Tag Archives: Sacramento Kings

by | January 9, 2013 · 7:51 PM

The Cowbell Tolls for Thee: Kings to Seattle?

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Welp…

Doyle Rader: Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! reported earlier today that the Maloof family, who own the Sacramento Kings, are finalizing a deal that would sell the team to an investment group in Seattle headed by Steve Ballmer and Chris Hansen. The Maloofs have been looking to either relocate or sell the Kings for some time as their casino and hotel investments have steadily hemorrhaged money over the past several years. Before this season began, there was talk that the team could be relocated to Anaheim as there were investors, namely Henry Samueli, willing to take on some of the Maloofs’ debt in order to relocate the team to the Honda Center. Those plans were stopped when the NBA’s Board of Governors voted against relocation.

While the Maloofs were weighing their relocation options, Louisville, Kentucky and Virginia Beach were also possible destinations at one time, the city of Sacramento was scrambling to do everything in its power to retain the Kings. These efforts were spearheaded by mayor Kevin Johnson, himself a former NBA player. After much planning, a deal was struck that would ensure the Kings stay while building an entirely new arena with surrounding developments. Then the Maloofs abruptly rejected the deal saying that they never agreed to it and the whole situation returned to square one, or square -1,589,247 if you prefer.

That is how we arrive at today’s news and it was met with much hostility on the Internet, especially Twitter. Basketball Twitter is replete with many excellent Kings bloggers and the team has a loyal following. Honestly, it is not surprising that they would be upset (an understatement if there ever was one) today. I, however, am detached from the situation. It certainly isn’t an ideal one but it was simply inevitable that the Kings’ time in Sacramento was dwindling.

Travis Huse: No, the news wasn’t shocking, from any perspective. While I truly feel for the Kings’ fanbase, the move makes perfect sense. David Stern was quoted earlier this year saying that losing the Supersonics franchise was one of the biggest regrets of his tenure as NBA commissioner; with Stern on his way out, this is a way for him to try to shape the NBA in one final way.

But the outrage on twitter has been less about the Kings, and more about Seattle. The Seattle fanbase is being accused of stealing a team, much in the way that they accused Oklahoma City of stealing the Sonics. This is not an appropriate analogy, though, for a few reasons. Primarily, the Kings were going to move. The Maloofs made poor business choices, and in turn, keeping an insolvent NBA franchise was weighing down their financial future. That’s no way to operate a business.

The Maloofs were also terrible owners. They have proven themselves to be incapable of maintaining a winning franchise, nor could they manage to invoke discussion with the city or Kings fans. The Maloofs were never truly invested in the Sacramento area, anyway, so they shouldn’t have ever been expected to take such large financial losses. This has always been a league centered around the dichotomy between large and small-market teams, and in order to stay afloat, teams like the Kings have to ensure one of two things. Smaller-market teams need to either be consistently good, or they have to have a community-centered owner who is willing to ride through tough times for the sake of the franchise. The Maloofs were never anything close to altruists, and the Kings have been bad for a long time now.

DR: I still hold some animosity towards the Kings for all the frustration they caused me in the early 2000s. That doesn’t mean I dislike the team though, but I’m not going to toss around vitriol towards the Maloofs. They are bad owners, plain and simple. They probably think that selling the team to a group in Seattle is the most noble move they can make in the face of NBA fans. However, this has not sit well with Kings fans and others.

I don’t want to be crass about the situation but this is exactly the deal the Maloofs have been looking for. They will be selling the team for $500 million, a mark that is far overvalued. Why wouldn’t they make this deal? With this money they can definitely invest in a new tower for the Palms in Las Vegas where they can start losing money while appearing in fast food commercials.

At least Seattle is getting a team again. It is disappointing that they are doing so in relatively the same manner in which they lost theirs, but that city has been on a mission since Clay Bennett relocated the Supersonics to Oklahoma City. Both Sacramento and Seattle have worked tirelessly to retain or revive their NBA franchise. Yet, as you stated, the Maloofs have never shown loyalty to the city of Sacramento like the fans of the Kings have.

TH: Exactly. This is a dream deal for the Maloofs, they would been foolish to leave it on the table. The writing has been on the wall for the Kings for a long time, anyway. To put this into perspective, the Maloofs were seriously considering moving the team to Virginia Beach, Anaheim, and Las Vegas. Virginia Beach has not shown the ability to hold an NBA franchise, and is situated in an area that has always been known to focus on collegiate sports. A move to Anaheim, while theoretically viable, would trisect the Los Angeles basketball market. Stern is always trying to keep the media happy, so obviously that wouldn’t work. And Las Vegas? The most significant event in Sacramento Kings history was game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals, a game and a series defined by the link to the Tim Donaghy gambling scandal. That scandal was a blight on the league, and is another one of Stern’s failings as commissioner. While I don’t mind a team in Vegas, the wound is still too fresh for the NBA to maintain an image of parity.

So, if the Kings were doomed to leave Sacramento, is there a better place for the team? Seattle has always been an NBA city, with a new arena, a set of owners who care more about basketball than their bottom line, and a hunger for the sport it is the most best option. While you never like to see teams move, there is no place better for them. We are only two seasons away from discussions of contracting insolvent franchises, so if shuffling a team or two makes basketball better and the NBA more viable? Absolutely worth it.

What I find interesting is the league’s willingness to put its neck on the line for a franchise such as the New Orleans Hornets, which the league bought to ensure the franchise’s future in the region. Sacramento has a metro population of 2.6 million, and the Kings are the only professional sports franchise in town. In comparison, New Orleans only has a metro population of a little more than a million, and the Saints gobble up the lion’s share of the television market. Why? It seems apparent to me that not only have the Maloofs found the franchise to be failing, but the league itself. If the NBA felt that a local buyer would be able to keep the team in Sacramento, they would have.

But some blame still falls on the city for risking losing the Kings. They gambled by refusing to fund a new arena. Sometimes, when you gamble, you lose.

DR: Actually, the city did put a plan forward in which they would construct a new arena. As I wrote above, it was a plan that the Maloofs agreed to at first before claiming that they never accepted the terms of the arrangement. Seattle is actually the city that voted against funding a new arena as most of the funding would come from tax dollars. The city had already invested public funds in Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field, where the Mariners and Seahawks play originally. The public was simply not behind funding yet another sports stadium at the behest of a billionaire owner.

Because of this, David Stern came down hard on the city because he was one of the key advocates for a new arena as he felt KeyArena did not represent his product as well as some of the newer arenas in the NBA. This, essentially, was the catalyst that brought us to the events of today.

I think you’re right in thinking that the league has found that, under the Maloofs in recent years, basketball has been a poor product in Sacramento. This is due to the ownership and front office. Yet, Stern, because of the flack he took after the Sonics debacle, has been in support of many of the proposed plans to keep the Kings in Sacramento. He certainly doesn’t want his tenure to be marred yet again by another relocation. He already has two lockouts under his belt.

But for Seattle to gain a team again it will have to be through relocation. There is seriously no chance that the league is willing to absorb two new franchises, which they would have to do to balance the league if a new team was created in Seattle. This is especially true with all the talk of contraction that you mentioned.

Also, there were local buyers in Sacramento, Ron Burkle being the one who has garnered the most attention. However, when he came forward the Maloofs were unwilling to sell. They were looking for theirs. They always have been.

It is admirable that the Kings fans have stuck with this organization through everything that has transpired over recent years. Even today they continued their Here We Stay campaign creating a petition to keep the team in Sacramento. One cannot fault them for their persistence and effort. Yet, the final decision is out of their hands.

That being said, rumors have been circulating that the Maloofs may back out of the deal from Ballmer and Hansen, despite how lucrative it is. Selling a team is always profitable for the owners and this deal would take the cake. Of course, this cannot be confirmed but it leads me to believe that this chapter isn’t quite over yet.

TH: But Burkle could never offer what the Seattle group has. The Maloofs, who bought the Kings solely as a business venture, are wholly unable to understand basketball beyond the business side. This is also why they fail. 

 It is more important to me to have basketball in Seattle than it is in Sacramento. I only really have this to offer as explanation: The Supersonics have always been fun, exciting, memorable. I think more about the Sonics than I do about the Kings at any given moment, yet the team that currently exists is a floundering team. A dull, very bad basketball team. Simply by BEING the Seattle Supersonics, their marketability skyrockets. 

 The Thunder took a good franchise away from an NBA city and the culture surrounding it. The Kings will be restoring that culture, and most likely saving the team. Would it be any better if they had moved to Virginia Beach or folded? Seattle ensures team viability, with a good owner in place. The Kings have steadily gotten worse, due to ownership. 

 DR: Well, I don’t think anyone will fault you for trashing the Maloofs, but you’re luck no one ever reads The Kobe Beef after that diss of the Kings. But, I understand where you are coming from. The Kings have only been in Sacramento since the mid ’80s and were only relevant during the turn of the millennium. Adelman had a monster team and if it wasn’t for Robert Horry they could have reached the Finals. And who can forget Doug Christie’s wife?

 Seattle does have the provenance, though. That is why I feel that if the Kings do relocate they might as well go there. I hate to see a fanbase lose a team but the sad truth is it is all too common in sports. Fans should remain bitter if they lose a team. Baltimore did when the Colts left, Cleveland did when the Browns moved (Cleveland is always bitter, though), and Seattle continued to beat the war drum when the Sonics were snatched away.

 I also don’t think that the Maloofs bought the Kings just as a business venture. They grew up in the NBA. Their father owned the Houston Rockets and it can be argued that they fell in love with the NBA during that time. Tom Ziller does an excellent job of explaining it and how the family was torn, just last month, about selling the team.

 If there is an upside to all of this, though, it is the outpouring of support and the mobilization of the fans. I’m not sure there has ever been a time in which the fans’ voice was so loud. Twitter erupted today, for better or worse, and Kings fans’ emotions were rampant. This was the case with Sonics fans too. The level of outreach, though social media and other platforms, that the fan now has at their disposal has definitely influenced the league.

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by | April 16, 2012 · 11:46 AM

The Cowbell Tolls for Thee: The Kings are Dead

Raise your hand if you hate these fans

It was all but a guarantee that the Sacramento Kings had played their last game in the city they have called home since 1985 at the end of last season. Everything was set, or at least the Maloof brothers, who own the team, were set, for a move to Anaheim and the television revenues and newish arena that could be found in the suburb of Los Angeles. It would have been a move to a major market. Yet, none of it came to pass.

The Kings have remained in Sacramento, for this season at least. This is in part due to the city and Mayor Kevin Johnson’s strong push, at the urging of the NBA, to fund and build a new arena in an attempt to coerce the Maloofs into keeping the Kings right where they are. Despite their readiness to abandon the city and the Kings’ loyal fan base, the Maloofs actually agreed, albeit tentatively, to remain in Sacramento and have their team play in the new fancy arena that the city will build. It all seemed like a win-win situation. The Kings stay in Sacramento and the Maloofs, as inept as they are at business, have a shiny new arena in which they can try to amend some of their financial losses. Then the walls fell.

At the NBA’s Board of Governors meeting last week, the Maloofs, who you recall were just fine with the arena deal before, made it known that they wanted to restructure the deal. None of the arena plans have been changed, it is the same deal. The only thing that has changed is the thinking of the Maloofs (that is if you buy into the notion that they actually supported the deal in the first place and weren’t just biding their time before they pitched relocation again).

Kevin Johnson will not renegotiate the deal. Why should he? They struck a deal. Gavin Maloof referred to the arrangement between his family and the city of Sacramento as a “fair deal.” Apparently, what was once fair, and has not changed, is now precarious and obscene. It would be easy to vilify the Maloofs for their change of face but Twitter and Al Gore’s internet have already done that.

They are business men. Not good ones, but they have made a lot more money than most people can ever dream about. The Maloofs see the Kings as a business venture, one that paid off handsomely in the early 2000s when the team was regular playoff contenders. Now they are a lottery team. Despite a fervent fan base, lottery teams are not known for raking in much profit and the Kings fit that bill. As the property of the Maloofs, the Kings are subject to their whims even if that means relocation to Anaheim. David Stern has said as much.

Sacramento has been more than cooperative with the league’s insistence that a new arena be the backbone of a continued Kings tenure in the city. This is not a situation like Seattle (which is a permanent blight on the league). The city of Sacramento and state of California have a $255 million financial commitment to the arena out of the $400 million proposed total cost. Not only that, but Stern has stated that the league was willing to front $70 million to the Maloofs to help right their finances as the arena is built. That is a lot of money being thrown at the Maloofs to keep their team in Sacramento but they are still dragging their feet.

Stern, and the NBA, is in a tough position. The city has done its part. The league has done its part. They Maloofs…eh, not so much. This is not a situation alike the New Orleans Hornets where the league stepped in and purchased the team. George Shinn, the former owner of the Hornets, was not financially solvent therefore the league had to act. The Maloofs, if just barely, are solvent and everyone is getting paid. League ownership is not an option. It has been suggested that the league and the Board of Governors strip the Maloofs of their ownership but that would be a coup for the ages that would likely end up in the courts. Not a good option.

Unfortunately, there are no good options for keeping the Kings in Sacramento as long as the Maloofs own the team and are willing to distort the facts, pull out of deals, and be generally sleazy on all levels. The situation that the Maloofs have created has tarnished them indefinitely. In their meeting with the Board of Governors, they presented an economist who sullied the arena deal and virtually every other proposal set to keep the team in Sacramento. Consider every bridge burned.

However, there is some truth in suggesting that the arena is not such a beacon of financial prosperity for the city after all. The taxpayers are already footing part if not most of the $255 million that the state and city are contributing. They rest will come at the hands of developers and business men who will “require” tax incentives in order to invest in the project. These incentives will likely include a below value tax rate for the better part of a decade or more so that they can reap the benefits of a high profile, low tax property. This is pretty standard for arena deals. Not only that, but developers will ask for the same incentives to build around the arena creating a low tax zone which will be marketed to the public as the best way to draw new business to the area. Meanwhile, the city is robbed of desperately needed revenue. It happens all the time and property values are not guaranteed to go up. In fact, they could potentially drop as is the case in Dallas with the Victory Park development around the American Airlines Center. But at least the Kings get to stick around.

*Rant over*

The Kings are a great organization with shitty ownership. Their fans are amazing and have voiced their want to keep their team where it. Unfortunately, the Maloofs do not see eye-to-eye on the issue. Premature obituaries have been written before on this site and they will likely happen from time to time. However, this one does not seem premature, if anything this feels like it has been a long slow death. Every procedure was used in order to try and breathe life back into the effort to keep the Kings in Sacramento. For a moment, it even looked like it might make it, might come back from the brink of death. Not so fast. The Maloofs have a firm grasp on the cord and are about to yank it out of the wall. Sorry, Sacramento. You fought the good fight but your effort to keep the Kings will soon flat line and it won’t be your fault. Don’t worry through; after the Kings are relocated you can keep up the good fight in court. The legal option is all the Maloofs will leave you with.

 

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by | September 20, 2011 · 2:02 PM

Green Card for the Kings

The Maloof Empire needs a new palace.

While some NBA players are looking overseas for jobs, one franchise is looking abroad for cash.

Today, the Sacramento Bee reported that the Kings will be looking for funding for its new stadium from a little know federal program that offers green cards to wealthy immigrants who invest in business enterprises in the United States.

The program, known as EB-5, could be crucial in the funding for the proposed $387 million arena.  Sacramento Mayor and former NBA player Kevin Johnson has assembled a “task force” aimed at building the Kings a new arena and ultimately keeping them in the state capital.  Though the program won’t provide all of the funding for the arena, it could supply a substantial amount of money for the project.

The program, created by the Immigration Act of 1990, has projects in 25 states with 15 in California including the redevelopment of McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento.  The project provided $18 million to transform the base into a business park.  CMB Export, the company that found money for McClellan, says it has raised a total of $350 million for projects throughout California.

In fact, the program has already provided $249 million to finance improvements around the new NBA arena in Brooklyn, NY.

In order for the investors to obtain a green card through the program, they must invest $1,000,000 into a project (or at least $500,000 in an employment area) that preserves or creates 10 at least 10 jobs in rural or high-unemployment areas.  However, if the project fails within three or four years of the investment, the green cards will be denied.

Money from this program could be key in building the new stadium for several reasons beyond just simple funding.  It could soften the political climate around the arena since it would call for less money from the actual city.  Mayor Johnson’s task force has proposed selling off several pieces of city owned property that has angered several members of the city’s city hall.  Such selloffs could harm the already lowered property values of Sacramento.

The initial money raised by the program could also serve as a bridge loan for the new arena allowing construction to start very soon.  Unemployment has lowered in the area from 12.5 to 11.9 percent over the course of the summer but still sits at 12.4 percent in Sacramento.  The construction project alone could provide several jobs in the area.

However, this program has failed before in California.  Last year, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees EB-5, ended a project that raised $7.5 million to build a wastewater plant in the Southern California town of Victorville.  Officials in the small desert town proposed that the treatment plant would attract a Dr. Pepper Snapple bottling plant.  The agency wasn’t convinced of any correlation between project and job creation so the project was cancelled.  Subsequently, only one of the investors received a green card, which was a temporary one at that.

Earlier this month, Mayor Johnson revealed a plan that will provide 4,100 jobs and has promised that the area will attract several businesses that will generate millions in revenue.  All of this was proposed to Maloof Sports and Entertainment that decided to keep the franchise in Sacramento last May.  However, a new state-of-the-art stadium is what will really keep them there.

“Yes, if we get an arena built that meets our specifications, yes we will stay [long-term],” Galvin Maloof said. “Absolutely. We have to have an NBA, state-of-the-art arena. It doesn’t have to have marble everywhere, but it has to be an NBA type of arena. It has to be approved by the NBA and also by us, but obviously it doesn’t have to be a Taj Mahal. We know the [economic] market that we’re in, but it’d have to be an NBA-approved arena and approved by us and our specifications.” (Sports Illustrated)

Johnson’s task force has until next March to complete a financial plan for the arena.  Ultimately, it is up to the Maloofs to make the decision on whether or not the Kings will stay but EB-5 could be part of the solution.

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by | June 22, 2011 · 8:26 AM

Spurs Blowing Up?

How dorky is this?

The San Antonio Spurs are looking to trade away Tony Parker.

As there is no way that they will receive equal trade value in return (they’re looking for high picks in the draft), it can only mean one thing: R.C. Buford’s looking to blow up the team. Speculation is that the Spurs are talking with the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings for their picks (5th and 7th, respectively).

I might be alone in this, but trading a recent Finals MVP for picks? The Spurs need size, and there’s not much of that to be had this year. If a trade goes through, the team must be looking at long-term recovery, because besides Enes Kanter, who is expected to be gone even by the 5th pick, the only other option at center is Jonas Valančiūnas, who needs a few more years in order to prepare for NBA play.

Then again, the Spurs will benefit from Tiago Splitter‘s second year under Gregg Popovich’s system (as the adage goes, everyone plays better their second year under Pop), and have a young 7-footer prospect Ryan Richards, who was spotted with the team a few times during this past season.

A trade with the Kings seems much more viable, bringing the Spurs Omri Casspi and allowing them to draft Kawhi Leonard.  Toronto doesn’t have as many viable pieces that the Spurs would want, and the difference between the 5th pick and the 7th for them isn’t noticeable.  Despite his comments this offseason, Parker’s still the best penetrator in the league, and the team wouldn’t want to give him away to draft Kemba Walker (I love Kemba, don’t get me wrong, but TP’s still in his prime).

But too many reports have come out documenting Parker’s desire to leave for them to be simple language-barrier issues.  Last offseason, his then-wife Eva Longoria was reported to have said that he wanted to leave San Antonio for The Big Apple.  After this year’s flop against the Memphis Grizzlies, he said that he didn’t feel the Spurs could contend for a title.  Speculation like this doesn’t fly with the Spurs organization, no matter your stat sheet, so I fully envision him being sent packing.

The past two seasons have shown that despite beautiful play, he is anything but untouchable.  He’s nowhere near as beloved to Spurs fans as Manu Ginobili or Tim Duncan, and George Hill‘s ascent makes him less needed.  The city itself seems to have grown cold with him as a person, and that’s never good in ol’ San Antone.

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by | May 2, 2011 · 10:27 AM

The Cowbell Tolls for Thee: Here We Stay

One more year

Today was the deadline for the Maloofs to put the relocation of the Sacramento Kings to a vote before the Board of Governors. Now, that vote will not take place. Tony Bizjak and Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee broke the story:

It’s official. The Kings are staying.

After weeks of political drama and speculation, team officials said this morning they are dropping plans to move to Anaheim this year, co-owner George Maloof told The Bee.

“We are heading back to Sacramento. It was a tough decision. Ticket holders were reaching out to us, and it was the right thing to do to give it a shot at one more season,” Maloof said.

The move comes just six hours before a league-imposed 2 p.m. deadline for the Kings to file a formal request to the league to relocate the team for the coming season.

Henry Samueli will just have to sit and stew about the opportunity that never fully unfolded before him. Samueli’s company manages the Honda Center in Anaheim, where the Maloofs had envisioned moving the Kings, and had offered up large sums of money to entice the owners to move their franchise.

Kings fans and Mayor Kevin Johnson have won. However, they must remain diligent if they wish to keep the team for the long term. The franchise, at present, only has plans to remain in Sacramento for one more year. George and Gavin Maloof still have very strong reservations about keeping the team in Sacramento unless a new arena can be constructed. Citizens of Sacramento will be the ones who will ulitimately decide on whether they will get a new arena.

For now though, Sacramento can audibly exhale. They have weathered the initial brunt of the storm. The Kings will not be relocated next season. There will not be a need for a grassroots organization called Kingsgate. They are staying put. Fandom has triumphed over millionaires. Here we stay.

(As an aside, it is interesting that none of the Kings players ever spoke publicly about the potential move to Anaheim. If they did, it was overlooked.)

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by | April 28, 2011 · 10:02 AM

The Cowbell Tolls for Thee: NBA to Maloofs – “Stay in Sacramento”

Kings may just stay.

The saga of the Sacramento Kings has jumped all over the place since the Maloofs came up with the idea to relocate the team due to their bad financial decisions four years ago. In the beginning it seemed all but certain that the team was going to be moved out of Sacramento this summer. Las Vegas and Louisville were rumored destinations for the franchise but in the end Anaheim won out as the choice destination for the Kings. Anaheim had everything the Maloofs could hope for, an arena, a large television market with a potentially lucrative television deal, and a man, Henry Samueli, who was willing to help bailout the Maloofs financially in order to get the Kings relocated to the Honda Center. Things were looking great for the Maloofs…that is until the city of Sacramento got in the way.

Boy, how the Maloofs wanted to move! They could see the bright lights of Disney Land in the distance. But, “not so fast,” the NBA told them. David Stern granted them a second extension to file the necessary paperwork with the league to relocate the team but that was because the league wanted to send a fact-finding committee, headed by Clay Bennett, to both Sacramento and Anaheim to assess for themselves the feasibility of the franchise either relocating or staying in Sacramento.

Sacramento had raised money, lots of money ($410 million), from local businesses in the form of sponsorships and box  suite ticket sales for the 2011-12 season. Since the NBA is a business itself, it also likes money. Not only that, but Sacramento now has a viable plan to build a new arena. Stern likes shiny new arenas.

Due to Sacramento’s efforts to keep the Kings, spurred on by Mayor Kevin Johnson and the grassroots “Here We Stay” campaign, owners around the league, who would be the ones voting to approve the Maloofs request to relocate, are not so keen on seeing the team depart just yet. “…It appears unlikely at this point that team owners will come to a conclusion before Monday, the day set by NBA officials as the deadline for the team to request permission to relocate to Anaheim for next season,” the Sacramento Bee reports.

The article goes onto state that, “NBA executives in recent days have indicated they are interested in seeing the team stay in Sacramento at least one more year, which would give the city a last chance to finance an arena to replace aging Power Balance Pavilion.”

If the Maloofs do decide to move forward with the relocation vote from the NBA’s Board of Governors, which must take place by May 2, they will need at least half of the owners consent to move the team to Anaheim. At this point, however, it appears as if those votes may be hard to come by.

It looks as though Sacramento may be given a one year reprieve. Yet, they need to use that year wisely. The NBA wants to see progress on a feasible plan to build a new arena in the short-term future. That is what everything hinges on. If the city and voters cannot come to an agreement on the issue then everything that was fought for this year will be for naught. Sacramentans must understand that Anaheim will not stand pat for a year, they want the Kings too and will do what they can to improve their offer in an effort to entice the NBA and the Maloofs yet again.

Keeping the Kings in Sacramento next season will be easy, the battle seems won at this point. Where the real challenge lies is in building a new arena. Sacramento, you must be in it for the long haul, the war has yet to be won.

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by | April 24, 2011 · 8:04 PM

The Cowbell Tolls for Thee: The Maloofs are Hiring

They could be your next boss

It seems odd that a team that is in relocation limbo would currently be seeing new employee but that is exactly what the Maloofs and the Sacramento Kings are doing. The Maloofs are looking for a Sales and Marketing trainee to join the Kings organization with the responsibility of promoting and selling season tickets for Kings games. Here is the job summary in full:

The primary responsibility of the Maloof Sports Sales & Marketing Representative is to cater to our potential customers by building and enhancing the personal and business relationships by identifying and understanding their needs, then customizing recommendations to meet and exceed those needs. Maloof Sports Sales & Marketing Representatives must develop an intimate knowledge of MS&E’s brands, products, and services as well the techniques and processes needed to effectively market and sell to our potential customers. The main focus will be to build our Sacramento Kings season and group ticket business, however overall sales will include other MS&E brands as well.

The entire posting can be found here.

This job posting further muddles the situation surrounding the Kings’ potential relocation. On one hand it can be interpreted as the Kings will remain in Sacramento for next season, which has been rumored of late. On the other hand, this could simply be a recruiting job for new employees who are not as attached to the organizations base in Sacramento. It is perhaps and effort to hire new blood in preparation for a move to Anaheim.

Speculate all you want, I do not have the right answer. What we know is that the team is hiring and going about business as usual.

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by | April 21, 2011 · 1:28 PM

The Cowbell Tolls for Thee: Here We (are Trying to) Stay

Masters of destiny

The Sacramento Kings shall live to fight for a few more weeks. David Stern has extended the deadline for the NBA Board of Governors vote on the relocation of the Sacramento Kings to May 2. Stern, of course, did not grant this extension based on the goodness of his own heart. Instead he did so because of developments that have surfaced recently due to the diligence of Sacramento mayor and former NBA star, Kevin Johnson.

Johnson has petitioned loudly to keep the Kings in Sacramento since the relocation rumors were in their infancy. At many times he admitted that he was fighting an uphill battle with the owners of the Kings, the Maloofs, and the city of Anaheim, where the team would be relocated. Johnson has become the Wellington figure in this whole ordeal as he has fought back repeated attempts to move the Kings but how long he can hold out is anybody’s guess. Luckily for him, billionaire Ron Burkle saw fit to take on the role of von Blücher.

The emergence of Burkle clearly threw a wrench in the gears that the Maloofs have been churning. However, not once during the entire relocation debate have the Maloofs ever alluded to the possibility of selling the Kings. Stern even downplayed Burkle’s interest, although if there is one thing that he likes it is billionaires who are willing to spend on his product.

Yet, Johnson is not the only one with tricks up his sleeve. Stern recently appointed Clay Bennett, who notoriously uprooted the Seattle Supersonics, all the while blatantly lying to their fan base, and moved them to Oklahoma City, as the head of the commission in charge of exploring Sacramento’s pitch to retain the Kings. Essentially, this like Emperor Palpatine putting Darth Vader in charge of the Jedi Council. Bad omens abound. The committee arrived in Sacramento on Thursday for two days of assessment.

The new Sacramento plan includes construction of a new arena on city owned land. Stern has been quite vocal that Power Balance Arena, formerly Arco, does not meet his modern “Mall of America” conception of what an NBA arena should be. A plan by developer David Taylor and ICON Venue Group to develop such an arena, according to Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee, is expected to be completed by the end of May. However, at that point the whole endeavor may be rendered moot.

Do not count out Johnson and Sacramento quite yet, though. Johnson’s recent pitch at the owner’s meeting in New York is the reasoning behind the extension of the vote on relocation. A major factor in that pitch was that Johnson had secured $7 million in new corporate sponsorships, ticket sales, and luxury suite purchases.

What all this comes down to is whether the city of Sacramento, its mayor, and the fans can show David Stern and Clay Bennett “the money.” That is really what this all boils down to anyway. The reason that the Maloofs want to relocate is because they feel they can find increased revenue  at a new venue and stop some of the hemorrhaging from their own pockets which is no ones fault but their own. The concessions they would make to Henry Samueli, who operates the Honda Center in  Anaheim, are virtually the same that they refused to concede several years ago. Those concessions would have likely kept the Kings in Sacramento.

These two days will be the most trying for the Kings and their fans. Mayor Johnson knows that. “We are squaring off against everybody who thinks Sacramento can’t support an NBA team, who thinks all we have are cowbells, loud fans and an old barn for an arena,” he wrote earlier in the week. Residents of Sacramento know that the outcome is in doubt but are putting their best face forward and are reminding the fact-finders that the city is dedicated to their team.

The battle over the Kings has yet to be won. It can be said that the few delays that the NBA has granted are minor victories which are nice but in the end could be entirely forgotten based on the outcome. Sacramento residents should be pleased to have a mayor who will stand up and fight to keep their lone professional sports team in the city. Losing the Kings, in many ways, would mean that the city will lose part of its soul, not to mention countless jobs. “Here we stay” is the rallying cry that has sprung up over the past months but now it is up to Bennett and Stern to turn that cry from slogan into reality.

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by | March 29, 2011 · 10:47 PM

The Cowbell Tolls for Thee: Ana-highway Robbery

The man behind the move

The city of Anaheim, California is doing everything it can to play the part of Clay Bennett in a made for television movie about team relocation. Only the city is not as prone to backroom deals as Bennett was and prefers to air their interests and willing underhandedness out in the open. On Tuesday night the Anaheim city council unanimously voted in favor of a $75 million dollar bond package in yet another attempt to sweeten the deal for a potential move of the Sacramento Kings to their city. It appears that the Mighty Ducks and Angels were just not enough to quench the thirst of the less than 400,000 residents of the suburban city.

However, nothing is set in stone as yet. The Kings’ owners, Joe and Gavin Maloof, have until April 18, after requesting and receiving an extension from the NBA’s Board of Governors, to file the necessary paperwork for relocation.

Despite many believing that the Kings move to Anaheim is all but inevitable at this point, many obstacles could stand in the way of the Maloof’s business dealings. The Kings currently owe the city of Sacramento $77 million from a 1997 loan. Joe Maloof publicly stated that the Kings would repay all the money they owe the city of Sacramento if the team were to relocate.

That statement, however, means little to California state Senator Darrell Steinberg. Steinberg is looking into legislation that could block the Kings move to Anaheim unless they first repay their debt to the city of Sacramento. Clearly, a fight is brewing that will leave wounds for quite some time.

There is one man who looks to gain the most from this whole ordeal and that man is Henry Samueli. Samueli, a billionaire, owns the Mighty Ducks (yes, they have dropped the “mighty” but I grew up watching the movies that the team was invented from so it sticks) and is also manages the Honda Center, where the Mighty Ducks currently play and the future home of the Anaheim Royals. That is if a relocation occurs.

Samueli is pumping in $25 million of his own money to make upgrades to the Honda Center to appease Emperor Stern, who’s only concern is the quality of a facility and not that of basketball. It is not like players are the main attraction of basketball or anything. The upgrades would include new locker rooms and a practice court. On top of that, Samueli is also willing to front another $50 million in relocation fees which would be paid out to the other NBA owners. (Since the NBA currently owns the New Orleans Hornets one can only assume that they will also receive a cut of the relocation fees if and when the Kings eventually move.) Gee, this Samueli sure is a generous guy!

The potential profits that Samueli will stand to make if the Kings relocate are staggering. Being the manager of the Honda Center, he will oversee, and get paid for, 82 regular season games with both the Ducks and Royals combined. That is potentially twice as much revenue being brought into the arena on what would be an almost nightly basis.

Forbes estimated the revenue of the Kings at $103 million for the 2009-10 season. That same season the revenue for the Ducks was placed at $85 million by Forbes. If these numbers were to remain constant and the Kings were to relocate and play in the Honda Center, the combined revenue of these two franchises would net $188 million for the 2011-12 season, barring an NBA lockout, of course.

There is a clearly defined winner and several losers in this whole ordeal. Unfortunately, Sacramento is on the short end of the stick. Everything the Maloof’s are currently doing to secure a move to Anaheim is exactly what they refused to concede in 2006 to the Kings. Toss the Maloofs into the losers column as well. They are giving up everything to try to save their financial lives while alienating an entire fan base that has been loyal since 1986. Kings fans will likely find themselves the bedfellows of Sonics fans in what is sure to be a relationship based on spite.

“I hope we come up with some creative way to replace the cowbell,” Anaheim city council member Kris Murray said after the 5-0 vote in favor of the bond package. Murray must not understand the big picture or just simply has a knack for being coy with the media. Anaheim has already replaced the cowbell, they replaced it with Samueli.

Marcos Breton of the Sacramento Bee reported on the concessions that the Maloofs have made to Samueli in order to help facilitate a move to Anaheim. The brothers Maloof will only net 50 percent of the parking and food and beverage revenue from the arena. They will not have naming rights to the arena, Samueli alone has those. However, if the arena were to change sponsors the Maloofs would be entitled to one-third the money from a new naming deal.

The one pseudo bright spot for the Maloofs is that they will have 100 percent of NBA advertising inside of the arena and would receive 92 percent of the revenue from NBA ticket sales. Yet, they would receive no revenue from NHL games nor any other event or concert held in the arena. Can you guess who will receive the revenue not allocated to the Maloofs in the potential deal to relocate the Kings?

Anaheim should not consider itself a winner if the Kings do in fact move there. They are merely a tertiary element in the whole ordeal. Yes, they have the arena but they do not run it. When the legal squabbling stops and the dust settles Henry Samueli will be the one winning if the Anaheim Royals ever become a reality.

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by | March 1, 2011 · 3:11 PM

The Cowbell Tolls for Thee: Waiting Game

Do they sell Ed Hardy in Anaheim?

Back in September we first reported on the plight of the Sacramento Kings and their situation concerning the team remaining in Sacramento. That situation has yet to improve. However, the league’s Board of Governors, also known as the owners, has granted the team an extension until April 18 to file the necessary paper work to officially relocated the team.

The Maloofs, Joe, George, and Gavin, who own the team, have been pushing for a new arena for the Kings to play in for some time. The NBA was also a supporter of a new arena in Sacramento (shocker) until they backed away from the table after the board for the California State Fair Grounds refused to relocate in order to build a new arena on its site. No further deals between the Kings and the city of Sacramento have even come close to accomplishing any form of progress.

Now with the extension, the Maloofs have bought themselves more time to think about the future of the franchise and its roots in Sacramento. The owners have been in discussions to move the team to Anaheim where they could play in the Honda Center which is the home of the NHL’s Mighty Ducks. That facility is 18 years old, yet, it has more luxury amenities than those at Power Balance Arena, formerly Arco Arena.

Sacramento Mayor, Kevin Johnson, who is a former NBA point guard, has assessed the situation as bleak saying, “It seems like we’ve kind of lost out on where we’d ideally like to be. It’d be great if we were competing with Anaheim. And if we did this and they did that, we have some say in it. I don’t think Sacramento has a whole lot of say right now.”

Essentially, if the Maloofs cannot work out a deal with Anaheim and the Honda center which is run by billionaire Henry Samueli, who owns the Ducks, they will be forced to remain in Sacramento. It appears that this is not the options the Maloofs are looking for as over saturating the Southern California basketball market appears to be their goal.

The Kings would not have to pay territorial rights fees to the Lakers or Clippers if the team were moved to Anaheim. Such fees would likely kill any potential move Kurt Helin of NBC’s Pro Basketball Talk reports.

Billionaires like to make money, not spend it. That is the sole reason that owners do not regularly foot the majority of the bill themselves when it comes to building new arenas. It is clearly the right of every tax payer to pay for the playground of the rich. If they won’t pay up, the rich will simply ship out along with their team. It has happened plenty of times before.

The NBA’s Board of Governors will meet again from April 14-15. If the Maloofs have reached a deal with the city of Anaheim and the Honda Center by that point, it would be at this meeting that a vote would take place on whether to approve the relocation of the Kings.

For now, all the fans of the Kings can do is wait and continue to show their support for their home team. It is obviously not an easy feeling knowing that Sonicsgate 2.0 is playing out before their eyes. One has to hope that the final outcome does not come to be known as Kingsgate. However, if the Maloofs can strike a deal it would mark the fifth time that the franchise has relocated. The Kings have been in Sacramento since the 1985-86 season.

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