Moving the Kings out of Sacramento
Options
caddo man
Members Posts: 22,476 ✭✭✭✭✭
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — On Saturday night in Arco Arena — intimate, but antiquated by today’s NBA standards — the league-owned New Orleans Hornets will be playing the possibly soon-to-be-sold Sacramento Kings.
Ben Margot/The Associated PressOracle CEO Larry Ellison, said to be the sixth-richest man in America, is rumored to be interested in the Sacramento Kings. His offer to buy the Hornets was refused by then-owner George Shinn.
It’s a game between two economically struggling franchises, one that was rescued when its former owner pushed Commissioner David Stern for the league to purchase the club, and the other whose once-wealthy owners find themselves in jeopardy of losing a Las Vegas gambling palace as well as the basketball team.
A third player in this unusual scenario is Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, reported to be the sixth-richest man in America, who made a play for the Hornets after he couldn’t close a deal to buy the Golden State Warriors. He was spurned by then-owner George Shinn, and now is rumored to be interested in buying the Kings and possibly moving them to Anaheim, Calif.
Confused?
Just think about the fan bases of the Hornets and Kings, who’ve found themselves on the franchise free-agency merry-go-round for the past several months, wondering what the future holds for their professional basketball teams.
Ellison claims to have offered Shinn $350 million for the Hornets, when his bid of $350 million for the Warriors was received by former Golden State owner Chris Cohan after the deadline to submit offers to purchase the team.
Joseph Lacob, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, submitted a timely $450 million bid for the Warriors, which was accepted.
Sources familiar with the Hornets’ situation confirm that Shinn rejected Ellison’s offer, but say it wasn’t near the $350 million Ellison claims. Sources close to Shinn insist that it was, and that the NBA paid $300 million for the franchise.
Shinn, according to sources, implored the league to buy the team and search for a local owner, after Shinn’s minority partner, Louisiana businessman Gary Chouest, backed out of the agreement in principle the partners had reached in late April. Chouest apparently changed his mind on purchasing the team more than once, for a number of reasons, according to sources, including but not limited to the team’s economic distress. Sources indicate the Hornets lost $18.2 million in 2009-10.
Shinn, sources said, was jolted by his battle with prostate cancer and wanted to focus his life in another direction while ensuring that the team stayed in New Orleans.
Sacramento’s situation is greatly unsettled.
The Maloof family finds itself in several financial binds. The Maloofs’ controlling interest in the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas is being sought by two private investment firms, according to a recent report by Bloomberg News Service, after the Maloofs violated their loan covenants on the property.
The Maloofs, according to the Sacramento Bee, have sold their original beer distributorship in New Mexico for more than $100 million while laying off employees at the Palms and within the Kings organization. They may be ready to either move the team to a city with a more modern arena, or sell to a willing buyer who might do the same.
The Maloofs have repeatedly tried, and failed, to win approval for Sacramento to build a new basketball arena to replace the ? confines of Arco, soon to be renamed the Power Balance Pavilion, so that revenue streams could be increased.
Ellison, who denied his intention when courting the Hornets was to move the team to San Jose, Calif. — “I was trying to buy the team first, and then figure out what I was going to do with it” — reportedly may be interested in purchasing the Kings and moving them to Anaheim.
Two problems: the Lakers and Clippers, who’d be due territorial rights fees of $50 million each.
Chump change, however, to Ellison, who one person within NBA circles described as “having more money than ? .”
Neither Ellison nor the Maloofs are commenting about their intentions.
This week, the Sacramento City Council set aside a recommendation from a mayoral task force that it join forces with any of four development teams that submitted plans for a new arena for the Kings, which have been attempting to get a new facility for nearly a decade.
The council, by unanimous vote, asked the development teams to resubmit plans to the city within two weeks, describing in greater detail how each would approach financing a new sports and entertainment complex.
“I can’t imagine a more important development decision we are going to make as a council,” Councilman Jay Schenirer told The Sacramento Bee.
Kings’ co-owner Joe Maloof said he’d like to keep the team in Sacramento, but has a business responsibility to consider other options.
The Maloofs, according to The Bee, are having difficulty making payments on outstanding loans and have at least $68 million remaining on a loan with the city of Sacramento, in addition to loans taken out with the NBA. That debt could force the Maloofs to take an offer to unload the Kings.
If the buyer would be Ellison, he would have no difficulty coming up with the league-imposed relocation fee, probably about $30 million, nor any territorial rights fees should the team move to an area already inhabited by NBA franchises.
Now that the Hornets have met their attendance benchmark ensuring they’ll be in New Orleans next season, the Kings have a March 1 deadline to inform the NBA whether they’ll be relocating.
Interestingly, Forbes Magazine just published its list valuing all 30 NBA franchises, ranking the Hornets 26th with an estimated value of $280 million, slightly higher than last year’s $267 million, despite the team’s economic problems.
The Kings were valued at $293 million, ranking 24th.
Forbes estimated that 17 of the 30 NBA teams lost money a year ago, but if Stern is successful in reducing players’ salary costs by $750 million as well as the players’ share of basketball-related revenue from 57 percent to 40 percent, all teams would increase in value by 30 percent.
In New Orleans, fans can breathe slightly easier.
In Sacramento, Kings fans are holding their breath.
Jimmy Smith can be reached at 504.826.3814.
Damn this ? is crazy trying to put another team in Southern California. Hell even San Jose. If you are going to move it. I will move it to Seattle even Austin. No Midwest cities.
Off topic: The Midwest is declining slowly but surely. The only place in the Midwest that is even relevent right now is Chicago and Detroit. But Detroit is only maintaining.
Ben Margot/The Associated PressOracle CEO Larry Ellison, said to be the sixth-richest man in America, is rumored to be interested in the Sacramento Kings. His offer to buy the Hornets was refused by then-owner George Shinn.
It’s a game between two economically struggling franchises, one that was rescued when its former owner pushed Commissioner David Stern for the league to purchase the club, and the other whose once-wealthy owners find themselves in jeopardy of losing a Las Vegas gambling palace as well as the basketball team.
A third player in this unusual scenario is Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, reported to be the sixth-richest man in America, who made a play for the Hornets after he couldn’t close a deal to buy the Golden State Warriors. He was spurned by then-owner George Shinn, and now is rumored to be interested in buying the Kings and possibly moving them to Anaheim, Calif.
Confused?
Just think about the fan bases of the Hornets and Kings, who’ve found themselves on the franchise free-agency merry-go-round for the past several months, wondering what the future holds for their professional basketball teams.
Ellison claims to have offered Shinn $350 million for the Hornets, when his bid of $350 million for the Warriors was received by former Golden State owner Chris Cohan after the deadline to submit offers to purchase the team.
Joseph Lacob, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, submitted a timely $450 million bid for the Warriors, which was accepted.
Sources familiar with the Hornets’ situation confirm that Shinn rejected Ellison’s offer, but say it wasn’t near the $350 million Ellison claims. Sources close to Shinn insist that it was, and that the NBA paid $300 million for the franchise.
Shinn, according to sources, implored the league to buy the team and search for a local owner, after Shinn’s minority partner, Louisiana businessman Gary Chouest, backed out of the agreement in principle the partners had reached in late April. Chouest apparently changed his mind on purchasing the team more than once, for a number of reasons, according to sources, including but not limited to the team’s economic distress. Sources indicate the Hornets lost $18.2 million in 2009-10.
Shinn, sources said, was jolted by his battle with prostate cancer and wanted to focus his life in another direction while ensuring that the team stayed in New Orleans.
Sacramento’s situation is greatly unsettled.
The Maloof family finds itself in several financial binds. The Maloofs’ controlling interest in the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas is being sought by two private investment firms, according to a recent report by Bloomberg News Service, after the Maloofs violated their loan covenants on the property.
The Maloofs, according to the Sacramento Bee, have sold their original beer distributorship in New Mexico for more than $100 million while laying off employees at the Palms and within the Kings organization. They may be ready to either move the team to a city with a more modern arena, or sell to a willing buyer who might do the same.
The Maloofs have repeatedly tried, and failed, to win approval for Sacramento to build a new basketball arena to replace the ? confines of Arco, soon to be renamed the Power Balance Pavilion, so that revenue streams could be increased.
Ellison, who denied his intention when courting the Hornets was to move the team to San Jose, Calif. — “I was trying to buy the team first, and then figure out what I was going to do with it” — reportedly may be interested in purchasing the Kings and moving them to Anaheim.
Two problems: the Lakers and Clippers, who’d be due territorial rights fees of $50 million each.
Chump change, however, to Ellison, who one person within NBA circles described as “having more money than ? .”
Neither Ellison nor the Maloofs are commenting about their intentions.
This week, the Sacramento City Council set aside a recommendation from a mayoral task force that it join forces with any of four development teams that submitted plans for a new arena for the Kings, which have been attempting to get a new facility for nearly a decade.
The council, by unanimous vote, asked the development teams to resubmit plans to the city within two weeks, describing in greater detail how each would approach financing a new sports and entertainment complex.
“I can’t imagine a more important development decision we are going to make as a council,” Councilman Jay Schenirer told The Sacramento Bee.
Kings’ co-owner Joe Maloof said he’d like to keep the team in Sacramento, but has a business responsibility to consider other options.
The Maloofs, according to The Bee, are having difficulty making payments on outstanding loans and have at least $68 million remaining on a loan with the city of Sacramento, in addition to loans taken out with the NBA. That debt could force the Maloofs to take an offer to unload the Kings.
If the buyer would be Ellison, he would have no difficulty coming up with the league-imposed relocation fee, probably about $30 million, nor any territorial rights fees should the team move to an area already inhabited by NBA franchises.
Now that the Hornets have met their attendance benchmark ensuring they’ll be in New Orleans next season, the Kings have a March 1 deadline to inform the NBA whether they’ll be relocating.
Interestingly, Forbes Magazine just published its list valuing all 30 NBA franchises, ranking the Hornets 26th with an estimated value of $280 million, slightly higher than last year’s $267 million, despite the team’s economic problems.
The Kings were valued at $293 million, ranking 24th.
Forbes estimated that 17 of the 30 NBA teams lost money a year ago, but if Stern is successful in reducing players’ salary costs by $750 million as well as the players’ share of basketball-related revenue from 57 percent to 40 percent, all teams would increase in value by 30 percent.
In New Orleans, fans can breathe slightly easier.
In Sacramento, Kings fans are holding their breath.
Jimmy Smith can be reached at 504.826.3814.
Damn this ? is crazy trying to put another team in Southern California. Hell even San Jose. If you are going to move it. I will move it to Seattle even Austin. No Midwest cities.
Off topic: The Midwest is declining slowly but surely. The only place in the Midwest that is even relevent right now is Chicago and Detroit. But Detroit is only maintaining.
Comments
-
the kings and hornets should just be eliminated
-
-
-
? yalselfs for talkin greasy about the bobcats. Kwame Brown is a double-double machine
-
bobcats too
We love it when ? come out of their mouths sideways about the Bobcats. Keep the hate going. Don't get mad because Minnesota aint gonna win ? until WW3 happens. -
? yalselfs for talkin greasy about the bobcats. Kwame Brown is a double-double machine
Kwame will be dunking Grand mama moomoos for halftime show money! -
? yalselfs for talkin greasy about the bobcats. Kwame Brown is a double-double machine
no...HELL NO. the only decent season he had was his 3rd for the wizards. he was serviceable for LA. horrible for memphis. SUCKED for the pistons...and idk what he doin in charlotte. his only claim to fame is being the 1st high school player taken number 1 overall....and having small child hands for his big man-sized body(n/h) -
no...HELL NO. the only decent season he had was his 3rd for the wizards. he was serviceable for LA. horrible for memphis. SUCKED for the pistons...and idk what he doin in charlotte. his only claim to fame is being the 1st high school player taken number 1 overall....and having small child hands for his big man-sized body(n/h)
yeah, he do have the itty bitty hands, nh. he's uncoordinatd, but he's doing ok 4 double-doubles in his last 8 games. actually i think those are his only 4 this season, if not ever -
We love it when ? come out of their mouths sideways about the Bobcats. Keep the hate going. Don't get mad because Minnesota aint gonna win ? until WW3 happens.
Kevin Love,B-Easy,Jonny Flynn,>>>>>them bums on MJ's team
y'alls arena be empty as ? ,there's more people at my local YMCA.....Mike's gonna have to sell that team before he goes bankrupt.....at least the black 3's are retroing this year -
yeah, he do have the itty bitty hands, nh. he's uncoordinatd, but he's doing ok 4 double-doubles in his last 8 games. actually i think those are his only 4 this season, if not ever
pfft,4 double doubles ?.Kevlar leads the league in boards,and he's white with little to no hops...and he has 30-plus double-doubles -
They should move them to Seattle or down to San Diego if they wanna keep them in Cali...
-
The Kings might be coming here
-
ptowndonte wrote: »The Kings might be coming here
I'd rather have the hornets -
WildcatOffense wrote: »I'd rather have the hornets
I doubt we get either -
Seattle Kings? Or change the name back to the Supersonics...yeaaaaa
-
sacramento has one of the best tv markets...they suck right now and they dont sell out games... if Larry Ellison buys the team he would move them to san jose..
there about to vote for a arena again...theres a couple plans for a arena...if they leave sacramento im done -
We love it when ? come out of their mouths sideways about the Bobcats. Keep the hate going. Don't get mad because Minnesota aint gonna win ? until WW3 happens.
? everytime they show bobcats highlights on tv you can count how many people are in the stands. -
? yalselfs for talkin greasy about the bobcats. Kwame Brown is a double-double machine
lmao.
MrJr post.
