Three weeks ago, it was revealed that the Kings were charging the state $500,000 a month in rentGETTY IMAGES
The NBA Kings said that they will "stop charging the state of California rent" for using Sleep Train Arena as a COVID-19 field hospital, but will pocket the $1M they have "paid so far," according to Kasler & Sabalow of the SACRAMENTO BEE. The new arrangement comes three weeks after it was revealed that the Kings were "charging the state $500,000 a month for a three-month rental," despite statements by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Kings Owner & Chair Vivek Ranadive in early April that "implied the old arena had been lent for free." As it turned out, the Kings were only "donating the team’s former practice facility, adjacent to Sleep Train, but would be paid for use of the arena." As a field hospital, the Sleep Train site is "designed to accommodate 400 beds." Brian Ferguson, a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said that only seven patients have been "housed there in the weeks since it opened." Kasler & Sabalow note the practice facility is being "kept open as a field hospital." The lease was supposed to "conclude at the end of June" but in the amended agreement will be used "through the end of October" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 5/19).
