Seattle SuperSonics Thread

[Deleted member 38182]

Classic Maloof move 

At this point, both Hansen/Maloofs camps tell me they have nothing to add on #NBAKings 'right of first refusal' issue as reported by @sacbee
— Chris Daniels (@ChrisDaniels5) January 24, 2013

I really have no clue what this will be about... Especially with Burkle and Mastrov in town

RT @ryan_lillis Sen Pro Tem Steinberg, Mayor Johnson, other elected officials meeting at Steinberg’s office 3 pm. Press conference to follow
— Chris Daniels (@ChrisDaniels5) January 24, 2013

 

[lightweight champion]

We knew something like this would happen!

Once again the Magoofs prove they can't even get out of their own way.

 

[noblekane]

so what does this mean?

 

[xxnamebrandxx]

I think they're leaving. The only way the Kings stay is if a qualified investor group overnights a clean offer directly to the NBA (which technically won't matter because the Maloofs would need to agree first) and is already in favorable standing with the other team owners and executives around the league. In this case there could be support from other organizations that suggest to Stern that the Kings stay in Sac. But it's looking like other teams are indifferent to whether they relocate or not (besides Jason Terry because he's from Seattle). The one thing that stands out though is that minority ownership has not been notified of a sale, which would need to happen before anything is signed and finalized.

Posted two weeks ago.

 

[crcballer55]

How ******g stupid are the maloofs 

They didn't even read their own ownership agreement before selling it 

Kudos to Hansen for trying to truck this deal thru tho. Definitely the right strategy with Sacramento trying to play catch up and to bypass all this.

Breaking: #NBAKings limited partners are being denied right to match Hansen offer, bankruptcy trustee says. More coming online
— Dale Kasler (@dakasler) January 24, 2013

I wouldn't put it past them to have known this was in the agreement. Considering that Balmer/Hansen were going to give them a non-refundable $30MM, they could have easily just sold it back to a Sacramento group and taken the extra money to the bank. They have been as unethical in the past, especially George. I'm convinced that he's the primary reason why every deal the city has tried to execute with them has gone sideways.

 

[dmbrhs]

I wouldn't put it past them to have known this was in the agreement. Considering that Balmer/Hansen were going to give them a non-refundable $30MM, they could have easily just sold it back to a Sacramento group and taken the extra money to the bank. They have been as unethical in the past, especially George. I'm convinced that he's the primary reason why every deal the city has tried to execute with them has gone sideways.

Edited: screwed up the first time

Under that scenario, they wouldn't get the $30 million from Hansen. The $30 million is non-refundable under two circumstances: the BoG denies a sale, or Hansen himself kills the deal. If the Maloofs kill the deal themselves, they don't get to keep the $30 million. You really think Hansen would hand over $30 million if the Maloofs could just change their minds on February 2nd and keep it? Absolutely not.

Also, there's no way someone like Hansen doesn't know something like that existed. Hell, there was a ROFR when Schultz sold the Sonics. There were minority owners who wanted to buy Schultz out, but he took the extra $50 million from Bennett ($350 million offer, in total) which the limited shareholders couldn't compete with. In fact, I'm pretty sure Schultz accepted Bennett's offer without even telling the other owners. They were blindsided by it, had to scramble to see if they could get a group together to buy him out. But this thing got fast-tracked to the league, essentially, and the minority owners voted (in a slim margin) to sell everything, knowing they were SOL.

This is what I mean when I say Schultz didn’t even bother asking someone like Ballmer if he wanted in (by that, I mean buy Schultz's stake). It just so happened the first guy to come calling (or the first guy David Stern sent Howard's way) offered to overpay by $50 million. Also, to digress a little bit, I was listening to KJR the other day and Steve Kelly said that at the press conference when they announced the Sonics sale, after it was over, Schultz stood in front of a few reporters and basically had a “what have I done?” look on his face. It’s like he immediately regretted his decision once it became official. He was so blinded by the thought of making so much extra money, he didn’t even give anyone a chance. You could say the Maloofs are doing the same here.

 

[dmbrhs]

Btw, if you want your head to start spinning, read Michael McCann's twitter feed from tonight. Some good info though.

https://twitter.com/McCannSportsLaw

 

[lightweight champion]

Really good info from that. It's a lot to keep up with, though.

 

[Deleted member 38182]

Btw, if you want your head to start spinning, read Michael McCann's twitter feed from tonight. Some good info though.

https://twitter.com/McCannSportsLaw

Him and Carmichael Dave had a good exchange tonight

whom is Mccann?

 

[Shanegerous]

Hoping for this deal to come through. I will be at the first game next season at the key if it happens. Sorry sac, hate that we have to steal your team but maybe you guys can save them.

 

[crcballer55]

I wouldn't put it past them to have known this was in the agreement. Considering that Balmer/Hansen were going to give them a non-refundable $30MM, they could have easily just sold it back to a Sacramento group and taken the extra money to the bank. They have been as unethical in the past, especially George. I'm convinced that he's the primary reason why every deal the city has tried to execute with them has gone sideways.

Edited: screwed up the first time

Under that scenario, they wouldn't get the $30 million from Hansen. The $30 million is non-refundable under two circumstances: the BoG denies a sale, or Hansen himself kills the deal. If the Maloofs kill the deal themselves, they don't get to keep the $30 million. You really think Hansen would hand over $30 million if the Maloofs could just change their minds on February 2nd and keep it? Absolutely not.

Also, there's no way someone like Hansen doesn't know something like that existed. Hell, there was a ROFR when Schultz sold the Sonics. There were minority owners who wanted to buy Schultz out, but he took the extra $50 million from Bennett ($350 million offer, in total) which the limited shareholders couldn't compete with. In fact, I'm pretty sure Schultz accepted Bennett's offer without even telling the other owners. They were blindsided by it, had to scramble to see if they could get a group together to buy him out. But this thing got fast-tracked to the league, essentially, and the minority owners voted (in a slim margin) to sell everything, knowing they were SOL.

This is what I mean when I say Schultz didn’t even bother asking someone like Ballmer if he wanted in (by that, I mean buy Schultz's stake). It just so happened the first guy to come calling (or the first guy David Stern sent Howard's way) offered to overpay by $50 million. Also, to digress a little bit, I was listening to KJR the other day and Steve Kelly said that at the press conference when they announced the Sonics sale, after it was over, Schultz stood in front of a few reporters and basically had a “what have I done?” look on his face. It’s like he immediately regretted his decision once it became official. He was so blinded by the thought of making so much extra money, he didn’t even give anyone a chance. You could say the Maloofs are doing the same here.

Your right. I remember in business law that the ROFR is pretty standard in these and land type contracts.

However, if I remember correctly in the deposit, they had to give it to the Maloofs by the middle of February and the BOG has until Mar. 1 to approve a deal. Either way, they're doing a lot of stuff under the table since they didn't even open up about the team being for sale until the Hanson/Balmer agreement came out. We've known they were relocating for a while, but they always played coy about it like it was just a coincidence that they were traveling to Anaheim or Virginia City and then the city council would meet about an arena issue.

Do you know if Schultz has been a part of trying to get the Sonics back in Seattle?

 

[dmbrhs]

Your right. I remember in business law that the ROFR is pretty standard in these and land type contracts.

However, if I remember correctly in the deposit, they had to give it to the Maloofs by the middle of February and the BOG has until Mar. 1 to approve a deal. Either way, they're doing a lot of stuff under the table since they didn't even open up about the team being for sale until the Hanson/Balmer agreement came out. We've known they were relocating for a while, but they always played coy about it like it was just a coincidence that they were traveling to Anaheim or Virginia City and then the city council would meet about an arena issue.

Do you know if Schultz has been a part of trying to get the Sonics back in Seattle?

Schultz is definitely not a part of bringing the Sonics back. The funny part is, this new arena will be practically across the street from Starbucks headquarters, so it’s a nice little (or big) middle finger to Schultz. I’ve even heard from people close to his family that Howard doesn’t even allow NBA games to be shown in his house. Another bit of irony though: his son is a sports writer for Huffington Post, and writes about the NBA quite a bit.

Anyway, the $30 million gets handed over February 1st (based every report I’ve seen). March 1st is just the deadline to file for relocation. I don’t believe the Board of Governors votes on anything until their April meeting, right after the regular season concludes. For certain, a vote to approve/deny relocation would happen then. And I’m almost positive a vote to approve a sale to Hansen would occur then as well.

 

[Deleted member 38182]

Yall read that article on Schultz's run as owner of the Sonics?? It was probably one of the funniest things I had read in awhile 

 

[niketalker23]

Billionaire Ron Burkle met Thursday with NBA Commissioner David Stern to discuss his interest in buying the Sacramento Kings and building a new arena at the Downtown Plaza site, a source told The Bee today.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private, said the focus of the discussion between Burkle and Stern was the "future position of Sacramento as an NBA city."

Burkle and 24 Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov are in serious discussions to team up on a bid for the Kings and to help the city of Sacramento finance a new downtown sports arena, sources and associates of both men have told The Bee. Mayor Kevin Johnson plans to present a deep-pocketed investor and an arena plan to the NBA in April as a counteroffer to the deal reached between the team's owners and a group seeking to move the franchise to Seattle.

While the mayor has said he has not settled on a preferred arena site, Downtown Plaza has been mentioned as a possible location for two weeks. City officials had a plan last year to finance an arena in the downtown railyard.

JMA Ventures bought Downtown Plaza in August for $22 million and quickly commissioned a study on the feasibility of converting the troubled mall into an arena.

The study, by the same architectural-engineering firm that has designed the new NBA arena in Brooklyn and several others, concluded the idea had merit. "The site could work extremely well," Bill Crockett of AECOM, the firm that did the study, told The Bee two weeks ago.

JMA officials couldn't be reached for comment today but its CEO, Todd Chapman, said in a prepared statement earlier this week that "we're happy to do what we can to support keeping the Kings in Sacramento."

Downtown Plaza has been mentioned at least twice before as an arena site.

Link

Apparently they met for two hours..

 

[bigmike23]

i come in peace

so why is KJ just now trying to get all these big money people togther now to help save the kings? what was going on the whole time before this?

 

[Deleted member 38182]

i come in peace

so why is KJ just now trying to get all these big money people togther now to help save the kings? what was going on the whole time before this?

He's had a Mastrov/Burkle in his wing for quite some time. Burkle for sure since 2011

What was going on before this?? Nothing really because  the Maloofs always said the Kings aren't for sale.... Your next question is probably going to be how did Seattle know they were for sale. Well they offered first and piqued the Maloofs interest enough to pull them into a exclusive negotiations agreement. 

To say KJ is scrambling or didn't do enough is stupid. Sure he is playing catch up, but its all Maloof-inflicted.

Now that KJ finally knows that the team is for sure on the market, he's just making his moves and getting the buyers in order.

Its sad, cuz I'm pretty sure that's how the majority of people who are outsiders view this situation 

 

[dmbrhs]

H


Its sad, cuz I'm pretty sure that's how the majority of people who are outsiders view this situation 

Be glad you have social media and such to stay on top of this and get information out to people. From 2006 to 2008, Sonics fans didn't have Twitter and constant updates to keep people informed. That's why we're stuck with the knuckleheads who think the Sonics left due to lack of fan support.

 

[Deleted member 38182]

I thought the Schultz/Bennett screw job was the general consensus?

 

[bigmike23]

He's had a Mastrov/Burkle in his wing for quite some time. Burkle for sure since 2011

What was going on before this?? Nothing really because  the Maloofs always said the Kings aren't for sale.... Your next question is probably going to be how did Seattle know they were for sale. Well they offered first and piqued the Maloofs interest enough to pull them into a exclusive negotiations agreement. 

To say KJ is scrambling or didn't do enough is stupid. Sure he is playing catch up, but its all Maloof-inflicted.

Now that KJ finally knows that the team is for sure on the market, he's just making his moves and getting the buyers in order.

Its sad, cuz I'm pretty sure that's how the majority of people who are outsiders view this situation 

I mean KJ can read all the rumors like we did and figure out something was up. why didnt he do like the seattle group and keep asking the maloofs to sell to a group he had?

im not even bashing Kj just asking yall questions in here. cause it seems like the seattle group has all its **** togther and back up plans for everything that will happen and everyone in sac scrambling to get stuff togther.

 

[Deleted member 38182]

KJ is just a middle man in all this. He's just lining everything up.

I mean Seattle made the offer, maloofs signed exclusive negotiation rights to Seattle, maloofs accepted offer. There's nothing left for Seattle to really do now.

KJ has to get one decisive plan (arena, ownership, legal action) all in line. I guess I'm just kinda confused on what exactly you'd like to know?

What we do know is, there is an arena plan in place and as early as monday there will be a potential ownership group in place.


And what rumors were there before January 9th? Sure we knew Hansen had his little crew together? I think there was a rumor of them offering the Maloofs like 400 mil, but that just perpetuated the notion that the Kings weren't for sale

 

[crcballer55]

He's had a Mastrov/Burkle in his wing for quite some time. Burkle for sure since 2011

What was going on before this?? Nothing really because  the Maloofs always said the Kings aren't for sale.... Your next question is probably going to be how did Seattle know they were for sale. Well they offered first and piqued the Maloofs interest enough to pull them into a exclusive negotiations agreement. 

To say KJ is scrambling or didn't do enough is stupid. Sure he is playing catch up, but its all Maloof-inflicted.

Now that KJ finally knows that the team is for sure on the market, he's just making his moves and getting the buyers in order.

Its sad, cuz I'm pretty sure that's how the majority of people who are outsiders view this situation 

I mean KJ can read all the rumors like we did and figure out something was up. why didnt he do like the seattle group and keep asking the maloofs to sell to a group he had?

im not even bashing Kj just asking yall questions in here. cause it seems like the seattle group has all its **** togther and back up plans for everything that will happen and everyone in sac scrambling to get stuff togther.

This it the 3rd time I can remember that the Kings have almost moved. The first was in 94-95, but the city council approved a financing measure that allowed them to stay. The next was 2 years ago when the Maloofs were working on moving to Anaheim. At that point, the NBA stepped in and told them to reconsider and try to work on a new arena with Sacramento. Right when Johnson offered them the downtown railyard or another site, they said they accepted, then at the last minute pulled the rug and said they didn't want it and wanted the city to help with a renovation of "Arco Arena". Then earlier this year, they were talking with Virginia City to move there. Not long after that rumor came up, VC said they didn't have the financing to make it work. Within hours, the rumor of the Seattle buyout came. The bottom line is that the Maloofs have a LONG history of backdoor negotiations so I have no reason to believe that they are trying to get the best deal out of this. Rather, they are trying to stick it to Sacramento for not bending to their every demand because they can't fund anything themselves. Why else would you have the first person you talk to sign an agreement to buy without making it known to the rest of the eligible candidates? Look, now that it's known, the "whales" are coming out in force! Burkle offered to buy out the Maloofs 2 years ago, but they said the team wasn't for sale and they wouldn't sell to him. If this were an honorable deal to just sell the team, why not approach him first? Why go through all the backdoor channels?

 

[lightweight champion]

That's what some of us are thinking. Why sell to a Seattle based group when you know you have interested investors local? And even if Hansen and co set the number at $525 mil why not see if anyone else local would match or outbid? A lot of us feel it was their two middle fingers up to Sacramento.

 

[pepperjackchees]

^ I guess the Maloofs just want to screw Sacramento that bad and probably figured leaving x amount of dollars on the table is worth it. Either way, they've acted like children from what I've read.

 

[dmbrhs]

That's what some of us are thinking. Why sell to a Seattle based group when you know you have interested investors local? And even if Hansen and co set the number at $525 mil why not see if anyone else local would match or outbid? A lot of us feel it was their two middle fingers up to Sacramento.

Same could be said for Howard Schultz back in the day. Everyone knew if Schultz told Steve Ballmer that he was selling, Ballmer would have stepped in. In the end, it's a money grab for a malcontent owner (in this case, a family of owners), and definitely a double-bird to the city.

That being said, the problem with "matching" the $525 million figure is the fact the franchise isn't valued that high in Sacramento. If a local owner matched dollar-for-dollar (because that's all the Maloofs care about), it'd be a boondoggle, financially. They'd be civic heroes, but at a cost they'd never recoup. Therein lies the juxtaposition: nobody will match Hansen, dollar-for-dollar, based on the valuation. Because of that, the Maloofs won't be inclined to sell for less than that, because they just want the big pay day.

The only way I see this working in Sacramento's favor is if Stern believes in someone like Burkle, who will pay the fair market value, and sort out an arena deal and have it in place (as in, bulldozers can start bulldozing tomorrow...proverbially, of course). Then Stern can tell the BoG to deny a sale to Hansen's group.

Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this analysis of the situation (I'm a communications major, not a lawyer lol).

 

[frink85]

aside from the money aspect, the maloofs seem like the kinda guys who wouldn't want the kings around town as a reminder of their failure, and they'd rather screw the city to protect their egos