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Still No Deal, But Talks Continue On New Arena

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Kings fans are still waiting for new deal on a downtown arena in Sacramento.

City officials missed the self-imposed deadline Thursday for how they plan to finance a new arena.

The city met Friday afternoon with the new proposed Kings owners to decide who will contribute to the funding of a new arena at the K Street mall site.

Sacramento would use parking to generate $200 million in bonds.

The city would own the building, but the owners would operate the arena.

In addition to Ron Burkle and Mark Mastrov, a third possible contributor has emerged: Vivek Randadive, a minority owner of the Golden State Warriors. The Indian-born businessman has big ideas for the city.

The term sheet has not been released.

City officials met at the Robertson Center for the second open house on the downtown Kings arena Friday.

Despite not having a deal, fans are optimistic.

"They are working hard," said Johnny Watts. "The mayor is working hard to try and keep them here and if it happens it will be a great blessing."

But it hasn't happened yet. The potential investor group and the city are still wrangling over who will pay what in building a new arena along the K Street Mall.

"I feel good today because I think we are making progress. I can see the investors are really enthusiastic about getting to New York and making that presentation," City Manager John Shirey said.

While there is enthusiasm about going before the NBA, there have been some hang ups along the negotiations.

Burkle was once the lead negotiator when talks began, then Mastrov took over, and now it seems that Ranadive is the new point man in the dealings.

But regardless of who is at the table, it seems to come down to one thing.

"We are talking about professional sports, there always money related, right?" said Shirey.

With the city set to use public parking as a way to leverage the more than $200 million for the arena, the council will need to review the tentative term sheet before any vote is taken.

"This is a big deal. We got to make sure that we go through the process and they answer the questions me and my colleagues have," said Councilman Allen Warren.

The city manager says if a deal is not reached this weekend, he will give city council an update at Tuesday's meeting on where the negotiations stand.

It's expected the term sheet could be released this weekend to give the public and council members several days to look at the deal.

April 3 is when Mayor Kevin Johnson and the investors will go to New York to present his plan to the NBA Board of Governors.

The third and final open house will be held Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Pannell Center.

CBS13's Steve Large will be in New York covering the meetings.

Follow him on twitter at @largesteven.

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