The NBA relocation/finance committee voted unanimously Monday to not relocate the Kings from Sacramento, dealing a serious blow to Chris Hansen’s attempt to bring the Sonics back to Seattle, according to the NBA.
The committee’s vote was a recommendation to the 30-member Board of Governors, who must wait a minimum of seven business days before the relocation recommendation is voted upon. But the widespread belief is that the board will accept the recommendation of the committee, which met by teleconference for two hours. It was not known whether the time between the committee’s decision and the BOG vote will allow further negotiation.
The committee was not charged with considering expansion, but NBA commissioner David Stern has said that expansion had not been discussed “right now.”
Relocation has always been a solution of last resort for the NBA. The Kings’ incumbency in Sacramento, coupled with a frenetic three-month bid led by Mayor Kevin Johnson to assemble an ownership group as well as a plan for a new downtown arena, apparently were more influential than the record $550 million bid from Hansen and Steve Ballmer to buy the Kings from the Maloof family.
The Maloofs strongly lobbied for acceptance, but the NBA voted first on relocation, eliminating procedurally the need to invalidate the sale agreement.
Said Stern several weeks ago: “I don’t see any scenario where both cities are happy.”
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http://peanuts.wikia.com/wiki/Football_gag
Seattle = Charlie Brown
David Stern/NBA = Lucy
Is anyone surprised? Did KJ throw a buzzer beater or does David Stern hate Seattle that much?
KJ hit from distance. And Stern doesn’t want another market full of haters.
get off your knees now SEATTLE…. You embarrassed yourself AGAIN…. Wipe off your chin,I think you got some drippings on it….
Your mom’s name is Seattle?
laracco needs a BABY WIPE for his dribble……..hahahaha
Troll bridge: None shall pass.
It’s actually pretty simple: the owners voted with their wallets. As long as Hansen is out there with his money and his arena, they too can extort money from their respective cities, and balloon the value of their respective franchises. It is America, after all: if you follow the money, you’ll never be far wrong.
As I tweeted, Seattle is to the NBA what LA is to the NFL. But it’s not over. Read latest column just posted.
Face it Artie ….Got to tell you…….its over………
when will the owners be making public statements for their reasoning? Or will they? I just don’t have a clue as to why they chose the Kings? No arena (maybe in 5 years), no signed contract, small city, low attendance, owners who want to leave. Does the NBA (David Stern) just really hate Seattle? Or is their something more tangible I just can’t find?
“I just don’t have a clue as to why they chose the Kings?”
Perhaps it is because Seattle has a history of not, when push really comes to shove, going to bat for its NBA team–that of course being why Seattle currently does not have a team–and Sacramento went to the ends of the earth to make it work. That might be a good place to start if you are looking for reasons.
Actually, Michael, you are correct.
Owners didn’t choose the Kings. They chose not to relocate. Big difference. Incumbency is worth a lot when the market has been strong, and only faded when the owners went broken in the recession. There’s a lot of things wrong with the Sac bid, buy Stern didn’t want to screw another city. Please read my column just posted.
Sadly, I’m not the least bit surprised. As long as Stern and his love-buddy Clay are involved Seattle will always be screwed. I’m actually more shocked that other people are surprised Seattle was denied.
And while there are many reasons that I said long ago that Seattle was not getting the Kings, when push comes to shove, more than anything, Seattle ran into a “Princess.” And while we are on the topic, how many NBA Championships has George Karl won? And how many has he arguably blown? Reality, baby.
As I wrote, Seattle wants the NBA. Sactown needs it.
I find it interesting that one of the committee is the owner of the former Sonics, Oklahoma Thunder.
Saw Sterno on the news saying he didn’t want to move a team with such a long, established history as well as a loyal fan base. Please, not before dinner Sterno.
The only hope Seattle fans can have is that the Finance Committee will say that the city of Sacramento’s bid has a lot of holes in it. That it’s based primarily on vision and hope and that Hansen’s is on a firm foundation. Or at the very least the owners vote to relocate. How can they blindly accept it when basically the league is telling the Maloof’s to accept the lesser offer? With a signed purchase agreement in place? If the league is truly “all about the money” then Hansen’s bid should be accepted. He even has an arena plan, purchased land and a fan ticket base in place.
I want to hear Clay-Clay explain his decision since he heads the Relocation Committee. And how this is different than his own when he relocated the Sonics. Paul Allen is on record for saying he would support the Kings moving and I’m sure Mark Cuban and Jerry Reinsdorf have doubts on how this is going. The goal here should be to split the ownership and I’m sure Hansen, Ballmer and Wally Walker are working them right now. Former Sonic employees Rick Welts and Rod Thorn should be contacted since both run NBA teams. Hansen and his group shouldn’t be made to wait when they’re ready to go and have done everything right.
Stern, Clay and all of the owners prefer not to relocate because it’s ugly business (see Sonicsgate documentary). In their minds, I-91 was the fan base quitting on the Sonics. And it’s hard to argue around a vote of 74-26 vote for the only sports law of its kind in the kind the country.
I keep trying to tell people how big a deal I-91 was to the NBA. Nobody gets it.
Especially pro sport leagues. Instead of trying to change their image they fight it. They fail to understand that they all come across as though they’re in this ivory tower that they only emerge from to tell fans to go eat cake. Some owners get it, like Allen, Cuban, etc. But most others turn their nose up at fans and figure if one fan doens’t like them there’s ten others that will buy their…..stuff. At some point the well will run dry.
The Seattle buy team pumped up the selling price for the Kings. The problem in Sacramento was the owners not the fans. Why would the NBA move a team away from an area with plenty of proven ticket buyers? Sodo is a bad place for an arena. If basketball comes back to the NW, do it right and build an arena in Bellevue.
You’re right about Sacto’s main problem, but it’s not the gate count, it’s the TV market and its growth potential. Better in Seattle. Turndown was not about money in the market.
Hansen can now help our community by paying property taxes for all the land he bought….Forcing several businesses to relocate…. His property now sits empty….Maybe he can build a coffee stand like HOWIE…… To hell with these rich silver-spoon fed white boys who had you all fooled….Could not be happier sonics are NOT COMING…..LOVE IT…. How about supporting your SCHOOLS for your KIDS FUTURE????????
I believe you get an opportunity to vote for school levies regularly. You do vote, fool?
I do vote ARTIE….ALWAYS DEMOCRATS NO REPUBLICANS like HANSEN……I just do not want FOOLS like you running away at the mouth because your professional life depends on TEAMS to cover….we got enough artie….You are a real FOOL ARTIE