NBA Commissioner David Stern yesterday said that Kings Owners the Maloof family "have agreed to make a substantial contribution to" the city of Sacramento's $387M arena deal, but he "did not disclose how much," according to Tony Bizjak of the SACRAMENTO BEE. Stern said that he "expects negotiations between the league and city to continue into the weekend." He said, "There is a lot of discussion going on. We're hoping by the March 1 deadline there will be a financing plan that makes sense." Stern indicated that he "considered any contribution to the arena from the probable arena operator, AEG, to be a team contribution." City officials have said that they expect AEG to "put about" $50M into the deal as upfront money. The city is reported to have "asked that the Kings put in about" $85M of their own money. Stern said, "The team has agreed to a substantial contribution, both directly from itself, but also by catalyzing AEG to be interested. In effect, whatever money AEG puts in is because of give-backs by the team ... so we see that as a team contribution" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 2/22).

Vikings Owner Zygi Wilf and Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said yesterday that the issues standing in the way of a deal for a new stadium in downtown Minneapolis are "small and should be resolved within a week," according to Doug Belden of the ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS. Wilf "declined to specify the terms of the deal as they stand, but he said the team will offer 'in excess of $400 million' toward the project." Asked if Arden Hills is "dead as a possible site," Wilf said, "I'm never going to say never." But he added, "We're very close on hammering a deal right now for the Minneapolis location at Metrodome." Negotiators have been "trying to craft a deal that would allow the Vikings to continue playing in the Dome while a new stadium is built nearby." That would "reduce the time required to play" at the Univ. of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium, which is "smaller than the Dome and not fully equipped for NFL games." Wilf said that "estimates are the team would have to play at TCF for one to two years" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 2/22). In Minneapolis, Kaszuba & Roper note the "hurdles in Minneapolis remained twofold: A City Council majority does not back a plan to use city taxes for a stadium without a referendum, and stadium supporters insist that including money for the city's Target Center would be likely to cost the package legislative votes" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 2/22).