New Details Of Arena Financing Plan Beginning To Emerge

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Details are emerging about what the new arena financing plan could look like.

The NBA-endorsed arena financing plan the Maloofs walked away from last year is getting a new look with a new location, and possibly new landlords.

"This is going to be a group that has a lot more capacity than the current owners of the Kings, so it's a different negotiation," said Sacramento City Council member Jay Schenirer.

The mayor still hasn't announced the identity of the investors who are widely suspected to be Ron Burkle and Mark Mastrov, but the city council will now be asked to formally enter into negotiations with the unnamed group.

"My major concern is that the public are involved, and that occasions like this are rare where we don't get the information until late," said Sacramento City Council member Steve Hansen.

Newly released Sacramento city documents are shedding new light on the outlines of a deal.

"What I see is the potential for this to be actually a better deal," said Sacramento City Council member Steve Cohn.

The unnamed investors could take the lead in building and possibly owning the arena that could go somewhere other than the railyards. Recently, Downtown Plaza has been the most-discussed site.

"Anything we would do to change would be to even strengthen and make it a better option, not just for the city, but for the ownership," said Cohn.

Last year, city council approved $255 million in public funding for a new arena. Most of that money was coming from parking.

The city treasurer reports 3,700 public parking spots are in the Downtown Plaza garage. They'll be lost spots if an arena is built there, which means there would be less money going to finance a public subsidy.

The city council could be voting tomorrow night to enter formal investigations with the investor group. We may not hear about who the group is until March 1, the mayor's self-imposed deadline.