly the only Sacramento-based politician attempting to keep the Kings in Sacramento, as Mayor, former NBA point guard and Sacramento native Kevin Johnson is moving forward with his plans to produce a counter-offer to the Seattle group that he is expected to eventually present to the NBA's Board of Governors.

Here's the letter from Steinberg:

January 22, 2013

Fred Klass, Director

California Department of General Services

707 Third Street

West Sacramento, CA 95605

Dear Director Klass:

I read with distress recent media accounts reporting that Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corporation, is actively engaged in discussions and may now have a general agreement to purchase NBA's Sacramento Kings -- a franchise which has generated significant jobs and revenue for both our region and the State of California for 27 years -- and move it to another state.

If true, I am troubled that a company and a CEO that has for so long enjoyed a prosperous and beneficial working relationship with the State of California and its taxpayers would blatantly engage in activities which are clearly and measurably detrimental to our State's job and revenue base – not to mention use profits earned through business with our State to appropriate a California-based asset.

As a legislative leader with direct budget authority, I'm obviously concerned about what impact these events might have on state and regional revenue, as well as our recovering economy.

I would appreciate your help – as the director of the department in charge of most state procurement – in obtaining some information that in light of these reports is certainly relevant to California taxpayers, particularly those in the Sacramento region.
Specifically:

- How many technology contracts and at what total cost to state taxpayers does Microsoft Corporation currently have with the State of California?

-In total dollars, how much has the State of California paid Microsoft Corporation for its products and services over the last 10 years?

- Can you send my office terms of contracts and representations made by Microsoft Corporation regarding their contracts with the State?

-To your knowledge, does any other state in the United States pay more annually to Microsoft Corporation for products and services than the State of California?

- What is Microsoft Corporation's record of performance with the State of California?

As a state legislator, I am well aware that I have no direct role in the day-to-day management of the State's technology procurement processes, but I cannot stand idly by while a prominent out-of-state company that has significantly profited from business with the State of California actively attempts to acquire and remove one of my State and my region's leading private assets.

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance in responding to this information request. Please do not
hesitate to contact my office to discuss this issue in more detail.

Sincerely,
DARRELL STEINBERG
Senate President pro Tempore
State of California
6th Senate District
cc: Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr.
Secretary Anna Caballero, State and Consumer Services Agency

Link

 

[dmbrhs]

I'll post what I said in the Sacramento thread (that letter was posted there first):

First off, California has made a killing in tax revenues and licensing from Microsoft, which I'm sure nobody is complaining about. Second, why stop at Microsoft? SoCal is the most profitable region in the entire Nordstrom company (and California has more stores than any other state, by a large margin). They're involved in this deal as well. And he conveniently doesn't mention Chris Hansen, who is a wealthy, tax-paying citizen of the state of California. Speaking of Hansen, someone should ask Mr. Steinberg how he feels about one of his own tax-paying citizens spearheading this movement, rather than go after the evil Microsoftie.

 

[Sinner]

Plus the retro of GP's Gloves! 

Aren't those supposed to be coming out in October?? I remember reading bout those rereleasing a year or two ago

Yep, GP Instagram'd pics and mentioned Oct, which will coincide his HOF induction.

And yep, Kemp's Kamikaze II's also recently dropped. Good times. 

 

[airjordan jb23]

The Glove's & Kamikaze II's

& Phil has been wanting a front office job for awhile now, so the reports (if true) would make sense.

 

[dmbrhs]

David Aldridge ‏@daldridgetnt
Johnson: "It is unprecedented for a team to be relocated from a city that has done everything that this community has done for 28 years."

The entire city of Seattle would beg to differ.

 

[Deleted member 38182]

I think part of that statement includes the efforts to keep this team, which obviously can't be said for Seattle.

Like David Taylor said, they had been working on a downtown arena/long term solution since 2002/2003 

 **** the Maloofs.

 

[Deleted member 38182]

To sum up...KJ has at least $19m in pledges from 19 local owners. No Arena Plan. No Major Investor. #NBAKings #NBASeattle
— Chris Daniels (@ChrisDaniels5) January 22, 2013

What the hell 

 dude was doing sooooo well being impartial (serious) and he goes and misquotes KJ this badly?