Mayor, George Maloof To Meet Again Thursday On Arena
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - The mayor of Sacramento and the Maloofs have scheduled one last face-to-face meeting to try and save the proposed downtown arena.
"You can't leave any stone unturned at the end of the day," Kevin Johnson said on Tuesday.
And for that reason, Johnson says he'll meet with George Maloof one more time Thursday with the hope of salvaging the handshake agreement struck in Orlando several weeks ago.
"Hopeful, but not confident," Johnson said.
Hopeful may even be a stretch, especially because the mayor says the city won't renegotiate on anything.
"If we are to go forward, it would have to be with the tenants we agreed to," he said, "that there was a reconsideration on their part."
That would also seem unlikely, especially since economist Chris Thornberg, at the Maloof press conference in New York City two weeks ago, stated the city, NBA and AEG were off on their revenue numbers and the $391 million deal was a bad one for all involved.
"We have nothing to negotiate from that standpoint," Johnson said. "It would really be agreeing on revenue projections. If we can agree on revenue projections a deal could happen.
Thursday will be the third confirmed conversation between George Maloof and the mayor since the arena deal imploded at the NBA Board of Governors meeting.
Both sides say the conversations have been cordial, but it seems the public relations battle continues with Maloof spokesperson Eric Rose saying Johnson showed up unannounced in Las Vegas last Friday.
"For the record I didn't just show up suddenly in Las Vegas," Johnson said. "I don't think I've done that since college."
