The Kings make a deal for new digs

After two dozen attempts at getting a new arena to replace Arco, the Kings and the City and County of Sacramento agreed to a deal that will be put to the voters in the fall. If you don't like the Kings, or you just don't think that the public should have to pay for a new arena when the Maloofs are rolling in dough, you may not vote for the quarter cent sale tax increase. If you want Sacramento to grow, and not just sprawl, you need to give the public something to do downtown. A new arena coupled with development of the SP rail yard could make downtown Sacramento a draw for tourist and bring more concerts, sporting events and conventions to town. I love going to San Francisco and walking around Union Square or North Beach in the evenings, what can you do in downtown Sacramento? Go to Old Sac? Stumble over the homeless on K street? No thanks, been there, done that.

Negotiators for the city and county of Sacramento moments ago finalized a deal with the Maloof family to finance a new arena for the Sacramento Kings.
The financing package would rely on voter approval of a new quarter-cent sales tax that would produce about $1.2 billion over a period of years, sources said. Half the money would go to pay for the new arena, and the other half would go to the city and county governments to spend as they wish.

Sources familiar with the deal say the Maloofs have agreed to contribute $20 million upfront to pay for various costs to initiate the process.

I chuckle about the timing, yes the deadline for county review was coming up and there was a definite time crunch, but one day after the Seattle Supersonics were bough by an Oklahoma City ownership group, the Kings had the trump card. The notion of the Kings not going anywhere came crashing down. The Seattle deal was proof that the Maloofs could sell the team tomorrow, turn an obscene profit and whoever bought them could move them to any city that could support an NBA franchise.