Kings to remain in Sacramento at least one more year

It appears Anaheim and the city-owned Honda Center have been left at the altar again.

Despite months of negotiations with Anaheim arena officials that pushed the Sacramento Kings to the brink of relocating in Anaheim, the Maloof family has at least temporarily abandoned its plans to move to Orange County because of the NBA's opposition to the move.

Sacramento Kings owners George, Gavin and Joe Maloof, left to right, considered filing for relocation despite opposition from the NBA.

Officials from Anaheim Arena Management, which had been in relocation negotiations with the Maloofs since September, were told of the family's decision early Monday morning.
Kings co-owner Joe Maloof confirmed at 8:30 a.m. that he informed the NBA of the team’s plans not to move.

"We’re going to stay in Sacramento," Maloof told the Register. "We appreciate everything the Samuelis, Anaheim Arena Management and the city of Anaheim did for us, but we decided to give Sacramento one more opportunity.

"Kevin Johnson, Sacramento mayor, has made a lot of promises and we're going to hold him to his word to see if they can come up with a new arena plan."

Does that mean the Maloofs reserve the right to file for relocation next year if those promises haven’t been delivered?

"Yes," Maloof said.

In their official news release, the Maloofs thanked the Sacramento fans for their loyalty, but added that "if an arena plan cannot be finalized in a timely fashion, the NBA’s relocation committee has assured Maloof Sports and Entertainment that it will support an application to move the franchise to another market starting in 2012-13."

The decision came several days after the NBA relocation committee reportedly told the Maloofs, the Kings' majority owners since 1999, that it has serious questions about another franchise joining the Southern California market in such close proximity to the Lakers and Clippers.

The Maloofs learned about the opposition during a conference call Wednesday with the seven-member relocation committee chaired by Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clay Bennett.

Also on that call was Ducks billionaire owner Henry Samueli, whose financial guarantees were the backbone of the Anaheim proposal, and Michael Schulman, chairman of Anaheim Arena Management, the Samueli-owned company that runs Honda Center and had been in relocation negotiations with the Maloofs since last fall.

Until Friday, the Maloofs reportedly had been leaning toward filing to move even without the blessing of the relocation committee, but recent public comments from NBA commissioner David Stern increased speculation that the league wanted the Kings to return to Sacramento for at least another year.

Stern said twice in the past week that "if the team does come back or stays in Sacramento another year," recent financial pledges would help the team's bottom line and "also give us the time to deliver on a regional basis for a new arena."

Last week, Bennett and an NBA attorney had met with Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, as well as with political and business leaders in the state capital, to investigate local financial support for the team and to hear a progress report from a feasibility study on how to build and finance a new downtown arena.

Specifically, the committee was sent to Sacramento on a "fact-finding" mission to try to verify corporate pledges the city had solicited to try to dissuade the Maloofs from moving the Kings to Orange County in time for the 2011-12 season. NBA task-force members remained in the state capital this past week to conclude their investigation.

In the end, the Maloofs left a lucrative proposal from Anaheim on the negotiating table that included several financial guarantees from Samueli: at least $70 million for improvements and upgrades at Honda Center; a six-year TV contract worth $24 million annually; and a $70 million personal loan from Samueli, who also was ready to purchase a minority interest in the Kings if they moved.

This was at least the fifth time Anaheim's bid for an NBA franchise has fallen through.
The Clippers seriously considered moving to then-Arrowhead Pond at least three times, according to Honda Center officials, but owner Donald Sterling reportedly rejected several long-term proposals that guaranteed the team would make a profit.

Even after the Clippers moved their home games to Staples Center in the fall of 1999, there was talk of the team playing home games in Anaheim.

As recently as the summer of 2004, when Kobe Bryant was a free agent entertaining all offers, the Clippers offered to play at least 12 home games at the renamed Honda Center to make it easier for him to commute from his Newport Coast home. But he re-signed with the Lakers, and Honda Center had to settle for an annual Lakers exhibition game.

In 2001, the Vancouver Grizzlies also had serious talks with Anaheim arena officials, local politicians and officials from Disney Co. – then owner of the Ducks – about relocating in Anaheim before owner Michael Heisley chose Memphis as the Grizzlies' new home.

This was the most serious Anaheim bid for an NBA team, which has been on Samueli's wish list since his management company took over operations at Honda Center in 2003 and he bought the NHL's Ducks from Disney in 2005.

Relocation talks with the Maloofs intensified this past September after the latest in a long line of failures by the Kings to secure funding for a new arena to replace the outdated Arco Center (now Power Balance Pavilion) in Sacramento.

In 2006, Sacramento voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed sales tax that would have raised money for a new $600 million arena in downtown Sacramento, after which Stern announced the NBA was taking the lead in a new arena effort.

After four years of little progress, the NBA announced early last year that it was backing a land-swap proposal that would move the State Fair to the Arco Arena site in Natomas and build a new arena and entertainment complex at Cal Expo, adjacent to a downtown train depot. But in September the Cal Expo board rejected that proposal, and the NBA announced it was ending its involvement.

That's when the Maloofs began exploring their options to move and soon thereafter zeroed in on Anaheim.

If this turns out to be a one-year delay – the NBA reportedly has told Sacramento it must have a viable arena proposal by March to remain in the city – the question is, will Anaheim still be waiting?

"Since we began working toward bringing an NBA franchise to Orange County, we have maintained that this process is about getting a team for the fans, as basketball is a sport loved by Southern Californians," said Schulman, chairman of Anaheim Arena Management, in a prepared statement. “With the nation’s second-most populous region, one which serves as home to nearly the same number of people as the entire state of Texas, we are continuing our pursuit of an NBA team for our venue."

For now, O.C. NBA fans will have to wait.

Register staff writer Eric Carpenter contributed to this report. Contact the writer: ryoungman@ocregister.com