Tag: Arena

Kings submit formal plan for arena development

According to the Biz Journal, the Sacramento Kings submitted formal paperwork to support their development plans for the area surrounding the downtown arena.

A rendering submitted with the application shows the hotel, including a pool deck on an upper floor, immediately north of the arena’s main entrance, and a reconfigured Downtown Plaza facing east, onto the main plaza and the arena.

I think it’s fitting that the 16 story building will all but block the view from the new arena of the Railyard.

Renovations, eh?

Mavericks Win in OT

Sleep Train Arena will be undergoing some renovations before the NBA season opens:

The changes – expected to be ready opening night, Oct. 30 – include two new VIP lounges – one for the team’s three-dozen-member ownership group – and one expanded lounge. The visitors locker room, a long-reviled dungeon, will be doubled in size.

Not to pick on former staffer Runnergirl but here is a discussion from 2006 on this site about renovations including the very ones that are being planned. RG’s points were well-made, and I only include it here because it is relevant, not to prove anything. Though I do think the prevailing wisdom of the time was that these renovations were impossible. (Sac-eats has some choice bon mots in the comments section. Also–Kit!)

Carmichael Dave launches Project Zero; multi-city “road show” to save Kings

After hyping it on Twitter Sunday night, Carmichael Dave announced “Project Zero” today, which he calls a “huge team effort” to help “save the Kings.”

At about 4:00 PM today, Dave formally announced the project after a meeting with Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Release the Whales

Humphrey.

At his “State of the City” address tonight, Mayor Johnson is “expected” to grace us with the names of the investors with whom the City is already negotiating. However, as the Bee points out, this is only an assumption, albeit an assumption based on the fact that transparency in government is something that Americans expect.

So hopefully tonight’s event, with special appearance by Jackie Greene and Mark S. Allen, will give the Mayor the opportunity to come forward with some actual specifics. I wonder if there will be a surprise, though: If the “whales” do end up being Burkle and Mastrov as expected, and the Mayor was purposely secretive for no reason, that seems like a pretty bad situation.

As the City Manager has already begun negotiations on the terms of a new agreement, this secrecy should not go on one day more. Here We Name Names!

BREAKING: Kings may move to Virginia Beach, Virginia UPDATED

Virginia Beach has the largest “pleasure beach” in the world, if you’re into that sort of thing. From Wikipedia

UPDATED: Cowbell Kingdom.com outlines the update to this, which is that the Kings say it is not a real thing. WTMalooF?

I heard it first from RansackedMedia.com.

A report out of the Hampton Roads Business Journal says that the Sacramento Kings will relocate to Virginia Beach and play in a new arena to be built by Comcast.

The Biz Journal report is here. I almost want this to happen by tomorrow just to get this topic put to bed for good. I am 100% ready to root for my first NBA love, the Golden State Warriors, who I think have an exciting roster and are poised for good things. And I don’t even care if I’m jinxing things by jumping ship at this point. It seems pretty clear that between the Maloofs being checked out and Kevin Johnson and the city’s inept attempt at keeping the Kings, we should just prepare for the inevitable.

Maloofs trying to sink the deal?

The big news yesterday was the latest snag in the arena deal, which came when the Maloofs suddenly read the non-binding term sheet we all had already stopped talking about weeks ago, and realized they were on the hook for some development funds. Today Tony Bizjak and Dale Kasler report that David Stern is planning to pick up part of the tab to make sure initial work can get done.

A pessimistic person would say that this is just the first line in the sand drawn by the Maloofs, and that if they resolve this issue it’ll just be something else down the road. I am trying not to be that guy. For instance, who says that one of the tenants of a building that will be owned by someone else should have to pay for infrastructure? Maybe there is a better deal that takes away some of those costs and puts a corresponding amount in profits back into the city’s bank account.

Continue reading “Maloofs trying to sink the deal?”

City has big plans for Power Balance site

Space Port Natomas: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Today’s reporting in the Bee by Bizjak and Lillis has some dissection of the City’s stance on what to do about the current Power Balance Pavilion location once a proposed new downtown arena gets built.

Council member Ashby assures her constituents that reuse of the arena site after 2015 is “part of the deal.” But there is the little problem of the land being unsuitable for development due to flood risk. Gee, I wonder when City officials and landowners expect that moratorium to be lifted? Continue reading “City has big plans for Power Balance site”

Final thoughts before tonight’s arena vote

Day 101
This was me all weekend
Creative Commons License photo credit: Alejandra Gamgeek from Gallifrey

I had the whole weekend to stew on the arena terms sheet, fueled by Cosmo Garvin’s great piece on the math of the thing on the SNOG Blog, and bolstered by Isaac Gonzalez’s excellent takedown of the “good, bad and the ugly” aspects of the proposal. I wanted to get my final thoughts out there before the proposal passes at tonight’s meeting.

I still can’t get over the inclusion of a provision giving the City a suite at the arena. Continue reading “Final thoughts before tonight’s arena vote”

Arena plan to be released Thursday

Kelly Johnson of the Biz Journal reported yesterday that City Council hopes to release the details of the arena financing proposal on Thursday, in advance of the Council’s vote next Tuesday.

The main takeaway from the piece seems to be that the mayor confirms AEG would be the operator of the arena under the proposal. I suppose that is a good thing? It doesn’t seem to be very important to me.

I still don’t think the numbers add up. The original figure of $387 million always seemed about $100m too low; Seattle was planning to raise $500 for their evil Chris Hansen funded arena. And I don’t think anybody expects the Maloofs to pony up very much–NBA commissioner David Stern said yesterday that the team will contribute, but also that he would consider AEG’s contribution to be a contribution on behalf of the team.

Very little reason for optimism going into next Tuesday.