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NBA Board Of Governors Vote On Kings' Future Will Be Delayed

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Officials with the NBA announced the board of governor's will not vote this week on the future of the Sacramento Kings.

You could call it one final pep rally to keep the Kings as Mayor Kevin Johnson held one last press conference Tuesday, before the NBA team owners get ready to address the future of the franchise.

"This is the group of people that are committed to Sacramento," the mayor said.

Johnson was surrounded by the investor group intent on owning the Kings and building a new arena at the Downtown Plaza.

"It is in the hands of the board of governors to make a decision, and we feel -- as a community -- we left it all on the court," Johnson said.

However, late Tuesday afternoon, it was announced that the long-awaited vote on whether the Kings stay in Sacramento or move to Seattle would not happen at the New York meetings -- at least not this week. The conference, by all accounts, will still go on in the coming days.

"Never again should Sacramento have to play second fiddle to any other city on this planet," lead investor Vivek Ranadivé said.

Ranadivé spoke exclusively with CBS13. He didn't want to talk about the money but did say it wasn't an issue.

"Well, we are not going to talk about the specifics of the bid, but we feel very good about where the bid is," he said.

He was unconcerned, despite the loss of billionaire investor Ron Burkle.

"We were over subscribed, so we had more wanting to come in than we were able to accommodate," Ranadivé said.

Ranadivé says he is leaving it up to the mayor to address the board of governors and that he will not be headed to New York.

The NBA has not given a reason as to why the vote it delayed. However, after the April 3 presentations, NBA Commissioner David Stern said the league may need more time than the April 18-19 deadline to decide which city will get the Kings.

The special NBA owners meeting is Wednesday, and the board of governors will meet Thursday and Friday.

Wednesday is also the last home game of the season for the Kings.

Steve Large will report live from New York City for the meetings. You can follow him on Twitter at @largesteven.

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