Sacramento Kings, City, NBA Agree On Arena Deal
“I really want to jump up and down right now, because I’m so excited,” current Sacramento Mayor and former NBA All-Star Kevin Johnson said earlier Monday.
“It’s a new day for Sacramento. We’ve all been working around the clock to get to this point and it’s going to be a defining moment for our community. We have the framework of an agreement going forward,” Johnson added.
The deadline to construct this deal was March 1, a date set by the NBA. Had this deal not been finalized, the Kings would have likely begun the process to move to either Anaheim or Seattle, similar to what transpired last spring.
But the fans of the Kings and the city sparked a passionate campaign to keep the team in town, Sacramento’s only professional sports franchise, sparking the “Here We Stay” movement and producing a documentary about those efforts, Small Market, Big Heart (trailer seen below).
The Sacramento City Council will vote on March 6 to finalize the terms figured out by Johnson, the Maloofs (the team owners) and NBA Commissioner David Stern. Per multiple reports, the Maloofs will contribute about $70 $75 million up front for the arena and about another $70 million through the life of the complex.
AEG, the operator of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, will be the operator of the new arena and will contribute around $40-$60 million.
But as the prospects looked bleak throughout All-Star weekend, it appears the Kings will be staying in Sacramento for a long, long time.
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