{"id":400748,"date":"2011-04-27T00:30:18","date_gmt":"2011-04-27T00:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/27\/sacramento-antes-up-10m-to-keep-kings-ap\/"},"modified":"2011-04-27T00:30:18","modified_gmt":"2011-04-27T00:30:18","slug":"sacramento-antes-up-10m-to-keep-kings-ap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/sacramento-antes-up-10m-to-keep-kings-ap\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento antes up $10M to keep Kings (AP)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)\u2014The NBA left town Tuesday.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no guarantee it will be back.<\/p>\n

Mayor Kevin Johnson, business leaders and fans have done all they could in the past few months to prevent the Sacramento Kings<\/a> from relocating to Anaheim.<\/p>\n

The final and perhaps most critical step came Tuesday, when the corporate community handed NBA representatives deposits on more than $10 million in sponsorship pledges for the Kings to stay at least another year.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is another historic day in Sacramento,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThe NBA had said to Sacramento, \u2018Show me the money.\u2019 And today, we\u2019re doing just that. We\u2019re making a down payment on the future of the Sacramento Kings and this being their permanent home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the decision is out of the city\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

The NBA relocation committee headed by Clay Bennett\u2014who moved the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City three years ago as owner\u2014will issue a final report to Commissioner David Stern later this week. Then Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof will finally decide the franchise\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n

The Maloofs have until Monday to file a relocation request to the league, which fellow owners would have to approve by a majority vote. The Maloofs remain undecided.<\/p>\n

Sacramento has used the two extensions from the original March 1 deadline to rally the business community and convince owners that Sacramento remains a viable NBA city. Johnson, a former NBA All-Star, has been at the center of that effort.<\/p>\n

He promised additional revenue for the Kings from area businesses in a desperate pitch to NBA owners earlier this month in New York. The league first sent Bennett and league counsel Harvey Benjamin to Sacramento on a fact-finding mission last week, and the two dispatched additional representatives to verify the mayor\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

Chris Granger, the NBA\u2019s executive vice president who heads the Team Marketing & Business Operations division, was among those from the league who met with Johnson and some 30 business leaders at Golden 1 Credit Union in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

Among the businesses represented were local branches of McDonald\u2019s, AT&T, Anheuser-Busch, Jiffy Lube and Wells Fargo. All of those in attendance said the NBA representatives left impressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree weeks ago many of us were thinking that there\u2019s not a chance that we\u2019re going to keep the Sacramento Kings here in Sacramento. They\u2019re going to move to Anaheim,\u201d said Matt Mahood, president of the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce. \u201cBut there was just this little crack, this little opening that the mayor saw to take advantage of.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he called us to rally the business community to demonstrate the kind of corporate support that we have here that it takes to keep the NBA franchise. And we put the call out to the business community, and they answered the call loud and clear. They have put their money where their mouth is.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are still major details that remain unsettled.<\/p>\n

The primary reason the Maloofs have explored relocation\u2014several failed efforts to build a new arena in Sacramento\u2014 won\u2019t be answered by the deadline. A feasibility study for a new arena in Sacramento isn\u2019t scheduled to be completed until the end of May, and there has always been a divide between Kings fans and the broader public on how to finance a facility.<\/p>\n

There were already a half-dozen protesters standing a few feet away while Johnson and business leaders met at the credit union, expressing their concern over public time\u2014and dollars\u2014spent on a private sports team. They held signs that read \u201cWe need education not recreation\u201d and \u201cIf we don\u2019t work, they don\u2019t play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPoliticians have more serious things to worry about. We need to invest the kind of time and energy on more important things like education and jobs,\u201d said Keon Johnson, one of those on hand to protest.<\/p>\n

The mayor has called any proposals to build a new arena premature.<\/p>\n

All his efforts have been concentrated on keeping the Kings for at least another year to allow for the time to approve a plan to build a new facility. For now, he waits, only hoping to have another opportunity to approve a plan for a new Kings arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment we get word,\u201d the mayor said, \u201cif we\u2019re lucky enough\u2014and this is not to be presumptuous\u2014but if we\u2019re lucky enough to be given another year in Sacramento, then we have to immediately start our new campaign for an entertainment and sports complex.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Continued here:
\nSacramento antes up $10M to keep Kings (AP)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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