Sacramento Kings moving franchise to the OC, CA.

Why do people think Vegas is an option without an NBA-caliber arena?

 

How would they get an NBA gambling ban? They're going to go to the Maloofs' competitors and say "hey can you help us out here?" yeah, that's how casinos work, they make life easier on each other just because.

 

They wouldn't. Kings/Royals/whatevers games would be off the board. The rest of the games would be in play.

 

Back when it was a possible option, 5 years ago or so, it wasn't difficult to see an existing arena there getting an upgrade to be NBA-ready -- there was certainly enough money on the strip if they wanted to get it done. That's not the case now.

 

The big rumor now is that Jerry Buss is going to make sure they don't have the votes to move the team to Anaheim.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/#!/nba/story/14940469/if-kings-dont-move-owners-have-some-splainin-to-do

 

Apparently Chris Webber is doing what he can to keep the Kings in Sacramento and Charles loves Sacramento:

http://blogs.sacbee.com/sports/kings/archives/2011/04/post-75.html

Guess there's still some hope.

 

Hard to believe you schedule a vote you don't know you are going to win. And I figure as much as Buss will want them to stay in Sacto - the Warriors won't be sad to see them leave.

 

Sacto and Oakland don't collide as markets all that much. And the Warriors have a much bigger interest in preventing a move. If the Kings are allowed to invade the Lakers' and Clippers' turf, that sets precedent for the NBA to allow Larry Ellison to buy a team (Hornets?) and move them to an NBA-ready site in San Jose with an eye toward a new arena in San Francisco next to the Giants' ballpark.

The Warriors will be voting solidly with Jerry Buss on this one.

 

I think they only need the majority to get the move approved. I'll bet it's close.

 

I read the Kings are getting $11 million per season for their TV deal with Comcast, a number that could triple or quadruple in Anaheim.