So the Sacramento Kings decided to cut corners and hang black plastic tarps over some old ads at their arena, and one of them fell off during the game on the court, where Kings coach Keith Smart grabbed it and ran back to the bench wearing it like a cape. Which is all pretty funny, but here’s how ESPN.com reported it:
While Sacramento’s aging arena might be falling apart, the Kings managed to hold things together in their home opener.
Sigh. On those grounds, this guy needs a new head. It’s certainly older than the Kings’ arena.
In light of this travesty, The Sacramento Bee needs a few columns to promote the benefits of a new arena and the justification of a $250M public investment, STAT!
Hope you’re doing ok post-storm in Brooklyn, Neil.
Yeah, all good here in central Brooklyn. A few miles south, not so hot (though I gather things have improved somewhat since I reported this on the weekend):
http://www.bkbureau.org/storm-battered-coney-trickle-relief-faces-deluge-damage
Jason, the city already justified itself and the public and city leaders seemed to be behind it. The hold up was the Maloofs who can’t even afford their measly 70 million contribution the plan called for. They’re broke.
Dan, what the City Council voted on and agreed to was a non-binding “term sheet” with “many details left to be worked out.” With that kind of non-deal deal, the Maloofs backing out and contemplating their next move, and two new city council members, we’re back to square one.
I think another hurdle will be finding an arena partner. AEG ended its involvement in June, and I hardly think it’s just a matter of calling them back and asking if they’re still interested. Since AEG is for sale, who knows what answer they’ll get.
The two city council races are still going on.
Hansen leads Yee by 28 votes. Kerth leads Warren by 63 votes.
I would think that provisional and absentee ballots would give Yee and Kerth the seats, and I think they both oppose the arena. On the other hand, my own council member said he was opposed to public funds paying for an arena, but then he went right ahead and voted for the terms sheet anyway.
This debacle a lot funnier 5 years later now that we’ve broken in our shiny, new, beautiful downtown arena…not to mention the massive upgrade in ownership. Say what you will about the first few years of Ranadive’s ownership(and subsequent mismanagement), the Maloofs were/are literally the worst.
Now we’re heading into the second year in our much-deserved and well-invested building, and things are looking up. They may not sniff the playoffs this season, but the draft was jaw-droppingly positive, and they signed some high quality vets to mentor the youngins. George Hill’s team-friendly contract will be a great asset once Fox develops enough to take the reigns(Assuming Hill can stay healthy). Bogdanovic coming over is being underrated, in my opinion. Plus, Vince Carter is on the Kings…I can’t believe I can say that. I don’t care that he’s 40, I don’t care if it’s only one season; he’s Vince freaking Carter!
Oh what a difference a few years can make. The issues of the last couple of seasons don’t hold a candle to what was going on when this article was written…with the team and city. Downtown Sacramento has been revitalized and continues to evolve into a city to which people won’t automatically attach a negative connotation. I don’t know if we’ll ever call it “world-class”, but it’s finally becoming a place worthy of true, non-government tourism. No one can say keeping the Kings in Sac and building a new downtown arena was a bad idea…certain amounts of gentrification aside. The movement to keep the Kings in Sacramento was, and continues to be, bigger than basketball.
*And no, I am in no way associated with the Kings or the city of Sacramento. I just lived there as a proud taxpayer for a long time, and visit family regularly. This arena should’ve been built when Fargo was Mayor, but she fought against it. One can only wonder where the team and city would be if they’d informed taxpayers better in regard to the meager sales tax increase, got the Maloofs to kick in and got all the funds approved for the arena back when the Kings were still a playoff team. Oh well, better late than never, and I certainly don’t miss the Mafools.
If only the rest of the world had made positive strides over the last five years.