Where was this fervor the past 6 years?

[Showtime]

I'm talking from the local business standpoint. New Orleans was so hard up for business, that the locals got together to buy up enough tickets to give to kids to meet the minimum required to keep the hornets in their lease. And now I see this:

Business leaders want a new arena

Several civic leaders on Wednesday called for the Sacramento region’s business community to help build a new sports and entertainment arena — with or without the Sacramento Kings.
The call to action came from the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Sacramento Metro Chamber. The organizations, along with the Sacramento Sports Commission, met privately on Monday to discuss their role in debate over the Kings and a new arena.
“As business leaders, we recognize the importance of professional sports in the region and would be disappointed to lose our team,” the joint statement said. “We applaud the mayor and his efforts to retain the Kings in our city. However, we realize there is little we can control in this regard. The Maloofs are going to do what makes the most sense for their business interests. And the mayor and City Council will continue to fight for what is right for the city of Sacramento.”
“What this recent activity highlights,” the statement continues, “is the importance of our six-county region coming together and focusing our efforts to build a new facility. Not for the Maloofs and not for the Kings, but for Sacramento.”

Read more: Business leaders want a new arena | Sacramento Business Journal ​

Where in the hell was this the past few years?
​

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Well they probably didn't believe it could happen. And this is why you ask why those of us think this ICON deal is any better than anything in the past, this is why. Because the city and city leaders and business leaders and people (I still say KJ as mayor was a referendum on the Kings in Sac) are ready to make it happen with whatever it takes.

 

[rainmaker]

What is all boils down to, is a lack of forsight, or vision, from all the people who's duty it is to have a vision, and work towards it, for the city of Sacramento.

Fargo, city council, politicians, and business leaders. All of them have failed, except for KJ, although it appears KJ became mayor one term too late.

All of this could have been planned years ago. All the financial statistics, and what it would mean to the economy if the kings leave, has been available for years. The writing has been on the wall for years. Many other cities have gone through this, Seattle being the latest. The warning sign were there, as well as the threat of the Kings leaving. Maloofs, and the previous owner, have been talking about this for over a decade.

The entire time, the politicians and business leaders have ignored all the warning signs, and have been in denial about the situation as a whole. Really, the city of Sac has slowly dug its own grave. And some wonder why the Maloofs have trouble, and are fed up with dealing with the local politicians and business leaders. If you owned a business, would you have any faith in dealing with the business leaders in Sac, who haven't shown the ability to look past their next meal? I sure as hell wouldn't.

I feel terrible for the fans in Sac. Nobody deserves to have their team taken away. But part of me, when I take the fans out of the picture, wants Sacramento to get what it deserves. Sac made this bed, now lay in it. And in no way do I think that's fair for the fans. But as far as the politicians and business leaders go, I hope they struggle for years. I hope the politicians are booted from office, and their careers tarnished. I hope the business leaders lose money, and this hurts them financially for years to come. I hope there's an uproar from the citizens, when all the tax revenue the Kings generate is no longer there, for law enforcement and education.

The sacramento business journal wrote the story a couple days ago, which highlighted just how much this community would lose if the Kings left. $100M per year. Many, many businesses will be effected. Many jobs lost. Much tax revenue lost. By ignoring this for years, the city council has pretty much assured the citizens of Sac, that if they don't build an arena, and the Kings leave, everything will still be fine, it will have minimal effects, and life will go on as usual. They have put it on the backburner, and not made it a priority. I've always said this isn't about the Kings or the Maloofs, but about the Sacramento community. Many will suffer, and the city has acted like a new arena, and keeping the Kings, is a completely seperate entity from the economic viability as Sacramento as a whole. That now appears to be far from reality.

The city didn't only screw Kings fans here. They screwed the entire community, and many people who never have, or never will go to a game. The city has hurt the future of businesses, education, healthcare, non-profit businesses, charity organizations, law enforcement, and so on. It's a monumental failure, and complete lack of forsight.

 

[Showtime]

What is all boils down to, is a lack of forsight, or vision, from all the people who's duty it is to have a vision, and work towards it, for the city of Sacramento.

Fargo, city council, politicians, and business leaders. All of them have failed, except for KJ, although it appears KJ became mayor one term too late.

All of this could have been planned years ago. All the financial statistics, and what it would mean to the economy if the kings leave, has been available for years. The writing has been on the wall for years. Many other cities have gone through this, Seattle being the latest. The warning sign were there, as well as the threat of the Kings leaving. Maloofs, and the previous owner, have been talking about this for over a decade.

The entire time, the politicians and business leaders have ignored all the warning signs, and have been in denial about the situation as a whole. Really, the city of Sac has slowly dug its own grave. And some wonder why the Maloofs have trouble, and are fed up with dealing with the local politicians and business leaders. If you owned a business, would you have any faith in dealing with the business leaders in Sac, who haven't shown the ability to look past their next meal? I sure as hell wouldn't.

I feel terrible for the fans in Sac. Nobody deserves to have their team taken away. But part of me, when I take the fans out of the picture, wants Sacramento to get what it deserves. Sac made this bed, now lay in it. And in no way do I think that's fair for the fans. But as far as the politicians and business leaders go, I hope they struggle for years. I hope the politicians are booted from office, and their careers tarnished. I hope the business leaders lose money, and this hurts them financially for years to come. I hope there's an uproar from the citizens, when all the tax revenue the Kings generate is no longer there, for law enforcement and education.

The sacramento business journal wrote the story a couple days ago, which highlighted just how much this community would lose if the Kings left. $100M per year. Many, many businesses will be effected. Many jobs lost. Much tax revenue lost. By ignoring this for years, the city council has pretty much assured the citizens of Sac, that if they don't build an arena, and the Kings leave, everything will still be fine, it will have minimal effects, and life will go on as usual. They have put it on the backburner, and not made it a priority. I've always said this isn't about the Kings or the Maloofs, but about the Sacramento community. Many will suffer, and the city has acted like a new arena, and keeping the Kings, is a completely seperate entity from the economic viability as Sacramento as a whole. That now appears to be far from reality.

The city didn't only screw Kings fans here. They screwed the entire community, and many people who never have, or never will go to a game. The city has hurt the future of businesses, education, healthcare, non-profit businesses, charity organizations, law enforcement, and so on. It's a monumental failure, and complete lack of forsight.

 

[Showtime]

It's a struggle to read the hate on Sacramento for me. I know the city failed me as a fan, but I still have pride in it and hope well for the future. As such, I cannot root for the city to fail any further than it already has. I hope it succeeds where it hasn't in the past.

I think we all hope our areas prosper, but those that hold progress and improvement back deserve the reap the fruits of their labor. There are people here that either didn't have the foresight or just were too apathetic to do anything, and many prefer to see this city regress instead of host professional sports and do the things necessary to be known as a legitimate metropolitan area. They want their mayberry. And to those, I say you can have your crappy town if that's what you want. But don't expect me to be a part of it.

 

[Section 101]

Alot of it was the Thomas group that had the railyards property. They were out of money and everyone knew it. Now that it has changed hands it can move forward.

 

[JB_kings]

In denial. They got a wake up call too late.

 

[fansinceday1]

I don't understand a lot of the KJ hate ive been hearing. The guy just came on the scene and has been at the forefront of keeping the kings here.
ALL of the hatred should be directed at the past city councils and the great Heather Fargo.

 

[JB_kings]

Alot of it was the Thomas group that had the railyards property. They were out of money and everyone knew it. Now that it has changed hands it can move forward.

The city now has the land needed for the arena and funds lined up to do most of the infrastructure changes like moving the rail tracks north. This is why ICON-Taylor had a leg up on any other developer who came before them. The railyard issues have been sorted and the work is contracted to begin.

 

[JB_kings]

I don't understand a lot of the KJ hate ive been hearing. The guy just came on the scene and has been at the forefront of keeping the kings here.
ALL of the hatred should be directed at the past city councils and the great Heather Fargo.

Heather Fargo, Steve Cohn and IMO the worst one was Dave Jones. He and Bob Graswich were the earliest and loudest opponents of a new arena. It's tough to pick out one single person who poisoned the pot, but Bob graswich probably stands out as the worst because he ritually slandered the Maloofs in the Sac Bee on a weekly basis for years. In fact it was his hatchet jobs and those other columnists at the Bee who did most of the heavy lifting on destroying any idea of a new arena and painting the Maloofs as greedy billionaires that was nearly impossible to overcome. It was at that point I pulled the plug on my subscription to the Bee and they haven't got a dime from me since.

Really ironic. If Mayor KJ wanted to exact revenge on the main culprit for destroying hopes of getting a new arena built, well Bob Graswich is an assistant right there at his side. Ralph Sampson once wanted to punch Bob in the nose, I kind of wished he had and maybe it would have changed history?

 

[Uncia03]

Heather Fargo, Steve Cohn and IMO the worst one was Dave Jones. He and Bob Graswich were the earliest and loudest opponents of a new arena. It's tough to pick out one single person who poisoned the pot, but Bob graswich probably stands out as the worst because he ritually slandered the Maloofs in the Sac Bee on a weekly basis for years. In fact it was his hatchet jobs and those other columnists at the Bee who did most of the heavy lifting on destroying any idea of a new arena and painting the Maloofs as greedy billionaires that was nearly impossible to overcome. It was at that point I pulled the plug on my subscription to the Bee and they haven't got a dime from me since.

Really ironic. If Mayor KJ wanted to exact revenge on the main culprit for destroying hopes of getting a new arena built, well Bob Graswich is an assistant right there at his side. Ralph Sampson once wanted to punch Bob in the nose, I kind of wished he had and maybe it would have changed history?

I agree.

I don't think anyone can fault KJ for anything in regards to the Maloof's leaving. I don't think he made the best of decisions with some of his press conferences of late, but since it seems as if he was entirely correct (that it was now a matter of the Anaheim dealing falling through to prevent the Maloofs from leaving) I can't even blame him for that.

The SacBee has probably been public enemy #1 in regards to the killing the Maloofs and creating an environment where people would rather try and build an arena with-out the help of the Maloofs rather than with the help of the Maloofs, since building it with the help of the Maloofs would be akin to "bailing them out". Of course the problem with that is the City looses their only professional sports team, and makes it difficult to envision getting another one back.

If the local politicians, business leaders, and media had stepped up from day one an arena would have been built years ago. It's beyond frustrating.

 

[Geoff]

 

[CruzDude]

It is human nature to finally want something once you realize you can't have it. For at least 8 of the last 10 years the Maloofs have spent mucho time, effort and money to try to keep the Kings in Sacramento. For 9-1/2 of those 10 years the city council did zero to help the Kings cash engine (did I see $100M a year into local economy?) stay in Sactown. In fact they are on record numerous times saying how they won't help and don't need a new arena. True, KJ is the mayor one term too late but he too is fighting a negative council. The Kings belong in Sactown but only if the city, county, businesses AND fans want them. We know the fan view. Too bad they appear alone in their team support.

 

[swisshh]

This is the game:

Maloofs want city to build arena.

Maloof hardball on giving up revenues to the city even though the city is building the arena.

City becomes afraid of building an arena, not getting paid back and still having the Maloofs leave.

This tipping point can go on forever, until one side claims the other never really wanted to.

NBA ****s around for a couple years and comes up with a no chance proposal.

Maloofs leave.

Now the city sees the arena as an arena for them, because the Kings are no longer essential to the situation.

 

[kennadog]

This is the game:

Maloofs want city to build arena.

Maloof hardball on giving up revenues to the city even though the city is building the arena.

City becomes afraid of building an arena, not getting paid back and still having the Maloofs leave.

This tipping point can go on forever, until one side claims the other never really wanted to.

NBA ****s around for a couple years and comes up with a no chance proposal.

Maloofs leave.

Now the city sees the arena as an arena for them, because the Kings are no longer essential to the situation.

Well the convergence plan failed and I expected it to fail, becasue of the State approval required. However, under that proposal, the arena would have been owned by the city and leased by the MSE. MSE would likely have still needed a good part of the revenue streams to make it. Sacramento has almost no corporate base, lower TV revenue, etc. than most other NBA teams.

Stillould have been a good deal, if the lesee was responsible for regular maintenance/repair and not the city. There are lots of ways the arragement could have been negotiated in the lease.