The proposal for a new downtown Sacramento arena revealed Thursday “calls for a venue with more seats, more luxury suites and more frills than the Kings' current home, Power Balance Pavilion,” according to Lillis & Bizjak of the SACRAMENTO BEE. The plans from developer David Taylor and ICON Venue Group “call for an arena somewhere in the middle of the NBA's range of facilities -- not as large as some mega-arenas built in recent years, but much bigger than Power Balance Pavilion.” The proposed arena "would seat 18,594 for basketball games," while the entire facility “would stand at 675,000 square feet, roughly 1 1/2 times the size of Power Balance, and would also accommodate professional hockey.” The plan “calls for 74 luxury suites -- more than double the number at the current arena.” Arena proponents "hope to hammer out" financing details over the next 100 days, which is the "timetable set for a yet-to-be-formed regional commission that will be tasked with developing a financing plan" for the proposed $387M arena. The development team behind the proposal said that “it has drawn up a tentative list of financing options." But the group “declined to release those options Thursday, saying it first wants to present them to the regional commission.” Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson “is expected to assemble that task force next week, inviting elected, business and labor leaders from across the six-county region.” Taylor said Kings Owner the Maloof family’s offer to consider being a tenant in a new arena is "a huge deal, in my mind." Taylor: "Until now, the Kings had said they wanted all revenues (from the arena), and that was creating a barrier." The Maloofs have said that they “are willing to contribute funding for the project." Gavin Maloof on Thursday said, "We'll put in our fair share" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 5/27).
