Where will the Kings play next season?

[Remedy360]

After increasing their bid by 75 mill..

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9265605/sources-maloof-family-cuts-new-deal-sacramento-kings


The group trying to move the Sacramento Kings to Seattle is continuing to be relentless in its pursuit.

And the NBA could be listening.

Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer, the deep-pocketed Seattle-based investors trying to acquire the team, have struck a new deal with the Kings' current owners, the Maloofs, that may create more drama in Sacramento and the league office.

Two sources told ESPN.com the Maloofs have informed their fellow owners that if their deal to sell and relocate the Kings to Seattle is not approved by league owners next week, they will not sell the team to a Sacramento-based group that promises to keep the Kings in Sacramento.

Instead, the cash-strapped Maloofs have made a "backup" agreement with the Hansen-Ballmer group to sell it 20 percent of the team for $125 million to allow the Maloofs to continue to operate the franchise.

That new "backup" plan comes on the heels of Hansen's announcement on Friday that he had upped his offer to buy the Maloofs' 65 percent of the Kings to $409 million (from $358 million) for a total valuation of $625 million.

Sources said that new proposal also included a $115 million offer to owners as a relocation fee, which would amount to about $4 million per team. By comparison, in 2008 when the Oklahoma City Thunder moved from Seattle, they paid a $30 million total fee to the other owners.

To consider these incredible new figures, the NBA relocation committee is planning to re-evaluate the Hansen-Ballmer offer and has scheduled another meeting ahead of next Tuesday's full owners meeting in Dallas, sources said.

Two weeks ago, that same committee voted unanimously to reject the relocation request to Seattle, and the full body of owners was expected to follow that recommendation. It appeared a prospective ownership group based in Sacramento had won and the team would stay long term.

Now, the Hansen-Baller's super-aggressive, cash-laden increased offer is apparently causing at least some reconsideration.

A league spokesman did not reply to a request for comment.

Just as with relocation, teams cannot sell minority shares without approval from league owners. It's questionable whether the owners would approve of a group that clearly wants the team to end up in Seattle to buy a large stake in a team they voted to be kept in Sacramento. But they also cannot compel the Maloofs to sell the team.

In the last three months, the NBA has negotiated its own backup plan for the Kings with a group led by Silicon Valley billionaire Vivek Ranadive. That group, which has changed its leadership several times, ultimately offered a valuation of $525 million for the Kings and brokered a deal with local governments to building a new arena with more than $250 million in public funds.

After studying the offers closely, the relocation committee ultimately decided that Ranadive and the city of Sacramento's offer was suitable. Ranadive, who has put 50 percent of the purchase into escrow, was hoping the owners also will green light his purchase when they settle the matter next week.

A source familiar with Ranadive strategy told ESPN.com the move was not surprising and was anticipated. The group does not feel NBA owners will respond well to threats and ultimatums.

The position of Ranadive's group during the process has been not to compete with Seattle but keep the franchise in Sacramento.

But the Maloofs' latest move with the Hansen-Ballmer group's new promises could throw all that into question again. The Maloofs have favored the Hansen deal the entire time and did not negotiate with Ranadive or the city of Sacramento involving the new arena.

The strategy is rather transparent. If the relocation bid is officially blocked, Hansen and Ballmer want a piece of the Kings so they could apply pressure on the city of Sacramento to execute an arena deal with them. The city and the Maloofs have failed to come to an agreement on a new arena several times in the past decade. If the Maloofs keep the team and an arena deal can't be reached, the franchise could apply for relocation again.

Several ownership sources told ESPN.com that there was some concern that Ranadive and the city of Sacramento could close and execute the deal for the new arena. Those concerns could be driving this last round of fighting by the Seattle group as it tries to sway owners who may not have fully made up their minds.

Throughout this tedious process, the Maloofs and the Hansen-Ballmer group have worked without involving the league office and powerful NBA commissioner David Stern. Meanwhile, the Sacramento group and Mayor Kevin Johnson have worked with Stern every step of the way. That partnership seems to have helped the city and Ranadive get into favorable position with other owners.

That trend has not stopped the Seattle group from pressing forward with these plans.

[Sccit]

they should go after a team from a city with a mayor who didnt play in the nba LOL

[Remedy360]

^ That would be ideal...they want a team now though. There's talk of the Bucks being available but who knows when that'll be. From what I hear they've been honing in on the Kings for a while. That team is gonna be a complete shit-show (or bigger one I suppose)  if they decline the sale/relocation and the Malloofs keep the team LOL.

[DJ SUGAFREE QUIK]

Well that makes no sense. Oh well, they still need to find a way to get more teams west, and Oklahoma City out of the NW division.

Put the thunder in the same division with the texas teams, less division travel miles.  And move either N.O. or Memphis to the south.  Preferrably memphis so they won't have to ruin the clippers in the 1st round anymore.  Terrible playoff matchup for the clippers, practically anybody now 

[Teddy Roosevelt]

It should be either these irrelevant franchise most of america don't give 2 shits about & that's the bucks, wizards & suxers.

Philadelphia is very passionate about their sports team including the 76ers. The DC metro area is pretty big and can support a team when they aren't so damn shitty. The Bucks on the other hand play in a city that nobody wants to live in and in a metro area that isn't that big. They should be moved to Seattle.

[M Dogg™]

What's sad is Milwaukee actually has a great basketball tradition. Much like Minneapolis did prior to losing the Lakers. Though the Lakers had to move or go bankrupt, and now Minneapolis is a HORRIBLE basketball city. Milwaukee, after years of the Bucks being mediocre at best, just isn't a good basketball city anymore. Too close to Chicago, and Wisconsin is more of a football state. So the Bucks spend half the season in the Packer's shadow and the other half with people counting down to the Brewers season. If the Bucks move, no one will miss them, hell Wisconsin is not even a good hockey state. If Milwaukee is up for grabs, it might be for the better than Sacramento. Still, Sacramento is not as good of a city for the NBA than Seattle.

[Remedy360]

Yeah, none of the rumored cities deserve to lose their team but I don't really give a fuck at this point. Give me a god damn team to root for. Hansen's group is ramping up the Sac-town deal. If the owners are smart they'll accept. Far-fetched to expect any final decision this week though.

[M Dogg™]

Of the NBA teams, only Orlando and New Orleans are the cities I'd say are NOT NBA cities. Sacramento's problem is that it's a really small market, though they had a horrible attendance this year, and it was due to people not going to the games. Detroit also had bad attendance this last year, but they have traditionally been a great basketball city, but maybe the still declining economy there might make it harder and harder to support any sports teams. According to the attendance figures not many teams are actually under 80% of capacity, though Cleveland is one of them. But Cleveland must have a huge arena because they have draw a good number, but it's only 78% of their arena's size. Must have thought the LeBron era was going to last a bit longer there. They need to add more seats to Staples some how. They have a high sell out percentage yet they are not in the top 5 for overall attendance. Also another reason to expand Staples, the Clippers went over capacity and oversold the Lakers. Not sure how they added extra seats, but the Clippers were at 100.9% of possible seats! So Lakers might want to talk to Staples about getting some more seats.

[Remedy360]

Of the NBA teams, only Orlando and New Orleans are the cities I'd say are NOT NBA cities. Sacramento's problem is that it's a really small market, though they had a horrible attendance this year, and it was due to people not going to the games. Detroit also had bad attendance this last year, but they have traditionally been a great basketball city, but maybe the still declining economy there might make it harder and harder to support any sports teams. According to the attendance figures not many teams are actually under 80% of capacity, though Cleveland is one of them. But Cleveland must have a huge arena because they have draw a good number, but it's only 78% of their arena's size. Must have thought the LeBron era was going to last a bit longer there. They need to add more seats to Staples some how. They have a high sell out percentage yet they are not in the top 5 for overall attendance. Also another reason to expand Staples, the Clippers went over capacity and oversold the Lakers. Not sure how they added extra seats, but the Clippers were at 100.9% of possible seats! So Lakers might want to talk to Staples about getting some more seats.

Yeah but in a lot of cases you can't really judge NBA by attendance. As much as I want the Kings to come here they have a great fan-base and theyve just had bad attendance because of their ownership situation along with the fact that the teams in the shitter. Every team that isn't the Lakers, Knicks, etc goes through bad spells of attendance. Obviously if a city has shit attendance ear after year they don't deserve a team but if you're going to move a team just because of a few years of bad attendance you're creating a never-ending door.

[Russell Bell]

Of the NBA teams, only Orlando and New Orleans are the cities I'd say are NOT NBA cities. Sacramento's problem is that it's a really small market, though they had a horrible attendance this year, and it was due to people not going to the games. Detroit also had bad attendance this last year, but they have traditionally been a great basketball city, but maybe the still declining economy there might make it harder and harder to support any sports teams. According to the attendance figures not many teams are actually under 80% of capacity, though Cleveland is one of them. But Cleveland must have a huge arena because they have draw a good number, but it's only 78% of their arena's size. Must have thought the LeBron era was going to last a bit longer there. They need to add more seats to Staples some how. They have a high sell out percentage yet they are not in the top 5 for overall attendance. Also another reason to expand Staples, the Clippers went over capacity and oversold the Lakers. Not sure how they added extra seats, but the Clippers were at 100.9% of possible seats! So Lakers might want to talk to Staples about getting some more seats.

Yeah but in a lot of cases you can't really judge NBA by attendance. As much as I want the Kings to come here they have a great fan-base and theyve just had bad attendance because of their ownership situation along with the fact that the teams in the shitter. Every team that isn't the Lakers, Knicks, etc goes through bad spells of attendance. Obviously if a city has shit attendance ear after year they don't deserve a team but if you're going to move a team just because of a few years of bad attendance you're creating a never-ending door.

was just about to post that.  people who arent laker knicks and cetlics fans seem to forget this, lol.

Ive said it before and i'll say it again - i think seattle deserves a team, but not at the expense of sacramento.  Stern cant force the maloofs to sell to the sac group, and they dont want to sell to them, theyre broke and desperate and have no qualms about fucking that town over.  Which is kinda ironic, because in this area, people loved the maloofs, then they started to go broke and literally stopped giving a shit about the kings - and the on court product showed.

Another thing folks forget that is apparent when they say "oh well california has golden state, clippers and lakers already".  The clippers and lakers might as well be in another state unless youre just a bandwagoner (if you live in northern california).

[DJ SUGAFREE QUIK]

Of the NBA teams, only Orlando and New Orleans are the cities I'd say are NOT NBA cities. Sacramento's problem is that it's a really small market, though they had a horrible attendance this year, and it was due to people not going to the games. Detroit also had bad attendance this last year, but they have traditionally been a great basketball city, but maybe the still declining economy there might make it harder and harder to support any sports teams. According to the attendance figures not many teams are actually under 80% of capacity, though Cleveland is one of them. But Cleveland must have a huge arena because they have draw a good number, but it's only 78% of their arena's size. Must have thought the LeBron era was going to last a bit longer there. They need to add more seats to Staples some how. They have a high sell out percentage yet they are not in the top 5 for overall attendance. Also another reason to expand Staples, the Clippers went over capacity and oversold the Lakers. Not sure how they added extra seats, but the Clippers were at 100.9% of possible seats! So Lakers might want to talk to Staples about getting some more seats.

Yeah but in a lot of cases you can't really judge NBA by attendance. As much as I want the Kings to come here they have a great fan-base and theyve just had bad attendance because of their ownership situation along with the fact that the teams in the shitter. Every team that isn't the Lakers, Knicks, etc goes through bad spells of attendance. Obviously if a city has shit attendance ear after year they don't deserve a team but if you're going to move a team just because of a few years of bad attendance you're creating a never-ending door.

The bricks hardly have a bad spells of attendance because a lot of them are sheep.  They put up with the crap that Dolan is doing with them & the rangers.  The fiasco with Scott Layden or Osama bin Layden, & Isiah.  Maybe the fans would stop showing up to send a message, but that barely happened.  Heck the last time i've heard that the Jets failed to sellout a home game was the late 70's    & they drafted terribly like the clippers in the 80's & 90's.  Still sold out.  If they were in so-cal drafting poorly & playing poorly they'd be run outta town like the rams were.

[DJ SUGAFREE QUIK]

It should be either these irrelevant franchise most of america don't give 2 shits about & that's the bucks, wizards & suxers.

Philadelphia is very passionate about their sports team including the 76ers. The DC metro area is pretty big and can support a team when they aren't so damn shitty. The Bucks on the other hand play in a city that nobody wants to live in and in a metro area that isn't that big. They should be moved to Seattle.

DC ain't even supporting their 3rd baseball team they didn't even deserve to have.  They lost their 1st 2 teams cause they didn't support them either.  They're good now, but all the whining & crying people did to get DC a 3rd team they should be selling out all the time win or lose.  Only a terrorist attack is a good excuse not to.  And their new stadium looks good, except for all the gay ass cursive W's in it.  Why anyone likes that cap & wants to buy it is beyond me    Their DC cap looked way much better.  The expos woulda been better off in Virginia, Vegas, even Puerto Rico than DC.  Redskins are no. 1 there.  The cuntpitals started selling out again near the playoffs in 2008. 

What's sad is Milwaukee actually has a great basketball tradition. Much like Minneapolis did prior to losing the Lakers. Though the Lakers had to move or go bankrupt, and now Minneapolis is a HORRIBLE basketball city. Milwaukee, after years of the Bucks being mediocre at best, just isn't a good basketball city anymore. Too close to Chicago, and Wisconsin is more of a football state. So the Bucks spend half the season in the Packer's shadow and the other half with people counting down to the Brewers season. If the Bucks move, no one will miss them, hell Wisconsin is not even a good hockey state. If Milwaukee is up for grabs, it might be for the better than Sacramento. Still, Sacramento is not as good of a city for the NBA than Seattle.

Brewers are popular also.  Wisconsin is considered a good hockey market, they got the badgers.  Plus they're next to the real hockeytown, Minnesota.  They just won't support a Chicago or Minnesota nhl team.  They should be getting a team & move Phoenix out.  Minnesota is too darn cold & black people despise cold weather so not many blacks wanna play there. 

[M Dogg™]

I do agree, Milwaukee should have a hockey team over Phoenix. I did mention the Brewers were popular. Might be time for the Bucks to leave, though their tradition is do deep that it's sad to see them go.

As i said, the two non basketball towns in the NBA are Orlando and New Orleans.

[Sccit]

Of the NBA teams, only Orlando and New Orleans are the cities I'd say are NOT NBA cities. Sacramento's problem is that it's a really small market, though they had a horrible attendance this year, and it was due to people not going to the games. Detroit also had bad attendance this last year, but they have traditionally been a great basketball city, but maybe the still declining economy there might make it harder and harder to support any sports teams. According to the attendance figures not many teams are actually under 80% of capacity, though Cleveland is one of them. But Cleveland must have a huge arena because they have draw a good number, but it's only 78% of their arena's size. Must have thought the LeBron era was going to last a bit longer there. They need to add more seats to Staples some how. They have a high sell out percentage yet they are not in the top 5 for overall attendance. Also another reason to expand Staples, the Clippers went over capacity and oversold the Lakers. Not sure how they added extra seats, but the Clippers were at 100.9% of possible seats! So Lakers might want to talk to Staples about getting some more seats.

staples should definitely be bigger..duno why it's so small to begin with. probably for comfort reasonings ala the forum.

[DJ SUGAFREE QUIK]

And the decision is supposed to be 2day.  I wonder how things will play out since the magoofs added some poison pills    Still being petty, the right thing to do is sell to someone who will keep the team in no-cal.  I wish that the seattle dude would try to request that there be an expansion team for the city in 2014.