Report: Kings owners ready to sell team to Hansen
SEATTLE (AP) - Investor Chris Hansen has contacted the Maloof family about buying the Sacramento Kings, setting up the possibility of the NBA's return to Seattle.
Hansen's interest was confirmed Wednesday by people with knowledge of the situation. They spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because no deal has been reached.
One person said the Kings could sell for more than $500 million. The Kings' future in Sacramento has been uncertain because the Maloofs and the city haven't been able to come up with a long-term arena solution.
Yahoo! Sports first reported the discussions between the Kings and Hansen. Yahoo! reported a possible sale could land the Kings in Seattle for the 2013-14 season where the team would play at KeyArena as a temporary home until a new arena is constructed.
"I know as much as you do," Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said when asked about the situation. "If it's true, ain't it cool?"
His counterpart in Sacramento thought the news anything but cool. At an afternoon news conference, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said Wednesday was significant because for the first time Kings fans know the team is for sale. Johnson said he would do all he could to try to find a buyer with a Sacramento connection to possibly purchase the team and keep it in California's capital city.
Hansen, a Seattle native and San Francisco-based investor, reached agreement with local governments in Seattle last October on plans to build a $490 million arena near the city's other stadiums: CenturyLink Field and Safeco Field. As part of the agreement, no construction will begin until all environmental reviews are completed and a team has been secured. But the group has since released conceptual drawings and other details of the proposed arena.
Hansen's group is expected to pitch in $290 million in private investment toward the arena, along with helping to pay for transportation improvements in the area around the stadiums. The plans also call for the arena to be able to handle a future NHL franchise. The remaining $200 million in public financing would be paid back with rent money and admissions taxes from the arena, and if that money falls short, Hansen would be responsible for making up the rest. Other investors in the proposed arena include Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and two members of the Nordstrom department store family.
Hansen's goal has been to return the SuperSonics to the Puget Sound after they were moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City in 2008. Asked in September if he could envision a team being in Seattle for the 2013 season, Hansen was cautious about finding an option that quickly.
The NBA had no comment. Representatives for Hansen did not return messages seeking comment. Any franchise looking to relocate must submit their plans to the NBA by March 1 and the move must be approved by the league.
"As we have said for nearly a year, we will not comment on rumors or speculation about the Sacramento Kings franchise," Maloof family spokesman Eric Rose said when contacted Wednesday by the AP.
The Kings' asking price would top the NBA-record $450 million the Golden State Warriors sold for in July 2010. Johnson said he's had past discussions with more than one group about possibly stepping forward as owners if the Kings were up for sale.
"All indications that I have seen and read and heard is they are exploring opportunities to sell the team and that is public and that is the first I have ever heard," Johnson said. "We need to put ourselves in a position to find an ownership group and buyers to keep the team here in Sacramento."
Johnson said he had not spoken with any members of the Maloof family or NBA Commissioner David Stern on Wednesday.
News of the discussions came a day after officials in Virginia Beach, Va., announced they were dropping their efforts to build a new arena. Virginia Beach was thought to be a relocation option for the Kings.
The Maloofs backed out of a tentative $391 million deal for a new downtown arena with Sacramento last year, reigniting fears the franchise could relocate. Johnson and the Kings broke off all negotiations in the summer with the Kings saying the deal didn't make financial sense for the franchise.
In 2011, the Kings appeared determined to move to Anaheim before Johnson convinced the NBA to give the city one last chance to help finance an arena. At one point, Johnson seemed so certain the team was gone he called the process a "slow death" and compared the city's efforts to keep the Kings a "Hail Mary."
Johnson made a desperate pitch to the NBA Board of Governors in April 2011, promising league owners the city would find a way to help finance a new arena to replace the team's current outdated suburban facility. He also bought time by presenting more than $10 million in commitments for new advertising, ticket purchases and other financial support from regional businesses for this season.
The NBA's relocation committee, headed by Oklahoma City owner Clay Bennett - who moved the team now known as the Thunder from Seattle in 2008 - recommended that the league give the city a shot to follow through and handed down a March 1 deadline to come up with a plan to help finance an arena. Johnson delivered the agreement that March 1 to send the plan to the City Council.
On the night of March 6, 2012, the Sacramento City Council passed a deal - brokered by the NBA and with Stern's blessing - for a new downtown arena. A sea of supporters packed the grounds for the vote, which seemingly saved the Kings from relocation.
The Seattle arena does face a lawsuit from the Longshore Union
Hansen's interest was confirmed Wednesday by people with knowledge of the situation. They spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because no deal has been reached.
One person said the Kings could sell for more than $500 million. The Kings' future in Sacramento has been uncertain because the Maloofs and the city haven't been able to come up with a long-term arena solution.
Yahoo! Sports first reported the discussions between the Kings and Hansen. Yahoo! reported a possible sale could land the Kings in Seattle for the 2013-14 season where the team would play at KeyArena as a temporary home until a new arena is constructed.
"I know as much as you do," Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said when asked about the situation. "If it's true, ain't it cool?"
His counterpart in Sacramento thought the news anything but cool. At an afternoon news conference, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said Wednesday was significant because for the first time Kings fans know the team is for sale. Johnson said he would do all he could to try to find a buyer with a Sacramento connection to possibly purchase the team and keep it in California's capital city.
Hansen, a Seattle native and San Francisco-based investor, reached agreement with local governments in Seattle last October on plans to build a $490 million arena near the city's other stadiums: CenturyLink Field and Safeco Field. As part of the agreement, no construction will begin until all environmental reviews are completed and a team has been secured. But the group has since released conceptual drawings and other details of the proposed arena.
Hansen's group is expected to pitch in $290 million in private investment toward the arena, along with helping to pay for transportation improvements in the area around the stadiums. The plans also call for the arena to be able to handle a future NHL franchise. The remaining $200 million in public financing would be paid back with rent money and admissions taxes from the arena, and if that money falls short, Hansen would be responsible for making up the rest. Other investors in the proposed arena include Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and two members of the Nordstrom department store family.
Hansen's goal has been to return the SuperSonics to the Puget Sound after they were moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City in 2008. Asked in September if he could envision a team being in Seattle for the 2013 season, Hansen was cautious about finding an option that quickly.
The NBA had no comment. Representatives for Hansen did not return messages seeking comment. Any franchise looking to relocate must submit their plans to the NBA by March 1 and the move must be approved by the league.
"As we have said for nearly a year, we will not comment on rumors or speculation about the Sacramento Kings franchise," Maloof family spokesman Eric Rose said when contacted Wednesday by the AP.
The Kings' asking price would top the NBA-record $450 million the Golden State Warriors sold for in July 2010. Johnson said he's had past discussions with more than one group about possibly stepping forward as owners if the Kings were up for sale.
"All indications that I have seen and read and heard is they are exploring opportunities to sell the team and that is public and that is the first I have ever heard," Johnson said. "We need to put ourselves in a position to find an ownership group and buyers to keep the team here in Sacramento."
Johnson said he had not spoken with any members of the Maloof family or NBA Commissioner David Stern on Wednesday.
News of the discussions came a day after officials in Virginia Beach, Va., announced they were dropping their efforts to build a new arena. Virginia Beach was thought to be a relocation option for the Kings.
The Maloofs backed out of a tentative $391 million deal for a new downtown arena with Sacramento last year, reigniting fears the franchise could relocate. Johnson and the Kings broke off all negotiations in the summer with the Kings saying the deal didn't make financial sense for the franchise.
In 2011, the Kings appeared determined to move to Anaheim before Johnson convinced the NBA to give the city one last chance to help finance an arena. At one point, Johnson seemed so certain the team was gone he called the process a "slow death" and compared the city's efforts to keep the Kings a "Hail Mary."
Johnson made a desperate pitch to the NBA Board of Governors in April 2011, promising league owners the city would find a way to help finance a new arena to replace the team's current outdated suburban facility. He also bought time by presenting more than $10 million in commitments for new advertising, ticket purchases and other financial support from regional businesses for this season.
The NBA's relocation committee, headed by Oklahoma City owner Clay Bennett - who moved the team now known as the Thunder from Seattle in 2008 - recommended that the league give the city a shot to follow through and handed down a March 1 deadline to come up with a plan to help finance an arena. Johnson delivered the agreement that March 1 to send the plan to the City Council.
On the night of March 6, 2012, the Sacramento City Council passed a deal - brokered by the NBA and with Stern's blessing - for a new downtown arena. A sea of supporters packed the grounds for the vote, which seemingly saved the Kings from relocation.
The Seattle arena does face a lawsuit from the Longshore Union
@Stringer Joe and Sal P----looks like Rotoworld knows more than you and Mitrh put together.....(no surprise for those in the "know")
So, the Seattle group is trying to screw another city the way the Okies and Bennett screwed Seattle?
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Talk about bad karma.Â
@tampadawg It has nothing to do with one city screwing over another city. Its business. The cities don't own the teams, people and corporations do. If the team comes here, they will be embraced and welcomed by most of the people in Seattle and western WA. It will pump money into the economy, give basketball fans a team to stand behind, etc. I bet you that if they come here, the new owners will be willing to put some money into the team and make the team competitive.
 @tampadawg The only people I have ever seen who experience "bad karma" are those who talk about it when they see something they don't like.
 @tampadawg No, it is quite a bit different. Clay Clay bought the team and touted how he had no intention of moving the team, which was a bold-faced lie.....If the team is up for sale and Hansen is truly lined up for the purchase he will be 100% forthright with Sacramento...He want to buy a team and move it to Seattle.....And realistically, this IS the business model for the NBA. That criminal Stern has messed the league up so horrendously.  the NBA has had more teams move in the last 15 years than ALL the other professional leagues COMBINED.....
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@tampadawg teams move all the time. Lakers, jazz, texans, dodgers, raiders, sonics, colts, ravens...I could keep going on and on. Professional teams in a city are a partnership. When that partnership runs its course it's time for a change. Maybe that change is the ownership or the team but change will come. At least the city still has the rights to the name "The Seattle Super Sonics".
 @DeadRabitz  @tampadawg The Kings. It's not like Sacramento didn't get them from Kansas City who got them from Cincinnati who got them from Rochester or anything. I'd prefer expansion and a local owner for the Kings but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.
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 @Wormwood And what exactly does geographic location have to do with the ability to trust someone?
I just hope that if this goes through, Hansen is dedicated to building a WINNING franchise here in Seattle - Both with the NBA and possible NHL team we may get.Â
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I am sick and tired of our sports owners not pushing for winning teams. Paul Allen recently seems to be pushing for the Seahawks to be a winning team. Now we just need the owner of the Mariners to do the same.Â
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Fans spend money to support teams. While it is pointless to expect a championship every year, we deserve to have a winning, successful team that we can be proud of. The Mariners were fun to watch in the 90's. They are a snooze now.Â
@seattleemt You can't fault Paul Allen's ownership of the Seahawks, especially given that he saved the team from that wretched SOB Ken Behring. I don't know if you're a longtime 'Hawks fan, but Behring bought the anemic Seahawks from the Nordstom group for the express purpose of moving the team to LA. He recruited Tom Flores [ex-Oakland Raider head coach and a division rival] as head coach and was caught by team players moving team equipment into moving vans in the middle of the night during the off season against League rules.
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Since then, the Hawks have been on a dedicated-to-win path. They've had off years and a couple of poor choices in the head office, but the team kept trying to win, unlike the Mariners. I'm not a 100% Pete Carroll fan. I personally find trying to listen to a Pete Carroll press conference rather like trying to calm down a 13 year old jacked up Red Bull. But team GM John Schneider and Personnel Exec Scot McCloughlin have drafted well and have picked up some VERY good young players and look to be a factor in the division for years to come.
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And yeah, you're right about the Mariners. Right now, they're a AA bus league farm club for the AL East, and have been for ten years.
@seattleemt  Just a hunch, but I don't think Chris Hansen has been jumping through all these hoops and exerting so many of his own resources to just get a team and let it rot. The Mariners owner is in Japan and has never even been to a game, so he isn't a good comparison. And worse, he just lets the 2 Boneheads (Armstrong and Lincoln) destroy the team.
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And just because the Seahawks have been more successful as of late is not because Paul Allen is pushing any harder, the team is rebuilt and is now reaping what it has sewn.
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So rest easy. Once Chris Hansen gets a team, he will be as tireless in its upkeep as he was in its acquisition.
The rumor now is that the Seattle groups offer was rejected by Maloofs with the alleged/rumored reason being Offer that Maloofs rejected would have covered debt to NBA and Sac, but left a much smaller net sale price for team.
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Apparently they owe the City $64 million & if they move now, would owe another $14 million interest. Also they apparently owe the nba for another loan, which is as much as $150 million.
@choliscott Yeah, even as enthusiastic as Hansen is for a team, he wouldn't buy into *that* mess.
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And let's be fair about this... What would it serve Seattle to do to Sacramento the exact same thing that OKC did to us?
@svensson I agree, while I believe the $500M would pay off one of the loans (I would assume the one the city, I wouldn't think he would offer more to pay off the other loan.
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Wait until it is done. This happened before....
"The deal isn't signed yet, Wojnarowski reported, but said his source describes the deal as "1st and goal at the 1." As we witnessed last week, the ball can still be fumbled and turned over at the 1 yard line.
 @Dylandawg Yes, but the Seahawks later found the end zone and won the game. Chris Hansen appears to be just as tenacious as Marshawn Lynch.
 @StringerJoe  @Dylandawg A done deal?????? LMAO...........
Its great to be hopeful but try not to be an ass at the same time.
@StringerJoe Agreed. It's a done deal as far as I'm concerned.
I stopped watching basketball when Kevan Durant left town (I think he was only here long enough to get rained on a little). Since then the city of Seattle has taxed any interest that I had left in coming to Seattle for anything. Hope this team gets a goooood TV contract. I fear they won't be worth watching here anymore than they were in CA until they draft another Durant (if there is one).
Sadly, returning to Key Arena for two seasons will hurt other events that have adopted the unwanted space.Â
 @CJEH Such as, exactly?
ANd before all you people get on the band wagon that the Sonics won the first sports title for Seattle, check your sports history. The Seattle Metropolitans won the Stanley Cup in 1918
@hockey And, they won the Stanley Cup in 1917 by the way, you Big Seattle Hockey Fan, you!
@hockey Oh wow really? Thats like really old news dude. But we are proud of that one too.
We get it---you like hockey. 1918???? Talk about living in the past.....??? Most athletes fit the "primma donna"(i'm assuming thats what you mean) mold- at least to a certain extent. I had a lot of fun taking my son to a game or two a yr. Living in a material world.
As a Seattle resident, I hope the deal doesn't go through. All basketball players are, are a bunch of overpaid pre-mandonnas that can bounce and shoot a ball into a round hoop. Big woop. All they do is cry and whin when they dont gettheir way. Didn't bother me when the Sonics left, that's right to you people living in the past the SONICS ARE GONE get over it.  Â
@hockey
Have a bad day at your yoga class?
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Look, Basketball [which I'm not a fan of, btw] is and will remain head, shoulders and ribcage over hockey [which I'm learning to like] and soccer [which I hate].
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And if you're looking for prima-donnas, look no further than Terrell Owens, Alex Rodrigues, Barry Bonds, Chad Ochojohnson, etc, etc, etc. Every sport has them.
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And as for the NHL, it looks like the owners just bent the players over the rail *again* in an effort to keep their minions in line. I'm not entirely certain that the league will exist in 10 years.
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 @hockey I guess it won't bother you then when the NHL collapses on itself and ceases to exist. I know that wouldn't bother me but I also know there are a lot of hockey fans out there. Just because you don't like basketball it doesn't mean there isn't a huge fanbase out there who does.
No matter what happens with this deal Seattle is a lot closer to getting an NBA team than they are an NHL team. Even if you want hockey instead of basketball you will still need Chris Hansen for that to happen in Seattle.
@hockey
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Judging by your screen name, do you want the NHL in Seattle? I
@hockey Then go to another thread an talk about something you do like. You are complaining about basketball players that somehow complain too much and whine about everything, yet you dont even watch basketball...so how would you even know?  It isnt about them it's about the fans who DO LIKE basketball and the revenue they would bring to the city.
Interesting to compare the number of comments on the main story at the Sacramento Bee to this story at KOMO - they have about 600 (and climbing by the minute) and we're sitting around 90. Maybe 150 if you want to pull in the numbers from the Seattle Times and KING5 as well. I guess Sacramento's numbers go up into the quadruple digits if you start going to other media outlets.
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Not making this any kind of competition by any means, but I think it is a very interesting observation on the dedication and enthusiasm of our respective fanbases.
 @TrappedOn405 I think if the deal's going to happen it's going to happen, with or without these meaningless comments.
@TrappedOn405 If the Sonics were here today and the news is that they were being sold, I'm sure the comment board in Seattle would be on fire. The people in Sacramento probably are pretty upset just like Seattlelites were when the Sonics were sold.
@TrappedOn405 Apples and Oranges. People always love to complain about everything, and that's why you see more comments in Sacremento. How often do the customer comment cards inside restaraunts have positive things to say? It's usually 90% negative.
 @TrappedOn405 I am guessing that Seattle fan's are currently skeptical and are waiting to hear that it's a done deal.Â
 @sure thing  @TrappedOn405 Or at work.
I am not an NBA fan, never have been, but I do wish all of you that are fans the best on this deal and I do hope it goes as planed for you. Seattle deserves a team and are lucky to have a guy like Hansen leading the charge.
@lmdk2 Word! Thanks!
Sounds like the offer was rejected......
 @SandyBeach That was a false report according to Mitch at KJR. I've been listening all day and haven't heard a thing about it being rejected. Doesn't mean it won't or can't be. As of this morning the sale was being reported as false so we'll have to wait and see. We've seen the Maloofs back out of deal for the last 7 years with SacTown.
 Who really knows--could be posturing---but, Rotoworld is still reporting it that way---and they know more than Mitch(usually).
 @StringerJoe Only a sports amatuer would question  the value of Rotoworld. Its used by just about anybody who is anything when it comes to quick sports news. sorry you're not in the loop.
I was saying they know more than Mitch---and you and Stringer Joe.
 @SandyBeach Its great to be cynical but try not to be an ass at the same time.
 @SandyBeach and you were saying about NBC Sports? http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/09/kings-to-seattle-its-not-done-but-dont-be-shocked-if-it-is-soon/related/
Shows what you know........its run by NBC Sports---its very informative and timely. They have a cple more resources than Mitch at KJR---but whatever. I'm certain you're the expert.
 @SandyBeach Rotoworld? Gimme a break.
@SandyBeach Actually, Mitch has been very much in the loop regarding this for the past 12 months now.