Report: Kings Gearing Up For New Season In Sacramento

April 20, 2011 11:50 PM

Reporting Steve Large

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – As city and local business leaders prepare for the arrival of NBA officials Thursday, a new report suggests that momentum may be slipping away from the Sacramento Kings’ possible move to Anaheim.

The NBA has called the Kings’ business team and advised them to move forward with season ticket packages in Sacramento for next year, according to Sports Illustrated’s Sam Amick.

The report also says the potential television contract for the Kings in Anaheim is far lower in value than the NBA expected, and also cites heavy opposition within the league against moving the franchise.

It’s no secret that the owners of the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers were both lobbying against it.

NBA commissioner David Stern skated around the topic last week but indicated that there may be problems with the proposed move.

“I would say that the terms of the relocation to Anaheim were not fully understood by the committee,” Stern said.

NBA relocation officials will be meeting with arena developers and business leaders on the 19th floor of the U.S. Bank building Thursday. The Kings co-owners, the Maloof brothers, were reportedly scheduled to meet with the Kings local minority ownership group Wednesday but canceled the meeting.

Local community leaders traveled to Sacramento on Wednesday to meet with Mayor Kevin Johnson about supporting the effort to keep the team, but most politicians CBS13 spoke with shied away from promising taxpayer dollars to finance a new arena.

KHTK 1140 radio host Carmichael Dave, who has spearheaded a fan-driven effort through social networks to raise money for a new arena, has called for Kings fans to wear purple Thursday as a sign of support.

A number of downtown restaurants are offering Kings-themed options or discounts for purple-clad patrons Thursday.

Eric

Love the Kings, love the game! Stern and the Maloofs are another story altogether…
Adrin

Hope this holds up to be true!
Down with the MaGOOFS!

AHAHAHAHA YEAH! Take that Magoofs!
Now that it seems my wish for wrench
to be thrown into the Magoof’s plan to move
is finally coming true…I need to start wishing
for the NBA to pull MLB move like they did to the
Dodger’s owner. Strip them of their team
CalDude

Keeping the Kings in Sacramento will only happen if these conditions are met.

1.) The recession ends soon,
2.) No taxpayer financing required
3.) Better Front Office management,
4.) More wins on the court.

Otherwise, there will be many empty seats again, and whoever owns the team will want to move them again.

Bringing back the Monarchs could help too.
Basketball Fan

Maloofs dropped the ball when they discontinued the only professional team to win a national championship for Sacramento – the Lady Monarchs. Female college and professional teams have less than 11% coverage of their games on national television. Swimsuit models and cheerleaders get more front page and inside edition coverage in Sports Illustrated than female athletes. It’s pretty obvious that misogyny is alive and rearing its ugly head in 2011.
me

If they stay watch how many games they win/ or lose, My odds are on the loosing side as they haven’t and wont change any time soon. GO KINGS the biggest losers in the NBA. Maybe we should find a college basketball team to play them, than lets see who wins????
Susie

I am excited about the likelihood of the Kings staying in Sacramento. Go Kings
farmer

i am excited to see the kings loose again in sacramento! yay!
Carmichael Craig

Can we keep the Kings and run the Maloof’s and their shill Carmichael Dave out of town?
Jerry Roubos

GO WARRIORS! FROM A EX KINGS FAN
tony

go mayor kevin johnson!
kins fan

jerry roubos move to the bay area TRADER!
name here

u know who needs to go?…the Maloofs! they’re a huge reason why the Kings don’t play well….They always get rid of the good players! those idiots
I bet if they were gone and there was someone with some brains the Kings would be doing alot better
Kings Fan

Is it possible that this whole proposal to move the Kings was a ploy by the owners and the mayor of Sacramento to pressure the townspeople and the city council to approve a new stadium for Sacramento? The proposed move sure got everyone excited to the point that everyone now wants the Kings to stay and are willing to put up some money (taxes) to get a new sports complex built.
sac23kings

If KJ pulls this out and keeps our team, I’ll gladly give him a whole room full of 16 year old girls. How he gets them past his wife is his problem.
sac23kings

Umm, no. Nice try, though. The Magoofs have wanted to move the team since they bought the team. They have been submarining every attempt to build a new arena here for years. They’ve never had any intention of staying.
non-negative-nancy

negative comments should be kept to yourself. whether the kings lose games or win games, we should be supportive of our team and our town. if you dont want to be supportive then keep your mouth shut. its annoying to read these positive articles with not so positive comments. the other comments though, the suppotive ones, are great!
Vanetta not a fan

Instead of having a purple day and trying to divert the real issues Kevin. You be concentrating on more important issues. People should be boycotting the gas pumps .and worried about unemployment.. .kevin you are no different than those spoild Maloff brothers just selfish.
negative-but unfortunately true

I hate to say it, but people are taught at a young age that you don’t get rewarded for doing “good” things, you get punished for doing “bad” things.

When was the last time a person was “sentenced” to a Caribbean cruise for helping an old lady across the street?

I’d rather have someone truly call me a #####, then have them complement me in a serenade of lies.

This article is basically saying that the Maloofs aren’t contemplating staying in Sacramento out of loyalty, but merely because their “mistress” doesn’t to be as pretty as they thought she’d be.
me

Non- negative nancy: Are we not allowed our opinion? Are we not allowed to freedom of speech? Do you live in a bubble? I would like to hear what you thought of Sacramento before the Kings came here? What would you say if they left? One must look at the pros and cons, to make a good descision. Please open your mind and see the world as it really is….The Kings need to play better, if they want our support, How many years have they been in Sacramento, How many of those have been good years?
bill

I became a part time season ticket holder (12 games) this year, for the first time since I’ve lived in sacramento. The experience was good, I saw the kings win 3 games, and enjoyed the seats I purchased. Since the maloofs have threatened to leave, I have felt like a buyer with some remorse. Put a decent product on the floor, the maloofs need to do something to get the support of the city behind them. Quit trading away valuable pieces ad start building a winner, quit hiding behind the collective bargaining issues, ad build a freaking compeitive team.
Ross Matthews

Let the Maloofs go to LA they will lose there but.They can’t afford to pay there players now.They will have to give Sac 77 million and have to pay all the other NBA teams.The TV market isn’t what the MBA thought .So they lose there to. 10 years ago they had a great team until the brothers took over and got rid of everybody.How many players did they get rid of?