Ryan Lillis, one of the Bee’s big three reporters doing actual professional journalism on the topic of the arena, reports today that Mayor Kevin Johnson and Kings co-owner George Maloof have decided on a sit down meeting this week to discuss possibly reviving the DOA arena deal.
Reading that this morning, the question you might have is does the Mayor actually do anything except work on this arena deal? When is the last time you remember hearing the Mayor’s name in connection to anything except this problem. I’m only being somewhat facetious as this is big news in these parts and maybe it is getting squeezed out. But somehow I doubt that KJ is out there working on anything else.
As for the actual deal getting new legs, I’m not sure whether this puts the City on better or worse negotiating ground. As the deal went away when the Kings balked at having to put too much into it (at least in their eyes), and the City called their bluff on that, it would seem that any future discussions would have to favor the Kings. On the other hand, public goodwill is on the side of the City, so that hurts the Kings’ position.
The Sac Rag 
Well, he does come up with initiatives that do things that other nonprofits and city organizations already do, and he works on that Strong Mayor thing rather a lot. Although much of what he does up there on the third floor is kind of a mystery.
I don’t know if I’d call what Ryan Lillis does “real professional journalism,” other than in the sense that he gets paid for it. But these days, that seems to be the only definition, so I’ll let it pass.
As to the Maloofs’ position, why should they be all that concerned about public goodwill? If game attendance drops, it strengthens their case for relocation, because poor attendance proves that Sacramento can’t support an NBA team.
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I guess was thinking of the TV media that can’t keep it in their pants about the arena. And you make a good point about the Maloofs. It seems like they were a bit threatened by folks not re-upping but I guess they have to pay the bills next year. After that though you’re right, they wouldn’t care. Thanks for the comment.
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Years ago we supported the Kings when they were doing well, we had the most noise in any arena. It’s hard to support a team that seldom wins.
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I haven’t watched enough local TV to get a sense how excited they are about the arena, but print media (the Bee, at least) not only can’t keep it in their pants about the arena, they have great difficulty not running down the street waving it around at people and smacking it against telephone poles and such.
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wburg: Rally? I’m not getting that vibe from the Bee at all, except for the columnist types.
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