Can the Maloof Family Be Trusted to Negotiate in Good Faith

[Purple Reign]

I am not putting the cart before the horse. I do believe that the league is strongly leaning towards keeping the Kings in Sacramento for one more season. I personally think that is fair enough, because if we can't get our stuff together in 11 months, after all of this we have experienced for the last two months, we quite frankly as a region do not deserve a major league team.

My GREAT BIG FAT concern here is can the Maloofs be trusted to do the right thing for all those that are vested here in Sacramento. I know Mayor Johnson can be trusted; he has shown to be "trust-worthy". I believe that the City Officials can be trusted, I do believe that they finally get it!!!. I believe that the businesses of Sacramento can be trusted, they have completely stepped up to the plate.

But can the Maloof family be trusted to negotiate an arena deal in good faith, knowing that Anaheim is still in their back pocket. In my heart of hearts, I can not answer that question.

In the past five years, the owners of the Sacramento Kings and their family brand has shown more ineptness than I feel they have shown goodwill. From 1998-2006, you saw the family at their best when things were well. But I have always been taught that true character is revealed in the midst of adversity. In the past five years of total adversity within the Kings organization and the nation’s economy, this is what I have PUBLICALLY witnessed:

1. Maloof Sports and Entertainment initially kept ticket prices in the top tier in the league through 2008. In 2009 after they gutted the product on the floor to a 17 win season, they finally changed their marketing and reduced ticket prices.

2. They walked away and whether it was purposely or not, sabatoged an arena deal after they could not get their way. Once the city did not meet their outrageous demands (low investment, high revenue) that included no restaurants built around the arena, the family stopped all negotiations.Whether it was league mandated or not, for five years, they placed their fate in the hands of the NBA, because they were frustrated.

3. MS and E folded the WNBA Monarchs in 2009, without any communication with their fan base or the mayor of Sacramento. Mayor KJ and the fans found out from a radio report and not from the Maloofs themselves.

4. Sept, 2010 - After saying that they were committed to the region, and committed to find a way to make this work, once the convergence plan was rejected, the Maloofs went behind the backs of the fans and began negoitations with the City of Anaheim and Henry Samuelli.

5. In Feb, 2011 at All Star Weekend, the mayor, the fans and the media found out about the Anaheim negotiations that had been going on since the Fall thru David Stern‘s All Star Press Conference. And if Ailene Voison did not ask the right questions at the presser, the fans may not have known until they filed for relocation on March 1. The Maloofs said absolutely nothing, and if I am not mistaken (and I could be wrong) Since the All Star Game, Joe and Gavin only attended one or two games.

6. At the very last game of the season, and possibly in the history of Sacramento, Joe and Gavin were not present; but their seats were mysteriously used by Laker fans. One Maloof did show up. Adrienne, who came in filming The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

7. Word on the Street that on top of the 77 mil to Sac, the family took out a 75 mil line of credit from the league, 50 mil from the Ducks, on top of the relocation fee (30-50 mil) meaning that they were POTENTIALLY willing to go in debt 232 MILLION DOLLARS JUST TO MOVE TO ANAHEIM. And when the City of Sacramento began to question whether they were going to pay back the loan, they acted like The Sopranos and told the City to stay out of their business.


8. When Mayor KJ, went to NYC to plead Sacramento's case to the BOGs and brought our own Sugar Daddy in Ron Burkle, the Maloofs acted like a new pimp was movin in on his hoes. And on the corner of a NYC street, they publically told Burkle to back off and go back where he came from.

And I am sure, I have missed some other things, but this gives me real concern whether I can truly trust this family to negotiate a complex, multi-region, last shot do or die deal, with so much at stake for a region. The next several months is where the heavy lifting occurs. Will the Maloof family do their share of the lifting.
　

 

[pdxKingsFan]

All valid points and I would say no but they may not be given a choice. Unless they feel like an anti-trust suit or something along those lines.

 

[Löwenherz]

I was a huge Maloof apologist until a little over a week ago, placing the entirety of the blame for the arena failures squarely on the city's shoulders. But numbers 6, 7 and especially 8 really changed my mind. (And then the rest in retrospect/hindsight)

That said, I support my team, I'm encouraged by the goings-on now and if the owners play nice from here on out, I see no reason we can't all get along.

Still, I'm pulling for Burkle.

 

[KingsFanatic]

I actually really like the Maloofs. Years ago I had the pleasure of speaking with Joe Maloof when he called into the phone company I was working for. He was having a problem with his phone. Anyway, he was probably one of the nicest customers I've ever talked to, but he didn't have to be that way...

I do agree though that the Maloofs could have handled this better. Aside from how they handled it, I really don't blame them for looking for a new Arena elsewhere , especially since it's been noted that we've needed an arena for the last 10 years...

I just hope that if the Kings do stay that the fans don't boo the Maloofs or invoke any other type of classless behavior, because then they WILL want to get the hell out of Sacramento for sure....

I've heard that there's far worse owners out there...They've done quite a bit for the community of Sacramento and I've only heard good things about them on a personal level... But yes, on a business level, they have some serious work to do....

Another thing I've enjoyed is how pumped up they get as they watch the games from the seats...They seem like just regular guys hooping and hollering just like all the other fans are, pretty cool....

 

[Bricklayer]

Its not nearly as important whether the Maloofs can be trusted to negotiate in good faith etc. becuase Big Daddy is involved now -- ironically the Maloofs made that happen. But at this point the Malofs are almost out of power. The NBA is teling them what they can or cannot do. Is setting the standards Sacto must reach. Is talking to KJ a helluva lot more than the Maloofs. So if the Maloofs were to get unreasonable or nix something that makes sense from the NBA's standpoint, at this point al KJ has to do is go run and tell daddy. Then daddy chastizes the Maloofs. Or if the Maloofs try to use being uncooperative as a pretext to move, daddy says no.

his whole thing has largely marginalized the Maloofs as players in their own drama. The party Sacto has to impress now is the NBA. The group who gets to set the standards is the NBa. And the implicit deal is that if you, Sacto, do x,y,z as we've asked, then we won't give the Maloofs the go ahead to move.

 

[The Hammer]

Its not nearly as important whether the Maloofs can be trusted to negotiate in good faith etc. becuase Big Daddy is involved now -- ironically the Maloofs made that happen. But at this point the Malofs are almost out of power. The NBA is teling them what they can or cannot do. Is setting the standards Sacto must reach.

And even more ironically, it's appearing to be working out financially for them to the far superior that this is now the case.

It would be very interesting to know what other owners are saying about them around their dinner tables.

But even more interesting is to see how this will turn out for them. It's been a dramtic turn of events, but my question now is how they handle coming back... and also what Burkle's role will be, given he had such a large and startling presence as such a crucial juncture as the BOG meetings.

 

[Glenn]

What Brick and Hammer said. No one hates money and the efforts of KJ have raised a soft $10 mil and Comcast will renogiate a contract. Let us say that staying nets the Maloofs $15 mil and avoids all the costs of moving. If the eventual deal betwen them and the city is NBA standard, it will be deemed acceptable no matter what the Maloofs want.

 

[The Hammer]

No one hates money and the efforts of KJ have raised a soft $10 mil and Comcast will renogiate a contract. Let us say that staying nets the Maloofs $15 mil and avoids all the costs of moving. If the eventual deal betwen them and the city is NBA standard, it will be deemed acceptable no matter what the Maloofs want.

Exactly. And in part because the Maloofs have shown themselves to be either uninterested or incapable of "cultivating corporate relationships" as KJ says.

KJ literally put on a clinic in terms of sales, raising money and generating support for the Kings. In a strange turn of events, in a political way, he now may have more power over Major Kings decisions (arena, relocation, arena naming rights, arena location, major sponsorships, primary relationship with the NBA) than the Maloofs themselves. It leaves me sort of stunned.

 

[KingsFanatic]

Hmm, I wonder if Seattle fought for their team as hard as Sacramento has?

 

[Gary]

Hmm, I wonder if Seattle fought for their team as hard as Sacramento has?

Please don't bring that up.. Seattle is where we didn't want to be. They have GREAT fans up there as well who did everything they could do as fans to keep the Sonics.. Like rallys and other grass roots functions.. It was not the fans fault they left.

Lets just be glad we elected the right mayor for the job of keeping the Kings. Because if we had Fargo then the Kings would be gone.

 

[The Hammer]

Please don't bring that up.. Seattle is where we didn't want to be. They have GREAT fans up there as well who did everything they could do as fans to keep the Sonics.. Like rallys and other grass roots functions.. It was not the fans fault they left.

Lets just be glad we elected the right mayor for the job of keeping the Kings. Because if we had Fargo then the Kings would be gone.

Great fans yes. Shred of political support, no. Citizens who elected those politicians, yes. More divided/diverse sports city, yes. Full of computer nerd left wing recyclers who don't care about sports, yes.

But you gotta think that one reason KJ was elected by that narrow margin is because folks knew he would be a Kings advocate at some point. That's not to say he ran on a pro-Kings platform... but you gotta think the major Kings passion woven into the fabric of the public affected voter's decision, at least a bit. Turns out he's a damn good politician anyway.

 

[KingsFanatic]

Please don't bring that up.. Seattle is where we didn't want to be. They have GREAT fans up there as well who did everything they could do as fans to keep the Sonics.. Like rallys and other grass roots functions.. It was not the fans fault they left.

Lets just be glad we elected the right mayor for the job of keeping the Kings. Because if we had Fargo then the Kings would be gone.

Actually, I only brought that up becauase I really didn't hear near as much hoopla regarding Seattle losing their team like I've heard in Sacramento... Maybe it just flew under the radar I don't know... I'm sure they probably had their own "HereWeBuild".....

and you are right about the Mayor. Had the mayor not been an Ex-NBA ballplayer(which is why he's so passionate), then audios Kings....

Anyway, back to the subject at hand, sorry...

 

[The Hammer]

Actually, I only brought that up becauase I really didn't hear near as much hoopla regarding Seattle losing their team like I've heard in Sacramento... Maybe it just flew under the radar I don't know... I'm sure they probably had their own "HereWeBuild".....

and you are right about the Mayor. Had the mayor not been an Ex-NBA ballplayer(which is why he's so passionate), then audios Kings....

Anyway, back to the subject at hand, sorry...

Well one thing is that that whole thing happened before twitter and facebook was as big as it is, making these kinds of instant grassroots movements a bit less solvent.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Seattle could not put up this kind of fight, it was actually out of Seattle's hands, the Eastern part of the state threw a hissy fit after Qwest was built with public funds and pushed through a ballot measure barring any future public funding for sports teams so no need to punch the heroin shooting commie pinko hippies on this one.

 

[KingsFanatic]

One of my questions regarding the maloof's and whatever they decide is:
even if they do stay, how long will an arena take to build? and will Arco last as long as an area takes to build? That's my main concern....

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Start of 2014 season and that might even be wishful thinking.

 

[Jim Les]

Its not nearly as important whether the Maloofs can be trusted to negotiate in good faith etc. becuase Big Daddy is involved now -- ironically the Maloofs made that happen. But at this point the Malofs are almost out of power. The NBA is teling them what they can or cannot do. Is setting the standards Sacto must reach. Is talking to KJ a helluva lot more than the Maloofs. So if the Maloofs were to get unreasonable or nix something that makes sense from the NBA's standpoint, at this point al KJ has to do is go run and tell daddy. Then daddy chastizes the Maloofs. Or if the Maloofs try to use being uncooperative as a pretext to move, daddy says no.

his whole thing has largely marginalized the Maloofs as players in their own drama. The party Sacto has to impress now is the NBA. The group who gets to set the standards is the NBa. And the implicit deal is that if you, Sacto, do x,y,z as we've asked, then we won't give the Maloofs the go ahead to move.

It is odd that the Maloofs planted the seeds for their own irrelevance, and I agree with most of your points about how the power has shifted. The Maloofs initially thought they held all the cards and used that to have unrealistic demands on a public/private investment on a new arena. Now, the table has seemingly turned.

But here is my question (and I think the initial question raised in this topic): What if Sacramento can get the political will to build this thing with ~ 70% public funding, only requiring 30% from the owners? Will the Maloofs agree to that? What if they don't agree to that, and still refuse to sell the team? Then what happens?

It's an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, I tells ya.

Here's my wet dream scenario: The Kings stay in Sacramento for a year, and KJ works with ICON to get an arena deal started using a fair amount of public dollars, but while also developing an arena downtown that utilizes public transportation and urbanizes downtown Sac, producing residual opportunities to strengthen the cities urban fabric. Then, the Maloofs still refuse to sell and want to move the team because they don't like the terms involved in getting the arena done. This, of course, angers commissioner Stern, who leads an effort to muscle the Maloofs out of the NBA and back to Vegas. This in turn causes a rift amongst owners in the NBA, who may not like the Maloofs, but fear a commissioner drunk with power. The owners oust David Stern as commish, and a new era is born in the NBA where small markets actually have a shot at winning an NBA championship, officials no longer play favorites with star players, and the overall competitive balance is restored. All thanks to the collective efforts of Sacramento fans.

Everybody wins...well, except David Stern, but he's the devil, so who cares.

 

[Section 101]

Start of 2014 season and that might even be wishful thinking.

I think the Arena could be done by then. The infrastructure may not be completed and could be a hassle getting in and out.

 

[Section 101]

It is odd that the Maloofs planted the seeds for their own irrelevance, and I agree with most of your points about how the power has shifted. The Maloofs initially thought they held all the cards and used that to have unrealistic demands on a public/private investment on a new arena. Now, the table has seemingly turned.

But here is my question (and I think the initial question raised in this topic): What if Sacramento can get the political will to build this thing with ~ 70% public funding, only requiring 30% from the owners? Will the Maloofs agree to that? What if they don't agree to that, and still refuse to sell the team? Then what happens?

It's an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, I tells ya.

Here's my wet dream scenario: The Kings stay in Sacramento for a year, and KJ works with ICON to get an arena deal started using a fair amount of public dollars, but while also developing an arena downtown that utilizes public transportation and urbanizes downtown Sac, producing residual opportunities to strengthen the cities urban fabric. Then, the Maloofs still refuse to sell and want to move the team because they don't like the terms involved in getting the arena done. This, of course, angers commissioner Stern, who leads an effort to muscle the Maloofs out of the NBA and back to Vegas. This in turn causes a rift amongst owners in the NBA, who may not like the Maloofs, but fear a commissioner drunk with power. The owners oust David Stern as commish, and a new era is born in the NBA where small markets actually have a shot at winning an NBA championship, officials no longer play favorites with star players, and the overall competitive balance is restored. All thanks to the collective efforts of Sacramento fans.

Everybody wins...well, except David Stern, but he's the devil, so who cares.

The money from the maloofs would be in the lease payments. Anything out of the ordinary will be compared to other teams deals and the Anaheim lease.

 

[rainmaker]

One of my questions regarding the maloof's and whatever they decide is:
even if they do stay, how long will an arena take to build? and will Arco last as long as an area takes to build? That's my main concern....

18-24 months and yes.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I think the Arena could be done by then. The infrastructure may not be completed and could be a hassle getting in and out.

Depends on how early they can break ground, which given that there is no firm architectural or financing plan yet is who knows how far off? It would definitely need to open some point mid-season in 2014 if it isn't ready at the start though.

20-24 months is typical but how much extra work needs to be done to clean up the railyards? I guess they may already be doing that now which would help keep things manageable.

 

[Jim Les]

The money from the maloofs would be in the lease payments. Anything out of the ordinary will be compared to other teams deals and the Anaheim lease.

No, what I am asking is, what if they don't agree to sign a new lease, and simultaneously refuse to sell the team?

 

[pdxKingsFan]

No, what I am asking is, what if they don't agree to sign a new lease, and simultaneously refuse to sell the team?

What if they move to Honda Center without even filing and then refuse to pay a relocation fee?

If an arena gets built they will be compelled to sign a lease.

 

[The Hammer]

No, what I am asking is, what if they don't agree to sign a new lease, and simultaneously refuse to sell the team?

If you are seriously proposing the question of what will happen if that were actually to come about, I have ZERO doubt that Stern would enact his strange and hidden powers of coercion to rid the league of the Maloofs. ZERO doubt.

Thing is, as much as Stern occasionally rips on Sac, I do think he wishes for a successful franchise in this market because of the uniquely fervent image of the fanbase.

It appears KJs actions as of late have confirmed that fact, and even up to the level of the business community (a legit concern of Stern's), and simultaneously revealed the Maloofs to either be dogging it to create the illusion of a non viable market, or to be less than adept at succeeding in a ripe environment, for whatever reason.

Bottom line really is this: NBA wants to be in Sac if there is an arena, and viable business community. Sac's already shown they've got one, now they've got 11 or so months to show they can produce the second. If they do, the NBA is here to stay, regardless of the Maloofs desperate attempts to cash out/boost their equity by moving.

 

[Gary]

I think the Arena could be done by then. The infrastructure may not be completed and could be a hassle getting in and out.

Definitely.. Arena only takes a couple years going off what I had read about how long it has been taking others. Planning stage about a year though but once they break ground then the building process should take 2 years at most. You all saw how fast they put that building up downtown right?

 

[Section 101]

No, what I am asking is, what if they don't agree to sign a new lease, and simultaneously refuse to sell the team?

And that's what I said. If they refuse to sign the lease and the terms are standard compared to other deals then Stern would need to step in.

 

[Gary]

No, what I am asking is, what if they don't agree to sign a new lease, and simultaneously refuse to sell the team?

They cant do that. It's basically like an owner saying he refuses to play his 82 games.. It could never be pulled off and if an owner tried to to that they league would fine the heck out of them.

 

[Section 101]

Depends on how early they can break ground, which given that there is no firm architectural or financing plan yet is who knows how far off? It would definitely need to open some point mid-season in 2014 if it isn't ready at the start though.

20-24 months is typical but how much extra work needs to be done to clean up the railyards? I guess they may already be doing that now which would help keep things manageable.

They are starting on the citys part at the begining of next month by moving the RR tracks. I would hope the architectural part has preliminary stuff done already at least for the potential spots.

From looking at the numbers of other arenas most are started in the early summer and were ready for the NBA season 2 years later.

 

[Section 101]

Definitely.. Arena only takes a couple years going off what I had read about how long it has been taking others. Planning stage about a year though but once they break ground then the building process should take 2 years at most. You all saw how fast they put that building up downtown right?

Which building?

 

[The Hammer]

Which building?

State teacher's building I think he's talking about. The one that had the Boogie Reke thing on it.