NBA commissioner David Stern: New Sacramento Arena is “not going to happen” – NBA Update
It’s almost official; the Kings will not have Sacramento as their prefix after the 2012-13 season.
David Stern, the NBA commissioner has apparently put his weight behind the owners of the Kings franchise, the Maloof brothers. Stern has been a strong supporter of the Kings staying in Sacramento, but at a news conference after
the NBA Board of Governors meeting on Friday, he categorically said that a new arena in Sacramento is "not going to happen".
"It just wouldn't pay for me to talk about anything beyond that," he said, citing numerous financial and political difficulties to achieve the aim of brand new arena before the opening night of the 2015-16 NBA season.
Stern’s word have come as a blow to the city officials in Sacramento, especially mayor Kevin Johnson, who has been lobbying hard to keep the NBA franchise. It was due to his efforts, that the NBA board of governors gave the city
an year’s leeway to come up with a financial plan for a new arena. That plan was proposed in February and it had looked at that time that the Kings owners were pretty satisfied with what had been put forward.
However, last week it was reported that the Maloof’s were not happy with the arrangement and planned to raise their concerns infront of the board of governors. They did so in Friday’s meeting and NBA apparently considers them genuine.
"I'm protective of the Kings' rights to do what they can," Stern said. "[The deal] made the owners of the Kings incredibly uncomfortable. . . . It came with a cost that further burdened the team, and this was not a transaction
they wanted to go forward with. That's their right."
The Maloofs have been interested to move the Kings to Anaheim, where at the Honda Centre, the facilities are far better than available to them at present. They however re-iterated on Friday, their commitment to the city of Sacramento;
“Our intentions are to stay in Sacramento,” George Maloof said. “My intentions are not to blow this up. A year ago, we came back and we stayed. We’ve been good boys.”
The Maloofs have sent a list of concerns to the city officials, who on their part are not willing to negotiate anymore. If that continues to be the case, the Maloofs have made it clear that they will move;
“If the mayor says he’s not negotiating,” Maloof told reporters, “then he killed the deal. It’s over. It’s over.”
Mayor Johnson however seems to be on a totally different plane and has blamed the owners for being unresponsive;
"It just feels like they were coming up with reasons of why not to do the deal." He said.
Amidst all the speculations, the issue seems to have taken a turn for the worst as far as the fans in Sacramento are concerned. The Maloofs, being the owners of a small market franchise, want better arena facilities and the city,
for one reason or another, has failed to provide them with that. The move to Anaheim will not only give the Kings better arena facilities, but will also give them to the larger California market. Stern and NBA know that it will be ultimately good for business.
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