Speaking of rumors, talk continues to heat up that the Sacramento Kings are headed to Anaheim. The reality, though, is murkier:
- Orange County Register columnist Randy Youngman reports that “there are growing indications that the Maloofs will ask for an extension on the deadline because of unresolved issues as the protracted negotiations continue with Henry Samueli’s lieutenants at Anaheim Arena Management, the company that operates Honda Center for the City of Anaheim.” That actually doesn’t sound like an acceleration of move talks so much as a snag, but Youngman insists that a final deal is expected in March, or maybe April.
- SoCal sports business expert David Carter notes that while the Kings would be a tenant in somebody else’s building in Anaheim, and the third team in the greater L.A. market, “you could make an argument that you’re better off being a junior tenant in a more compelling building, in a more compelling market, than being a big fish in a small pond.”
- Mayor KJ says the Anaheim move is “more than rumors,” though given he’s still trying to drum up support for a new arena in Sacramento, he would say that.
- Mark Kreidler of ESPN.com is tweeting like crazy on the topic, with most notable tweets including: “Kings will ask for and receive extension from the NBA to consider the Anaheim deal. Am told the league also wants time — not sold on OC.”, “Kings extension on relocation could well run through the end of the season. The NBA doesn’t really have set parameters, I’m told.” and “Understand that what comes to me from Maloof-approved sources can be spin. That’s expected. But extension is real enough and will happen.”
I have zero inside information, but what all this sounds like is that the Maloofs are engaged in talks to move to Anaheim, but nobody’s sure if they can work out a deal that will make them, Samueli, and the NBA happy all at once. But if nothing else, playing footsie with Anaheim can help turn up the heat on the Sacramento city council to approve an arena deal, especially if the footsie can be dragged out for months. It’s all about the leverage.
Even if they’re granted an extension, which they’ve never done, it won’t be a long one. They’ll get a few extra weeks to either lock up Anaheim or move on. However it does seem the Anaheim talks are pretty advanced and both sides want it to happen. I don’t think this is a leverage move by the Maloofs, both because it’s not enough time to actually use as effective leverage, and there isn’t much more the Sac council can do to help the Maloofs beyond what they’ve already done, particularly when they’ve got no voter support.
Kreidler agrees with me, for what it’s worth:
twitter.com/markkreidler/status/40799141235916800
Kreidler has something of a vested interest in making sure the Kings stay in Sacramento, too. This is a (small) conflict of interest; he’s going to give you a rosier-than-it-should-be scenario.
From what I understand, KJ, Taylor and the Maloofs will be having meetings tomorrow, although I’m not sure if all will be in the same room at the same time. I expect the Maloofs will come to the meeting with a deal hashed out with Samueli, and the Maloofs will give us one last shot — probably no more than a week or two — to match. Taylor-ICON agreed to study for 90 days, but the Maloofs will shorten that down to about 21-28.
In other words, we’re about to get the bum’s rush, which is about the kind of treatment I’d expect Sacramento to get.
I was being half-serious yesterday when I suggested the Warriors might find it in their best interests to speed this process along. You think they wouldn’t like to lock up both the SF Bay Area and the Sac-Stockton-Modesto media areas? And probably gain Fresno and Reno in the process? Really, that would be worth millions to them.
Sac is the 19th largest media market in the US. That’s not something you take lightly.
My gut tells me that this is more kicking-the-tires than an actual done deal – Carter notwithstanding, there’s not a huge upside to being somebody else’s tenant and the third team in a three-team market. I guess it’s possible if the Maloofs are desperate enough for cash, but now that the $100m loan is off the table, why should they rush into this? Stringing it out long enough to see if ICON-Taylor can pull a rabbit out of a hat, though, makes total sense.
What happens in May if ICON-Taylor crashes and burns is another story, obviously. But remember, this isn’t a Sonics situation where you have an owner who just wants to move and be done with it. The Maloofs wouldn’t have stuck around Sacramento this long if they didn’t want to stay – or perhaps a better way of putting it is: if they didn’t want to try every last trick in hopes of cashing in on arena subsidies there.
Being in a hockey team’s 20 year old arena is less than ideal, but the TV landscape in southern California is ideal. TWC is starting up a new RSN, and while Kings ain’t gettin’ $150m/yr for local TV like the Lakers got, FSW will pay them a lot more than they’d get in the Bay Area to replace the Lakers on that channel. That may be enough to make for a so-so arena deal.
That’s a good point – I’ll ask Carter if he knows what the TV rights would likely go for.
With the near-certainty of no season in 2011-2012, the other 29 teams will probably be willing to be very flexible on the filing deadline. I’d say that depends on whether teams prefer visiting Anaheim or Sac.
It actually sounds kinda funny when I put it that way, doesn’t it?
The Bee yesterday said that the Sac-Stockton-Modesto media market is 2.1 million, but you have to add to that Reno and Fresno, too, which are not small markets. The Bee also said 2.9 million for Anaheim.
But look also at the difference between Sac’s corporate culture (negligible) and Anaheim’s; the unemployment rates, the relative income levels, the fact that the Kings would probably have San Diego…
It’s gotta be a pretty large net gain. It’s not small potatoes. Huge edge to Anaheim, for sure.
I just think you go for the bird in hand.
OC is actually a different market than LA. I lived there for 4.5 years in college and it is a far different demographic than LA.
OC itself is 3M people and that does not include the neighboring San Bernardino (2M) and Riverside Counties (2M) who are further away from Staples Center than Anaheim.
This is a good move by the Kings, the entire SoCal area is 15M people and with 2 teams in LA the 7M people in the OC, SB, and Riv side areas are under served big time for NBA, considering the lack of public transportation and massive traffic everywhere in the region.
What this does to it open up the Bay Area with the Kings gone to get another team in San Jose and the Warriors will now be forced to compete.
The Warriors will pocket TV rights to what the Kings had before but will share the Bay Area with the San Jose franchise in a few years.
Donald Sterling is an idiot for not going to the OC years ago. But we all knew he wasn’t the brightest guy in the world before all of this.
OC is actually a different market than LA. I lived there for 4.5 years in college and it is a far different demographic than LA.
OC itself is 3M people and that does not include the neighboring San Bernardino (2M) and Riverside Counties (2M) who are further away from Staples Center than Anaheim.
This is a good move by the Kings, the entire SoCal area is 15M people and with 2 teams in LA the 7M people in the OC, SB, and Riv side areas are under served big time for NBA, considering the lack of public transportation and massive traffic everywhere in the region.
What this does to it open up the Bay Area with the Kings gone to get another team in San Jose and the Warriors will now be forced to compete.
The Warriors will pocket TV rights to what the Kings had before but will share the Bay Area with the San Jose franchise in a few years.
Donald Sterling is an idiot for not going to the OC years ago. But we all knew he wasn’t the brightest guy in the world before all of this.
OC is actually a different market than LA. I lived there for 4.5 years in college and it is a far different demographic than LA.
OC itself is 3M people and that does not include the neighboring San Bernardino (2M) and Riverside Counties (2M) who are further away from Staples Center than Anaheim.
This is a good move by the Kings, the entire SoCal area is 15M people and with 2 teams in LA the 7M people in the OC, SB, and Riv side areas are under served big time for NBA, considering the lack of public transportation and massive traffic everywhere in the region.
What this does to it open up the Bay Area with the Kings gone to get another team in San Jose and the Warriors will now be forced to compete.
The Warriors will pocket TV rights to what the Kings had before but will share the Bay Area with the San Jose franchise in a few years.
Donald Sterling is an idiot for not going to the OC years ago. But we all knew he wasn’t the brightest guy in the world before all of this.
Kings just filed for a relocation extension:
blogs.sacbee.com/sports/kings/archives/2011/02/kings-file-exte.html
Allow me to translate this memo for you:
“Bye, Sac, it’s been swell!”
Day after the season ends, but before the Taylor-ICON negotiation period ends. Wow.
Reportedly the extension will be granted. And according to the Sac Bee the extension will be until the April 15th meeting. The optimist in me sees this as an extra month and a half for Sac to get something together, fans to sell out the arena, etc… But the realist in me sees this as nothing but an extra month and a half for the Maloofs to work through any final issues setting up a move to Anaheim in advance of voting on it at the owners meeting. And the downright pessimist in me thinks the Maloofs are doing this in addition to the extra time to work out issues, but also to get to the end of the season without having to play any lame duck home games with the sure to surface fan anger, and small crowds.
In any event, I don’t think this ends well for Sacramento. They’re either going to be down a basketball team or out a crapload of taxpayer money to build a last second arena.
I suspect it’s all of the above: a month and a half for Sacramento to work out an arena plan, a month and a half to work out an Anaheim move if/when that doesn’t happen, plus you duck fans throwing (quite so many) rotten vegetables during the season’s final weeks. Hell, it could be an extra month and a half for the Maloofs to try to get other cities in on the bidding as well, if for no other reason than to drive down Anaheim’s price.
And agreed, there’s no good endgame here for Sac’to, unless the Anaheim deal somehow falls through and the Kings have to go slinking back to Northern California. Or the courts somehow become involved – what’s the California case law on using eminent domain on sports teams? Would the Raiders case preclude Sacramento trying that?
Well, Dan, the cynic in me sees this as a way for the Maloofs to avoid the “empty arena syndrome.”
They are moving. As of today, they are 100% certain. It’s done.
Now, tell the fans that, and only a handful will say, “Well, let me buy 12 more parking passes and Kings dogs!”.
If I owned tickets to any more Kings games, I would not go. Just wait until you see what attendance does from here on out.
Goodbye, Kings; hello, Warriors.
That’s just the way it is.
KCRA actually broke programming today to air a teary Kevin Johnson giving a press conference. Terrible. I just hope KJ doesn’t panic and REALLY do something dumb.
I think you’re going to see the opposite Mike. Most of the Kings fans I’ve talked to today are using the shred of hope they have left to justify trying to sell out every game from here on out. They’ve even got a donation pot going buying tickets to the games coming up starting with Monday’s game to assist those unable to afford tickets in buying out the place. (They’ve raised over $1700 dollars for tickets for Monday alone in one day). This is the perfect situation for the Maloofs. They get a full arena from now til the end, get to rush along the city and the ICON/Taylor report, and still get to pursue Anaheim in the likely even ICON comes back with bad news. And best of all they come out smelling like a rose since they let the city have it’s last shot and fail at it… again. Unless of course the city does something rash and contributes large sums of public money to a new arena.
I find it funny that everyone sees the Kings as the 3rd team in SoCal. Upon moving, they will easily supplant the Clippers as the #2 team in SoCal. Look at the ferver with regards to the Angels, OC loves its hometown team and when they changed the name from Anaheim to LA Angels there was an outcry. OC does not = LA, we are distinct, they don’t call it the Orange Curtain for nothing, most here look at LA as “Cool nightclubs and where they make movies” and that’s it. Sure there are diehard Lakers fans in OC, and you probably won’t turn them, but there are plenty that would embrace our OWN nba franchise.
I find it funny that everyone sees the Kings as the 3rd team in SoCal. Upon moving, they will easily supplant the Clippers as the #2 team in SoCal. Look at the ferver with regards to the Angels, OC loves its hometown team and when they changed the name from Anaheim to LA Angels there was an outcry. OC does not = LA, we are distinct, they don’t call it the Orange Curtain for nothing, most here look at LA as “Cool nightclubs and where they make movies” and that’s it. Sure there are diehard Lakers fans in OC, and you probably won’t turn them, but there are plenty that would embrace our OWN nba franchise.