NBA Kings Could Consider Anaheim If Sacramento Arena Plans Fail

Kings Co-Owner Maloof Has Met With Mayor Johnson To Discuss Team's Future In Sacramento

There is "growing concern inside the Kings organization that if their arena issue isn't resolved, they could end up moving to Anaheim," according to an NBA exec cited by Marc Spears of the BOSTON GLOBE. Anaheim "has been hoping to get an NBA team for years, has filled its arena for Lakers exhibition games and Clippers regular-season games, and could attract fans from as far south as San Diego." But the Lakers and Clippers "could challenge for territorial rights fees, and it could be hard for the Kings to find a spot on television in LA" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/15). However, in Sacramento, Ailene Voisin reported Kings co-Owner Joe Maloof Friday met with Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to "discuss the team's future and the proposal for an arena project at Cal Expo." In a "rare appearance at Arco Arena" Friday, Maloof said that an arena deal "'eventually' will be consummated." Maloof: "We're going to get something done. That will happen. We have a mayor who is supportive, who understands how important the team is to the community, and he's committed to helping us." Maloof added, "All this talk about arena, arena, arena ... what we need to concentrate on now is making the team better and filling the building. That's our priority" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 3/14). 

FEASABILITY STUDY: In Sacramento, Daniel Weintraub wrote the NBA's plan for Cal Expo "reflects an intriguing vision for the future of a space that is woefully underused today." But an independent analysis of the NBA proposal commissioned by Cal Expo raises "serious questions about the NBA plan, its assumptions and conclusions." The study's bottom line is "the basketball folks are overly optimistic." The study, by Gruen Gruen & Associates, said that the development proposal "overestimates potential revenue from hotels, office buildings, retail shops and housing while underestimating the cost of serving those buildings and their tenants" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 3/15). In a special to the SACRAMENTO BEE, Cal Expo BOD Chair Rex Hime wrote, "All we are doing now is saying to the development community: 'Is this a for-real project? Are there ever going to be the revenues to offset the cost of building the arena and the fairgrounds?' That's what we are going to find out" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 3/15).