Arena deal a pack of lies?

Marcus Bretón thinks it is. It seems like the Bee might be bowing to public pressure and trying to tell a less one-sided tale about the arena deal. However, for all Bretón’s throwing around of the “L” word, it’s not really clear what lies he believes are being told. Has anyone on the negotiation table ever said they don’t care if the arena deal goes through? Bretón sees the fact that the NBA is now sending their lawyer, Harvey Benjamin, to the negotiation table as a sign that the NBA “badly wants Sacramento and the Kings to cut an arena deal.” I say, that’s not big news–I don’t think the NBA has ever put out a vibe to the contrary.

A couple of weeks ago, the NBA had not directly heard from the city or county of Sacramento — it was getting the arena spin solely from the Kings.

Then Sacramento Vice Mayor Rob Fong flew to New York, met with Benjamin, and suddenly, stalled arena talks were re-started in Las Vegas, with Benjamin seated at the table for two long days of negotations.

I guess from an ethical standpoint it makes sense, since the NBA as an entity is funded buy the Maloofs and the other owners.

Bretón reads that representation shift as a sign that a deal is imminent. Benjamin has been brought in to pressure the Maloofs into accepting a deal in which they would (apparently) pick up between 20 and 25% of the tab for the new arena. The other 75-80% would be paid by some combination of sales tax and other as-yet-undisclosed funding sources. In exchange for their generous 20-25% stake, the Maloofs would only own 20-25% of the arena. (You bought that, didn’t you? Just kidding, the Maloofs would still earn 100% of the profits. Fight the power, Rob Fong!!)

Bretón does go on to point out that many of these types of deals involve the owners paying zero for their new arenas. So I think he misses a trick by not pointing out that the Maloofs clearly are attempting to strongarm their way out of having to pay even 20% for an arena deal that would keep their great-great grandspawn in golden diapers. (That might be the best sentence I’ve ever written.)

Toward the end of his piece, he tries to keep it real:

This column has hurled more than one barb their way, but I can’t think of a single NBA ownership group I would trade for them, unless that swap netted Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade for Sacramento.

The point is, this process transcends personalities. It’s about civic priorities encompassing a remade downtown with an arena as the anchor.

He’s just saying. I mean if you don’t want to remake downtown, if you think our “civic priorities” should be elsewhere (like failing schools or potholes or crime or low-income housing) then feel free to vote your conscience, it’s a free country. It’s a valiant effort that Bretón makes but I think it’s pretty easy to see right through it.

From what I’ve seen, the real problem here is not truth-telling but secrecy. (I guess I’m splitting hairs a little here, but I think that bloggers would be nowhere without hair-splitting.) I might feel a lot more comfortable with the whole thing if Dickinson, Fong et al. would be straight with us about what exactly they are advocating in this whole process.

I think Dickinson and Fong could win major political points if they could spin their role in the negotations as something other than haggling about the price of a fictitious arena in order to make sure they know exactly how much they will be asking their voters to cough up. Are they fighting hard for the little guy? Staking their future on one-eighth-cent sales tax or no deal? They fought Big Sports so hard the NBA had to lawyer up! If that doesn’t go in your political bio I don’t know what does.

But if we lose the arena, you say, we’ll lose all of the non-sports events that Arco pays host to. Thanks to crack research by Mrs. CoolDMZ, that number can be more specifically stated as 5 events between the end of the Kings season and today. See for yourself. (Including a non-Kings, non-Monarchs sports event, I’m feeling generous.) I’m just trying to provide some facts since the political figures seem reluctant to.

Author: CoolDMZ

"X-ray vision to see in between / Where's my kimono and my time machine?" View all posts by CoolDMZ