Sacramento Kings owners, the Maloofs Brothers – Are they really the villains? NBA Feature
The vibe surrounding the departure of Kings from Sacramento has been echoing for quite some time now. At the centre of this controversy is the Power Balance Arena, home of the Sacramento kings.
The arena is one of the worst in NBA and according to the experts it is not suited to host professional sports of any kind. Even NCAA basketball teams don’t play games over here anymore. The study conducted to evaluate renovation
feasibility of this arena revealed that the renovation itself will cost more than to build a new arena.
A bad building means poor revenue generation, especially in a small market and Joe and Gavin Maloof, the brothers who own the Kings have been trying to do something about it for long time. They wanted to shift the team to Anaheim,
where the facilities available at the Honda centre are more apt. The proposal however created outrage in Sacramento and Kevin Johnson, the city Mayor, started a campaign for the new arena to convince the Maloofs to stay.
Johnson got some leeway from the NBA board of governors last year and came up with a financial plan for the new arena nearly a month back. The Maloofs, at first, apparently agreed to the proposal, but before the board of governors
meeting last month, they started to raise some objection about its financial modalities. David Stern, the NBA commissioner, eventually had their back in that matter.
In the midst of all this controversy, the Maloof family has been pictured as villains by the community and city media and that too despite the fact they have worked for over a year with city officials. Although they met little
or no success on the way but they never threatened to move the franchise or never overpriced the tickets.
They have literally been bleeding money for the last three years but all they talk about is the greatness of Sacramento city, fans and how much they want to keep the Kings in town. They are being criticized for raising an obvious
point that without a new arena the team cannot be profitable and with budget cuts they can’t be competitive.
Even at the time when they have to back out from a deal with city officials regarding new arena, the Maloofs’ reiterated that they have no plans to relocate the team after next season.
“That's not true, that's not true,” Joe Maloof said recently. “I swear that is not going to happen. I don't care what rumours are out there. It's our team. We're not selling, and we're not leaving. Our identity is the Sacramento
Kings. That's how we're known.”
For now though, they are the most hated people in Sacramento and they can’t do anything about it because the city officials have declined to negotiate further. There has also been a bussiness lobby that wants the NBA to replace
Maloofs as the owners of the Kings and that proposal initself is a joke.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article do not represent Bettor.com’s editorial policy.
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