I'm about as hard-core of a Kings fan as you will ever meet. I used to listen to every game on the radio as a kid when there was only about 25 games a year on tv. I remember the days of Lasalle Thompson, Derek Smith, Travis Mays, L-Train, Pressley, Ricky Berry, etc...
So it's a REALLY emotional time for me to see that the team that I have loved for the past 26 years is practically GONE.... I have a 7 year old son who has gotten addicted to the Kings the past couple of years and is infatuated with Tyreke Evans. I'm soooo sad that he won't be able to grow up with the Kings...
I had to tell him the other day that they were probably going to move and he kept asking why? I told him that they needed a newer, bigger arena. And his response was that they could make this one bigger? He has been pretty heartbroken....
So back to my original reason for writing this note. I see that alot of Kings fans are saying that they don't blame the Maloofs one bit for moving. On the outside, that seems like a logical feeling. I felt the same, I mean they've wanted an Arena for 10 years, and the city hasn't been able to provide one.
But digging a little deeper, I think that the Maloofs are doing exactly what they intended to do for several years:
1. What have they done in the last 5 years to even show that they are committed to helping build a new arena? The closest we came to this was the Q and R vote in 2006, when the day before (or a couple of days before) the vote, Joe Maloof came out and basically said that they weren't fully behind the measure. I mean it was going to be a brand new arena in downtown for them, but since they weren't going to be able to control the parking revenues from ALL of the events there, they sabotaged what little chance it did have of passing.
2. They have made it seem like they were willing to contribute towards building a new Arena. They even threw out the $300 million figure as their contribution. When in reality all it amounted to was a lease payment of $10 million a year for 30 years as a lease payment of sorts. In return they wanted to control EVERYTHNG at the arena, even though the City was going to foot the entire bill for everything.
3. Since 2006, they have done absolutely nothing on the Arena front. Instead, they sat back and let the NBA come in and do there work for them. What major facility around the country has been built without active lobbying and support from the team itself?
4. They have continously cut salary for several years now. Every year it was like wait till the Summer of 2010, and then the Summer came and went with nothing happening. The salary cuts have resulted in a horrible product. And the following formula is true:
Horrible Product + Bad Economy = LOW Attendance
And the low attendance gives them a perfect reason to move without looking like the bad guys. Now they're the poor little millionaire victims that are "forced" to move. Every one keeps saying how they're losing money in Sacramento, when in fact they have made a profit on the Kings the past few years. This has been documented in the media and they have even stated it.
Also, no Pro Sports owner buys a team to necessarily turn a profit every year. They make their money in the equity that the team builds over time. If they sold the team today, they would have made a huge profit compared to how much they bought the team for.
The City is definitely not without blame here, they have not done their share. Heather Fargo was totally inept and out of her league on this issue......
But KJ has put together a team that needs a little bit of time to come up with a plan, and they asked for the Maloofs to hand over some documents to assist. KJ announced yesterday that the Maloofs weren't comfortable presenting the "financial documents" requested. Why is that???? Is there something to hide? Are they making more money then they let on??? Do they NOT want an arena here?