Kind of a Big Deal

Via sonicsarena.com:

We are happy to announce that we have entered into a binding agreement with the Maloofs to purchase a controlling interest in the Sacramento Kings NBA franchise. The sale is obviously subject to approval by the NBA Board of Governors, and we look forward to working with the League in the coming months to consummate the transaction.

Let the intercity sniping begin.

Who wants to Space Jam?

Sweet GIF courtesy of io9.com

If we (and by "we" I mean Chris Hansen and friends) are going to spend $500 million on a swanky new basketball stadium for Supersonics 2.0, why not have the COOLEST BASKETBALL COURT OF ALL TIME?! For a measly few extra million you (and by "you" I mean an NBA team and not you ever) could play basketball on something straight out of Tron. Or, at least, Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball.

DO IT NOW!!!

Another day, another unconfirmed source says Sacramento Kings have been sold to Seattle group

Apparently the Maloofs invested all their money in plastic. AM I RIGHT?!

Here we go again.

According to the Sacramento Bee, it's official: the Kings have been sold to the Seattle group led by Chris Hansen.

A tweet from a Comcast Sports Bay Area NBA analyst this morning said the team had been sold for $525 million to a group led by hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen. A representative for Hansen in Seattle could not immediately be reached for comment.

Eric Rose, a Kings spokesman, said, "Nothing has changed with our position that we will not comment on rumors or speculation about the Sacramento Kings franchise."

And, as Sonics fans know, these kind of anonymous sources are never, ever wrong.

UPDATE: And now, of course, CBS Sports is reporting that the Kings might have a local buyer lined up. Gulp!

Not so fast! Maloofs get Maloofish in deal to bring Kings to Seattle.

To the shock of absolutely no one, the Maloof brothers are apparently acting like giant a-holes in negotiations to bail them out of debtors' prison buy the Sacramento Kings and move them to Seattle, according to this story in the Seattle Times:

The family that owns the Sacramento Kings wants to maintain a say in how the team is run if they sell it to Chris Hansen, creating a possible snag in the sale negotiation, an NBA source told The Seattle Times.

The Maloof family has owned the team since 1998, and brothers Joe and Gavin have been particularly involved and visible presences in the franchise since day one.

An initial Yahoo! Sports report on the sale, since confirmed by others, is that the family would retain a small percentage in the team. But the question now, according to the source, is whether that percentage also would allow the Maloofs some say in how the team is run.

So basically, the Maloofs would like to sell us their car for roughly twice the Blue Book value but still want to be able to borrow it to cruise for dates. Yeah, I'm sure Chris Hansen became a bazillionaire by making shrewd business deals like this.

If these are the sort of folks we have to appease to get a (pretty lousy) team, I'd rather invest in a custom team on NBA Live.

Supersonics 2.0 : Sacramento Kings moving to Seattle?

Maloof. Maloof. Maloof is on fire! (sorry)

Chris Hansen is buying the Sacramento Kings and moving them to Seattle in time to start playing at The Key next season, according to the wild rumor mill known as Yahoo! Sports.

The rumor originated in a Tweet from Daina Falk, a food blogger known as “The Hungry Fan’’ and also the daughter of longtime NBA agent David Falk, whose clients included Michael Jordan and a number of former  Sonics, including longtime team president Wally Walker. 

Daina Falk sent out a Tweet Tuesday reading: “So I hear that the Seattle Kings is officially a done deal! The Maloofs (the family  that owns the Kings) finally sold the ailing Sacramento team.’’ 

When questioned about the Tweet, she responded that she had heard it from someone who would know, and she also referred to the Tweet on her Facebook page saying to wait and see what happens over the next few days. 

Those Tweets and her Facebook message were all deleted by Wednesday morning.

(from The Seattle Times)

Happy birthday Reign Man!

Happy belated birthday to the greatest athlete in Seattle sports history.

The Not-So-Secret Arena Plans

KING-5's Chris Daniels has posted a heap of Arena Porn for Sonics fans to drool over. Mmmmmmm . . . practice facilities . . . (cue wah-wah guitar).

Stern Talks Expansion (Maybe)

First found via the tremendous Tom Ziller at the fantastic Sactown Royalty.  Ziller's article attempted to ascertain whether David Stern was actually, possibly thinking about maybe going the expansion route rather than the scorched earth franchise relocation method when it came to Seattle and the NBA. 

At first blush, it seemed as though Ziller might be reading too much into the proverbial tea leaves (and, hey, can you blame the guy?), but when you watch the video at NBA.com, well, you can understand his sentiments. The video is here (and skip to around the 26 minute mark), but you can read the pertinent transcript below:

Q: Commissioner, regarding the Seattle new arena, is there a chance during the next five years when they’ll probably finalize it [the arena], that there’ll be an expansion team, a new Seattle Supersonics?

Stern: Are you the gentleman from Albania?

Q: Romania.

Stern: Romania, yes, Romania. You want to know about the Seattle Supersonics? I love it! 

Q: Yeah, because I grew up with Seattle.

Stern: Oh, well, good! You see, that’s the universality of our game. The answer is, there seem to be plans, uh, moving along for a new arena in Seattle. There was general agreement in the past that Seattle needed a new arena, and, uh, it would be my hope that within the time frame that you mentioned – five years – that if everything works out perfectly, there would be a new arena and a new team in Seattle. That’s always for the NBA Board of Governors , but I know that many governors are favorably inclined. 

Who knows what rattles around the in the head of David Stern, and who knows if he truly meant to indicate expansion was a possibility, or if he merely meant a "new" team in much the same way I tell my 3-year-old daughter that her shoes are "new," even though her sister wore them four years ago. 

Either way, God bless Romania.

And you thought NBA refs were bad.

Give the refs a break--they just forgot which guy slam-dunked the home run ball!

Sacramento Kings clearing the books for move to Seattle? Let the wildly unfounded speculation begin!

Seattle Supersonics fans know the pain of having a beloved team ripped from their home.

Four years ago, after being a Seattle institution for 41 years, the Sonics were shanghaied to the mid-south, never to be heard from again. Northwest basketball fans were devastated and many (like myself) vowed to never watch another NBA game again.

And yet, as the Seattle City Council votes to approve a new stadium to lure an NBA and/or NHL team here, I'm probably not the only one who has a Google alert set for "Sacramento Kings, Seattle".

With no expansion in the near future, to get Seattle back into the NBA country club, one must agree to a Faustian pact: to avenge your own heart being broken, you must break another's.

So it's with a stomach churning mix of optimism and self-hatred that I read the following report out of Sacramento this morning:

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – It’s a money meltdown for the Sacramento Kings as their biggest sponsor is splitting, and they’re not the only ones. 

One of the Kings’ most loyal corporate sponsors is taking a bite out of the owners’ already rickety revenue structure.  

Carl’s Jr. once touted them as billionaire brothers in an ad campaign, but now the fast food company tells CBS13 that its cravings for the Maloofs are over. 

“Carl’s Jr. is not seeking naming rights for the arena in Sacramento. While we have sponsored the Kings in the past, we will not be renewing our team sponsorship this season,” a company statement read. 

CBS13 has learned the Maloofs are only offering companies one-year sponsorship deals, no long-term commitments. As a result, some of the local companies who came together in a $10 million sponsorship pledge last year are also out.   

Read the rest here.

One-year sponsorship deals. No long-term commitments. These sort of self-inflicted revenue wounds sound eerily familiar to Sonics fans, who remember Big Boy Bennett using the same despicable tactics to make it look like there was no support for the team in Seattle the year before they moved. 

As a lifelong Sonics freak, I admit I'm excited about getting an NBA team. But as an empathetic sports fan who still feels the pain of having his team stolen away in the dead of night, this sort of story makes me more than a little queasy about our deal with the devil.

Chris Hansen: Seattle's new teen heartthrob

(See also.)

Seattle Supersonics savior Chris Hansen is making fanboys swoon across the Northwest (he even wants to buy you a beer tonight!). I'm sure at some point the honeymoon will be over ("I can't believe that idiot traded Xavier McDaniel Jr. for Devlin Schrempf!") but for now, let's just bask in his wonderfulness , like a 70s teenager with a copy of Tiger Beat.

BREAKING NEWS: Chris Hansen, City Council reach agreement on new NBA / NHL arena in Seattle

UPDATE: Press conference at 9:30 this morning--stay tuned!

Chris Daniels at KING-5 News just broke the story that investor/saint Chris Hansen and the Seattle City Council have apparently reached a deal on the new NBA/ NHL arena that could lead the way to the return/rebirth of the Seattle Supersonics:

SEATTLE – Multiple Sources confirmed Monday that a deal has been reached between the Seattle City Council and the investor group led by Chris Hansen on the financial terms that would put a new sports arena near Safeco Field. 

A key, multi-million dollar concession by Hansen that could see his investor group spend more out of pocket to build the arena appears to have brought reluctant councilmembers onboard with the project.  City Council members are expected to make an official announcement outlining the terms of the agreement on Tuesday.

Read the rest at KING-5 News.