Based on a comment in the last thread wondering if there’s no news out of Sacramento today because the Maloofs got their share in $2 nickel rolls. Makes it easier to play the slots for a longer time, you know.
Which reminds me of a story that really has nothing to do with any of this, but I’ll tell it anyways. About oh … 15 or so years ago I was visiting my grandparents in New Mexico, and driving around town with my grandma to get stuff for dinner. On the way she asks me if I want to stop by the Indian casino to do some gambling. Heck yes I do! Inter-generational gambling with my grandmother, this is gonna be great if for no other reason it’ll drive my mom crazy. So Grandma gets her roll or two of nickels and goes straight over to the nickel slot area and starts dutifully plunking away.
Now like some of you I don’t find the stakes of nickel slot gambling particularly compelling, so I pull $50 out of the ATM and go find some dollar slots I can play until a spot opens up at the blackjack table. There’s a brand new row of ELVIS slots against one wall. I go up to one, put in my dollar coin and pull the handle. BANG, I win a $50 payout on my first coin. BOOMSHAKALAKA! Thank ya Elvis, thankyavurrymuch. My plastic cup is now filled to the brim with dollar coins. I’m so excited to tell Grandma, so I go looking for her, searching all over the floor of the darkened casino.
Suddenly, I spot her there in the nickel slot section, about 50 feet away from me, with her back to me. I raise my cup and not-quite-yell, “Grandma!!”
EVERY woman in the place turns around at the sound of the word.
I didn’t realize that Indian casino gambling was such a popular pastime among, ahem, senior citizens.
I now return you back to your regularly scheduled watch of Chris Daniels Twitter account.
Quiet is good I suppose.
If Sacramento had all these whales lined up curious why the don’t announce it. Burkle getting cold feet? Were these whales not as committed as KJ made us think?
Also KJ has been real quiet since his 2 minute call with Sten, wind if he told KJ to cool it
*wonder if, autocorrect got me there
I’m wondering if Stern tod KJ to stop negotiating in public.
Once again, I still haven’t gotten an answer from a legal expert on this, but, if Sacramento and/or the whales make ANY offer after the deposit became non-refundable, isn’t that tortious interference? I thought the offer had to be spelled out by 1/31 to be on safe legal ground. If so, I might think it would be a deterrent to any whale to commit to anything, if they could find themselves getting sued by Hansen and Ballmer if they did.
One question about Burkle and AEG: they were putting ~$75 mil ino the original Sac deal, correct? If he’s now the owner of AEG can he have AEG pump in more money so it’s not coming out of his personal money? I’m sure there’s others involved with that company that wouldn’t want it to be his side checkbook for his sports teams but just a thought.
Burkle hasn’t bought AEG yet. He’s just one of a few others that have bid on the company. There’s a chance that this may hinder Burkle. It could tie up quite a bit of cash on his end.
The thing about AEG is that it owns 30% of the Lakers. You cannot own (or part-own) two different NBA teams. If Burkle gets AEG, he would have to sell off the Lakers portion in order to be try to buy any part of the Kings.
So, if true (and he really is trying to buy AEG), this means he is out of the current drama. Could still do something in the next year or so.
If anything I would expect AEG would shy away from the Sacramento arena deal. Any sweetheart deal for an arena involving Burkle as primary tenant would be challenged in court by the stockholders and scrutinized by the Feds.
” If he’s now the owner of AEG can he have AEG pump in more money so it’s not coming out of his personal money? I’m sure there’s others involved with that company that wouldn’t want it to be his side checkbook for his sports teams but just a thought.”
No, for transactions like these NBA rules require a certain percentage of one’s wealth (can’t remember it off the top of my head) that has to be actual cash in hand. Can’t be all in stocks or other commodities.
No wonder the Palms was struggling…still having people play slots with actual nickels…
Well, those are 5 cents per line, so each play can cost up to a dollar or so.
Of course you COULD just play the center line for 5 cents, but your wins will be scarce and low.
My guess the reason for no news is that they’re still working out the details. Burkle and Mastrov may not want to go out in public until a working plan has been finalized on their end. There’s really nothing to be gained by going public at this point. KJ can ring Stern basically any time he wants. I think everybody knows Burkle and Mastrov are at the very least interested. So there’s no news there. I think there’s a good chance this stays quiet for another two weeks. Maybe around the allstar game Sacramento starts releasing information. We’ll know real work has been done when the Sacramento City Council start discussing an arena in their meetings. Until then there probably won’t be any news at all. This is much worse than waiting for Christmas. At least you know Christmas is going to come.
Depends on how long it takes to do the site study could take a couple weeks which put us into march then how long it takes before the city council agrees on the plan.
then who knows
Yeah, it could be a really long time before we hear anymore substantial news.
Given economic issues in Sacramento it won’t come even close to how much public money will be used for the rail yard arena plan.
If Sacramento is going to re-implement the funding mechanism of leasing out the parking then I have a hard time believing that they will have a complete funding plan in place for the NBA to vet.
The city council will have to re-approve the funding mechanism, then they would have to re-solicit bids and review them. When they had the arena deal before, they were going to take about 2 months to review and accept a bid.
That doesn’t even take into account that there’s a possibility that the bids will come in below what they expect.
Then there’s the fact that the parking revenue currently goes into the general fund, there was going to be a legal challenge to stop the funding mechanism before and there’s going to be a challenge again….
I think its gonna be challenged no matter what public funds sacramento tries to use.
I swear I have heard this very story before, xteve!
It was probably me telling it to you while I was drunk. I know that doesn’t narrow it down a whole lot, but …
No, but that is probably a good explanation!
I haven’t heard anything today about the deposit. I’m sure it will be in the Bee’s print edition tomorrow. and yes to all, it’s been very quiet here today even on the local CBS sports station which 99% focused on the 49ners.
I thought theKings were IT in Sactown
When its convienent they are IT
even when it’s not Super Bowl time of the year, The Kings still aren’t it. I have lived here since 2000 and they were sort of it until 2002-2003 maybe?
i’m not a kings or a 49ners fan.
If Hansen had any doubt they would approve sale he would have held back the deposit. The smart thing to do would be to call Stern/BOG last night and ask if anything could hold the sale up, and i’m sure he did.
So I guess Sac fans were planning a big ‘Here We Buy’ showing at tomorrow’s game to show a national NBA TV audience that they’re serious, but apparently the NBA decided to go with NO vs. Minny instead for some reason. That’s gotta hurt.
it’s actually on Febuary 9th. oh and plenty of tickets still available!
Beat me to the correction! Still sounds like apparently it was supposed to be the Kings game airing that night but got bumped.
there is a kings game on here but I think it’s only playing on the comcast sports network. Hard to excited about a Kings/Sixers game.
If there are plenty of tickets still available, and the game were on national TV, surely us Seattle fans would be classier and more-sensitive than to travel down there and pack the remaining seats while wearing green and gold and waving Sonics signs, right? ;-)
That is exactly what I was thinking… Haha!
Yes. We would be. Don’t be a dick.
Just to be clear: I wasn’t recommending such a course of action. (For one thing, apart from the general matter of douchebaggery, I would think that any Sonics fans who chose to make public their loyalties at Sleep Train had better have good health — and maybe life — insurance policies.) Still, I won’t deny being amused at the idea of Sacramento fans staging a big “demonstrate the depth of our fan support” event at a nationally-televised event, and drawing so few fans that they’d be outnumbered by Sonics supporters — not that I think any of us should do anything to bring that situation about.
I will beat you. haha
Don’t do that.
Yet another reminder to all Sonics fans. Don’t be herks. Learn from how OKC fans made you feel.
Cancel that. It’s the 2/9 game and they’re showing Denver vs. Cleveland, still, ouch.
I’ve heard that the ticket sales for that game isn’t going well.
So, I decided to wander over the SB Nation’s Sacramento site. Very interesting. I had read people’s reaction to the site, but I didn’t read it. It so reminds me of what we did back when suddenly we realized we were losing our team. They grasp at just about anything just like we did. I won’t post there because there is no reason to give them any more grief than they are enduring right now.
They really think that the NBA will go with their preliminary sketches of a new arena at potentially 2 sites along with a group of investors who may or may not really be good for the team. And turn their backs on the Hansen group with a gorgeous arena that is just going through the final details and all the money that is being represented by the group.
Maybe they will . . . but I just can’t think that all of the roadblocks that people in Sacramento are trying to throw in the way haven’t already been considered by the players in the Hansen group along with their boatload of attorneys. The kind of attorneys that the Hansen group can afford would be beyond thorough.
Hope is a good thing.
I will not begrudge them their “pitiful cries to a disinterested God.”
You forget that we in Sac have been fighting to save our team, really, since 2006. And in 2011 did everything the NBA asked with the arena plan. So either way, when they review both plans, the NBA will be turning their backs on someone. Either Hansen’s money and arena. Or Kevin Johnson who already worked hand-in-hand with the NBA to get things done on our side less than 2 yrs ago..
The NBA turned their backs on Seattle already one time. A second time with the potential of the richest ownership in sports with an arena that is 95% there . . . that may be the end of it between Seattle and the NBA. Maybe they won’t care. They certainly didn’t care about Seattle back when Stern pushed the OKC ownership knowing full well that they would move the team . . . even before the lease at Key Arena was finished.
The NBA does not care about the fans of the team. They care about the money that will go their way.
The NBA bent over backward for Sacramento. They didn’t do shit for Seattle except blow into town and threaten politicians.
So, we are quite aware of how long the league has been holding your hands, and how we were treated differently, and that they turned their backs in us once, already. This will be the second time if they fuck this up.
I totally get everything they are saying. I was there and felt the exact same way.
Hope is what fans do. At the end of the day when the Bucks play the Heat they know they are outmatched but their fans go in thinking “We have a chance and tonight is going to be our night.”
Agree with Henryclement that the NBA will be turning their backs on somebody here.
More than ever I’m convinced the NBA wants to be in the Seattle business. SoDo is going to be one of the great sports districts in the world. And if we get the NHL it is really on. Seattle is going to be a GREAT hockey town.
I’m sincerely sorry to Sacramento and will be mortified by anyone going to a Kings game in Sonics gear. But I’m also getting excited.
That is true. Will it a second time for Seattle . . . maybe. Can’t think that they will say no to Hansen/Ballmer/Nordstroms.
By the way, I wonder if Nordstroms will consider buying the naming rights to the new arena.
Difference is, they’ve already turned their backs on us (the fans) once.
Xteve, a couple decades ago I went to Idaho with my wife to meet her extended family. We camped at a hot spring for a few days. I knew I was “in” when I was invited to dash across the state line to play slots and pound some drinks with my in laws, without my wife, in Jackpot, Nevada.
I hit $100 slot while waiting for a table for dinner, returned to the campsite cash positive.
Gambling, it’s what brings families together.
I now return you to our rampant speculation.
Lakers are getting out hustled in the second half.
They don’t yet understand that they have to keep that pace all game every game in order to make that offense stay ahead of the opposition.
Off topic, but I’m watching part 2 of Raniah Tuiasasopo confessing to Dr. Phil about Manti Te’o..bizarre!
I wanna see his voice impression of Kukua. So I know what te’o has been hearing for 3 years lol
He did it! Sounded the same as the voicemails.
Moderation! What the heck?
Mentioning Dr. Phil must bring you into moderation.
Businesses move everyday.
Think the Kings fans will put together a documentary if Hansen pulls through?
Carmichael Dave has to find something to do, right?
They certainly have enough material with having the Maloofs as the owners. Talk about disfunctional and totally lacking in ethics . . . that’s the Maloofs. I bet that the NBA owners (even the ethically challenged Clay Bennett) cringe when having to deal with the Maloofs.
Hopefully next week Hansen will file for relocation. This is going to be the longest two months. Well we least have the Mariners. LOL
Does the purchase to have to be approved before relocation can be considered? It would seem that it would.
Next week? Is that possible? Chris Daniels said it could happen March 1st.
They have until March 1st. I would think they will do it sooner than later. Why wait until March 1st.
So I decided to lurk on another Kings forum (kingsfan.com). They are absolutely convinced that the BOG will vote against Hansen/Ballmer/Nordstroms. Absolutely convinced of it. They think that maybe the NBA will give Seattle an “E” team. They honestly believe that the NBA will not turn away KJ. That the NBA will push the requests from the Maloofs and Hansen group for approval of sale aside until Sac can bring them a new offer to the Maloofs. I really understand why they do feel that way. I do remember 2008 when we felt certain that the courts would undo the OKC ownership. Didn’t work out very well for us. Maybe Sac will get luckier than we did.
So they think the league is just gonna wait for them to get their sh!t together and tell hansen and ballmer no thanks? Good luck with that…..
They think that the BOG has the power/will actually not only vote against Hansen, but install new owners of the Kings that’ll keep the team in Sac with a “comparable” offer. Somehow it’s thought that since the Maloofs have signed a purchase agreement, that they are now out of the picture and it’s in the league’s hands to do as they see fit. Which, of course, is total baloney. It’s far and away the most reach for the stars type fantasy I’ve seen, but when things desperate delusion is often a crutch.
I really don’t get the idea that since the Maloofs signed a PA that now they no longer had control over their share of the team. I don’t understand that kind of reasoning. If the NBA says no to the Hansen group, the team logically returns to the control of the Maloofs. No one can force them to sell. However, they do have some large debt looming over them.
Why try to kill their hope? We were the same way 5 years ago. There’s nothing productive that comes out of talking about what they “believe” is going to happen, especially when it doesn’t effect us..
I’m jaded.
No one is trying to kill their hope unless they are monitoring this website. I don’t see anyone from Seattle being allowed to post on that website.
If I see someone from this site on a Kings site taunting, being entitled, etc to make us look bad I will block them from this site. We will not have that at all! We are dead serious about being civil on this. We have to be the better people right now. There is not vote for the sale or for relocation. Until then is everything speculation and conjuncture. We can dream, but we need to keep things in check. Yes it will be extremely hard to not talk about much else, but we cannot be jerks about this whole thing.
We got screwed by the NBA five years ago and we think they care. They don’t. They think about their bottom line and what best serves that. They don’t care if they owe us or not.
All I really ask is to quit kicking Sacramento while they are down and clinging to hope. We were in the same spot five years ago and getting kicked by OKC when we were down and clinging to hope. Seattle is the most educated and bleeding heart city in America. Use your heads and don’t get caught up in the wars the Sacramento has started.
Let them have their emotions. Be better fans.
Be better people.
Maybe they’re right. Who knows? Maybe back in 2008 we were right to be hopeful. Who knows what would have happened if Nickels hadn’t caved? Maybe Kings fans read this blog and think we’re delusional.
Maybe we are. Maybe the NBA is willing to go to bat for Sac and not Seattle. It isn’t like it hasn’t happened in the past.
Nickles “caved” long after the league had approved relocation. The lawsuit would only have forced Bennett, et. al., to keep the team in Seattle for the remaining two years of the lease. Sure, there was the hope that, if we were successful, the raiders might balk at two more years of losses, sell the team to Ballmer, and go in search of another franchise to plunder, but, by the time the city decided to settle, the NBA had already ruled against us in every vote in which they could have done. As far as the NBA was concerned, it was already a done deal.
I just read that according to CA law “non-refundable deposits” are not allowed. They have no impact. If that is true, no wonder companies are running from CA. There are reasons on both sides of a business transaction for “non-refundable deposits”. They help both sides.
Also, not sure if it is true. I can’t imagine that it would be true, but who knows.
I don’t think that really matters. It seems that the point of the deposit was to establish a business relationship to set up a case for tortious interference if a 3rd party attempts to create a breach of contract by making an offer, etc.
If a non-refundable deposit isn’t enforceable, then I am not sure how it would set up tortious interference. A non-enforceable clause would just make sure that the money would come back to the Hansen group. No hurt, no foul.
Would be interesting if the agreement has language that states that it uses the law of (insert name of state other than California).
Don’t you think Hansen’s lawyers would have made sure that the language in the contract ensured the $30 million did matter? Trust Chris on this.
Is the sale of the team have to be where the team is at? Its the Maloofs share right? Does that mean their investment company or family company based in California or is it in Nevada or elsewhere? I dunno Im not a lawyer. I understand taxes may have to be paid to California but who knows. Go Hansen, Go Ballmer, Go Nordstroms, and GO SONICS
Yes, Hansen has meticously prepared - - - - as he has done from the beginning. Granted, he cannot control the courts or the NBA. But, be assured he has prepared/planned for every possible outcome - crossed every “T” and dotted every “I”. All his actions, and I mean “ALL his Actions” have demonstrated his planning and preparedness. Remember, he’s a “Hedge” Fund Manager.
Maybe someone can do some deep investigation to see if Hansen or his people have ever done any business in California.
Hansen is based out of San Francisco so he probably has.
Thanks for taking that dive Kevin.
Ha!
Why would the Maloofs have to release the parts of the Purchase Agreement? I could see the old contract being relevent or does it matter because of the actual monetary figures so the trustee knows what fair market value for the 7% is or what? I havent delved much into the trustee portion as I think its pretty much a non-issue unless they change the auction to a new date that is sooner than it is now just because the final hearing on the BK and subsequent auction is on May 13th well past the April BoG meeting
I remember 2008, and all the emotions like it was yesterday. Really feel for the SacTown fans. I know the NBA isn’t likely to expand anytime soon, but I’m really hoping that SacTown can put something together, keep their team, and the NBA just goes and grants 1 expansion team to us here for next year……I know it’s not going to go down like that, but I sure hope it does, and if the NBA was smart, they’d make it happen like that. I will support the return of the Sonics anyway that it goes down, but in the case of relocation, I’m sure that it will take much more to bring other fans back, and will leave a bad taste, even though the Sonics are returning…. Make it easy for Mr. Hansen, and for the fans of the Sonics, NBA, and just give us the expansion team.
+1000
I agree completely. But that ship has sailed. Mr. Hansen has completed a deal, and Sacramento’s ‘competing bid’ is vaporware.
This is happening now. If the stars align, it could mean a real shot at the NHL too. It’s time to shoot the moon. 2-4 years is a long time to wait to begin construction of the new arena.
Yeah, the “E” train already left the station.
My sentiments exactly - - +2000
It’s just Marc Stein’s weekend dime, but it’s a quote about Seattle/Sacramento.
“More clarity on where they’ll actually be playing next season is expected two weekends from now when the league’s power brokers all migrate to Houston for the All-Star Game and the meetings and madness that surround it.”
http://tinyurl.com/apk5s6d
I thought the owners weren’t going to meet over the ASG. I thought that was reported last week or maybe earlier. I am losing track of all the reports.
Well, they don’t have an official BOG meeting(this will be in April), but all owners will be around for the ASG and they’ll certainly talk about the most important topics(the Kings sale being one of them) of the league.
So they may meet informally but no decisions will be made. I wonder it without an approval of the sale whether the relocation request can be made. I imagine that the NBA can consider relocation later than 3/1 if necessary. After all, the Hansen group has already met with the Relocation Committee.
Didn’t Chris Daniels tweet a few days ago how the owners could approve the sale via e-mail if they wanted to and that a formal meeting wasn’t necessary to approve the sale? If that’s true they could technically approve the sale during the All Star break. As for the relocation request Chris Daniels tweeted that since the $30 million is in the Maloofs account that now the Maloofs and Hansen have a business partnership. So either the Maloofs or Hansen could file for relocation.
Gene, yes, I think he did, but since they are bending backward for Sac, I doubt that they will do it in an informal setting or by email. That would not look good with Sac still fighting for their team.
And frankly, I would be very disappointed with Sac if they didn’t fight until the last option was closed. We tried to keep our team and I was impressed with what the fans did. It just came up short.