You want to know why NBA owners were willing to cut off the Maloof brothers at the knees, block a Kings move to Anaheim and give Sacramento one more shot to keep its only major league sports franchise?
The owners have understood from the start this was going to be a long and ugly NBA lockout. And even if this were a situation where the league and players had reached a deal this week, the ability of the Kings to win over fans in their new home was compromised. “Hey, we’d love you all to pay to come out and see us play, as soon as we are done arguing about how to split up your money.”
So Sacramento got one more chance — a real chance to get plans for a new arena moving forward enough to keep the team.
But can they pull that off in the wake of a lost season? Mayor Kevin Johnson worked hard to rally businesses and fans, to show the groundswell of support for the team. Now is that all being thrown out with the first months of the NBA season (at least)?
USC Sports Business Institute executive director David Carter told the Orange County Register things just got a lot tougher for Sacramento and look better for Anaheim.
Sacramento’s chance to keep the Kings is real, but it already had a lot of challenges. Then this week Billy Hunter threw another big hurdle out there on the track. Like the whole lockout, it doesn’t seem fair, but it’s reality.