Sacramento Kings moving franchise to the OC, CA.

My bad for lack of clarity. I knew it, but didn't write it, that it's the ownership group that has well north of $1B.

 

You're right, of course. I think the scenario of Wolff owning the Dodgers arises from his being an L.A. guy, but most people don't realize his money comes from Bay Area guys.

 

I think the Maloofs had parking concerns at what would have been the new location, but nothing that I can recall as unsolvable. Can't say whether they had an exit strategy all along, although if they had, I'm sure Stern would not have spent so much time trying to get an arena deal done after the election measure failed.

But the point is that L.A. and S.F. and San Diego can say to a sports team, "We'll be just fine without you, so pay your own way." Sacramento felt a bit differently about its only major league team.

 

If they had put the new stadium on the ballot when the team, and the economy were still good, it would have passed.

The Maloofs probably thought they would get something better a year or two later, but then the economy went into the shitter.

 

Moving a franchise always has its' naysayers. I think moving the Kings to The OC would be okay as long as the facility can house more than just NBA games. That's where the Kings failed. I went to a Pro Bull Riding event at Arco a couple of months back and an ice capades as a 10 year old. These are the only events besides Kings game I've EVER been to, and I grew up and still live 1 hour from Sactown.

 

That's funny because I've covered NCAA Tournaments there and I went to concerts there all the time as a kid. I've also seen tennis exhibitions there.

 

I remember one of the all time classic segments in WWE history broadcasting from that same arena. The Rock was making fun of the Kings, as a matter of fact.

 

They'll be moving into the Pond as tenants of the Ducks, who will almost certainly keep all or nearly all of income from other events in the facility.

The Kings have had complete control of Arco Arena since the day it opened. If they weren't booking enough outside events, it's their own damn fault.

Whatever concerns the Maloofs may have had about "parking" in connection to the 2006 deal, I can utterly assure you, had only to do with the possibility that somebody besides the Maloofs might make some money off of it. No professional sports franchise owner anywhere gives a flying flaming fuck about parking, other than making sure they get every last goddamn dime possible out of it.


As far as the condition of Arco Arena going to shit, that is absolutely routine each and every time a pro sports franchise decides it's time to fuck some taxpayers (either in their current home or some other bunch of suckers) out of a new multi-hundred-million-dollar-venue -- maintenance and improvements screech to a halt, all the money goes into Ollie Owner's pocket, and their PR minions begin pumping out mournful stories about the ramshackle condition of the arena.

I mean it's simply common sense!! The arena is a broken-down shack!! There is just no alternative to giving Ollie Owner a few hundred million bucks!! Or else it reflects badly on Mudville as a Major League City!!

 

I really wonder what the NFL is going to do with LA. I don't see the owners okaying one of their struggling owners to take the market. Maybe sell their current franchise to the league for what its worth (plus a meager bonus), then sell the "new" franchise to local owners and give the old owner a cut of the sale as well.

 

Wolff also has major interest in the MLS's Earthquakes. Tried to work out a deal with San Jose State that would have downsized Spartan Stadium for soccer the university president rejected. Now they play at Santa Clara's Buck Shaw Stadium, which is supposed to be temporary until they, like so many other MLS teams, get a soccer-specific stadium that can also be used for rock concerts, high school football, ect. Wolff was also trying to get a "Ballpark Village" built around a 30K seat ballpark in Fremont, just 20 or so minutes from downtown San Jose and downtown Oakland, but it was turned down for, among many reasons, it was too far away from a BART station.

 

If the financing measures are the one(s) I'm thinking of, it was very badly worded and not specific about what they were being taxed for. The Sacramento Bee called for a "no" vote for this reason in their election endorsements.