Report: NBA officials briefed on potential sale of Kings to Seattle
SEATTLE -- NBA officials have been briefed on a proposed sale of the Sacramento Kings to a Seattle-led investment group headed up by Steve Ballmer and Chris Hansen, Yahoo! Sports reported Monday.
Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reports members of the league's relocation committee received rough details of the proposed $525 million sale during a conference call last Tuesday.
No sale has been announced and the Kings have yet to file for relocation, Yahoo! Sports said.
Wojnarowski, quoting his sources, says Hansen would buy 65 percent of the team -- including the Maloof brothers' 53 percent majority stake and an additional 12 percent stake from another minority owner, and that the $525 million price is based on the full value of the franchise.
Since news broke Wednesday of the possible sale of the Kings to Seattle, rumors have been flying back and forth, ranging from declarations to the sale to Hansen was a done deal to other potential owners pondering bids to buy the team and keep it in Sacramento.
Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA point guard, has vowed to do all he could to keep the team in his city. 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.
Yahoo! earlier 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.
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.
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.
The Seattle arena does face a lawsuit from the Longshore Union, who claim Seattle and King County violated the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) by signing the memorandum of understanding.
The Kings' asking price would top the NBA-record $450 million the Golden State Warriors sold for in July 2010.
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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reports members of the league's relocation committee received rough details of the proposed $525 million sale during a conference call last Tuesday.
No sale has been announced and the Kings have yet to file for relocation, Yahoo! Sports said.
Wojnarowski, quoting his sources, says Hansen would buy 65 percent of the team -- including the Maloof brothers' 53 percent majority stake and an additional 12 percent stake from another minority owner, and that the $525 million price is based on the full value of the franchise.
Since news broke Wednesday of the possible sale of the Kings to Seattle, rumors have been flying back and forth, ranging from declarations to the sale to Hansen was a done deal to other potential owners pondering bids to buy the team and keep it in Sacramento.
Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA point guard, has vowed to do all he could to keep the team in his city. 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.
Yahoo! earlier 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.
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.
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.
The Seattle arena does face a lawsuit from the Longshore Union, who claim Seattle and King County violated the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) by signing the memorandum of understanding.
The Kings' asking price would top the NBA-record $450 million the Golden State Warriors sold for in July 2010.
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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Hansen group has shown nothing but class. They never once tried to use the rouse of buying the Kings and keeping them in Sacramento. They have been honest and up front about their every move. They stated their intent to move the team to Seattle to replace the Sonic, which were stolen by the lying sleaze bag Bennett. If the Maloof family wishes to sell the Kings to Hansen, that is a decision to made by them. I am not a basketball fan, but if we can keep the crooked politicians out of the picture, Seattle will once again have a team. Go Sonics.
Can't wait for Seattle to have another Basketball team, awesome. Â In the mean time, I am going to buy Seattle a Curling team. Â We are going to go all the wayyyyyy :)
When the new Arena is built and the Sonic are back in town.
Sell Tully's and boycott Starbucks.
Better yet, when the Sonics play Choklahoma. Â We should have a Clay Bennett night where everybody wears a Clay Bennett mask. Â
Finally, it was realized that the NBA was right when asked for a new arena in the rainy city,All those who spit Cley Bennett or Starbucks owner, should be red
 @Dozen 123 You know absolutely nothing and it shows. Or you use Google translate to post comments cause they don't make any sense.................still.
 @Dozen 123 You really don't get it do you.  It was realized long before now that we needed a new arena, nobody is doubting that.  Clay never intended to keep that team here, his attempt was complete BS, his only intention was to take the team to OKC.  Schultz was stupid enough to believe it or just didn't care, he should have made a better attempt to find a local owner who was sincere in keeping the team here and working to get that new arena.Â
Clay Bennett went to Olympia with a new plan for the arena in Renton? Did you forget that? He was not supported by politicians in Olympia
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 @oledawgOlympia was supposed to help his plan, the NBA would never have approved the relocation of the Sonics after that.
@oledawg @Dozen 123 Seattle Times has a copy of the emails pretty much saying they never intended to keep the team in Seattle
 @Dozen 123 It was a half arsed plan intended to get out, did you never see the emails?
"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."
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Really? Sorry to say King's fans...this statement isn't worth much considering the source.
 @dcmassena The best part is this would be the 6th(?) shot Sacramento has had to get something done and keep the King's there. How many did Seattle get there Mr. Bennett?
Oh, oh, got a strange feeling someone is going to pickup the football....
This feels like a 1 point lead with 25 seconds left. Not going to get my hopes up too much.
You know, I'm all for the NBA coming to Seattle. Between Charles Schulz and David Stern, Sonics fans were ripped off and city given a black eye for no other reason than the Association wasn't making the money they thought they should. So much for fan support.
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But doesn't the Association actually own controlling interest in two teams? Why the hell are we stealing another city's team when the Association has two to sell us? I mean, what good does it do for Seattle to do to Sacramento what OKC did to us?
@svensson You were ripped off by Bennett, but your local and state governments gave the NBA the middle finger and told them to get out of town. As did much of your citizenry, and this is before Bennett even got the team. Sac, while it took them a long time, did get to an arena deal, only to have it blown up by the Maloofs. Something is very wrong here. Stern would be wise to nix the deal to Seattle UNLESS Sac truly does not have a viable alternative ownership group waiting in the wings. Beyond that, the Maloofs shouldn't be rewarded for their abject bad behavior. The NBA sucks. I hate it, and I am not from Sac or CA. Still, I would much rather the NHL, even with their labor problems.
@patrick330i Well, I'm not a b-ball fan myself. Further, I'm from Tacoma and have typical 'middle-finger' Seattle attitude for those of us Washington native who weren't born in the Imperial City.
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However, I understand why Seattlites were upset about the NBA's demands for a new arena. They'd already been hung on the hook for SAFECO and Seahawk Stadium after all. Add to that the beginnings of the Waterfront Tunnel wrangling in the Legislature and the beginnings of the Great Recession, and you get... well, what they got.
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But I agree with you that the NBA needs to seriously look into this deal. But they won't. The Association and Stern blantantly favor the owners they like and blatently crush owners they don't. Howard Schultz and the Maloofs definately fall into column B. The NBA sees a huge loan from the Association being paid off, angry Seattle fans appeased, the sports press molified and [most importantly] a large profit to gain and Sacramento fans are gonna get hosed the same way that Sonics fans did.
 @svensson Peanuts creator killed the Sonics... damn...
@Steven Choi *wipes pie from face* DOH!
 @Steven Choi  @svensson This whole time I've been boycotting Starbucks, and I should have gone after Snoopy, DAMN!
@Steven Choi @svensson Snoopy- YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS!!!!!
 @Steven Choi  @svensson Haha, honest mistake, but that is funny.  Howard, no Charles