Bee editorial: Arena plan R.I.P.

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http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13270430p-14112819c.html

Editorial: Arena plan, R.I.P.

Neither team nor politicos have game plan

Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, July 21, 2005

That sound you don't hear is any continuing discussion of a new arena for the Sacramento Kings.
Earlier this year, developers and a handful of political leaders were talking up a private financing plan to build a new arena. It has been replaced by a deafening silence.

If the Maloof family, which owns the Kings, is personally and actively in conversations with any major political figure, the conversations have escaped us. If any leader in the public or private sector has identified a way to finance a $400 million facility, or even come up with a fraction of the funds, it's the best-kept secret in Sacramento.

Sometimes there is silence because of the rhythm of politics, a lull in the proverbial storm, the summer break that precedes the busy fall. The reason for the complete breakdown in private arena discussions, however, goes much deeper than some conflicts in vacation schedules.

Basically, there no longer appears to be much to talk about. Political leaders, as well as leaders in the development community, seem to have exhausted their list of possible financing ideas. They never could meet the demands of the Maloofs. The Maloofs never countered with an idea of their own - or at least an idea that ever saw the light of day.

The one idea that had some political possibilities has come and seemingly gone, forever. That idea was to rezone for development thousands of acres of land north of Arco Arena and dedicate a fifth of the profits toward a new facility. Not enough landowners were willing to share in the profits to build a $400 million arena, as the Maloofs had requested, but there was maybe $200 million on the table, if the landowners and Kings could craft a reasonable initiative and if the voters were willing to go along.

That $200 million is no longer on the table. All the talk now is to proceed incrementally with development, based on previous plans, absent any profits going to an arena. If the Maloofs really thought that $200 million was important for the team's future in Sacramento, they really blew it. With at least three successive failures at arena financing efforts, one begins to wonder if they really want a new arena, at least in Sacramento. The decreasing political energy being spent on the Kings is increasing the chances that the team will leave. Don't be surprised if news of a possible departure is what breaks the silence.
 
Really amazing. I am beginning to believe Sacto is actually going to lose its franchise. There was a point there in the mid-90's when that seemed possible. But the Maloofs, and winning, should by all rights have fixed things. But there seems to be no vision and no leadership in Sacto.

Meanwhile that KC state of the art arena lurks.

Not sure who this op ed is from. But almost have to hope thye are just out of the loop.
 
It might also be a clarion call...

Don't be surprised if news of a possible departure is what breaks the silence.

I think the writer might be saying it may actually take something as drastic as real news of a possible departure to get the ball rolling...
 
With at least three successive failures at arena financing efforts, one begins to wonder if they really want a new arena, at least in Sacramento. The decreasing political energy being spent on the Kings is increasing the chances that the team will leave. Don't be surprised if news of a possible departure is what breaks the silence.

This is a nice spin. When the team leaves, we can all gnash our teeth over the 'evil' owners, who obviously just didn't want to get a deal done, and convienently forget the fact that many of us, even the rabid ones, just thought it really wasn't neccesary. The Kings would never leave Sac. No one seems hepped up enough to get it done, hell, half the 'huge' Kings fans you talk to wouldn't even vote 'yes' on an iniatitive if it was handed to them. And that's the FANS, let alone Joe Q Public who could give a rats patoot about basketball and doesn't see the benefits having the Kings here does for Sacramneto. Better watch close this season, boys and girls, the 'new jersies' the Kings will be sporting soon won't say Sacramento across the front.
 
Wow, that's just depressing. Hmm... it took Kansas City how many years without a franchise to convince them to build one in hopes of luring a team back there? This may be one of those cases of "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" because all these people who think that having the Kings in Sac doesn't matter may be shocked at what a difference it makes.

I tend to blame Sacramento more than the Maloofs, because, simply put, we need them more than they need us. They have other options for places to play, but we aren't going to get any NBA team to play in Arco if the Kings ship out.
 
love_them_kings said:
I tend to blame Sacramento more than the Maloofs, because, simply put, we need them more than they need us. They have other options for places to play, but we aren't going to get any NBA team to play in Arco if the Kings ship out.

Well put.
 
Why don't the Maloofs come out with a concrete proposal??

Let's get all the cards on the table. People need to know exactly what we are talking about. This has been stealth from the beginning.
 
I don't know why so many here are so quick to hammer the city and give the maloofs a pass on this subject. I am one of the first ones to call the city on their unwillingness to do things that would better this community. For some reason they cannot get things done in this city. However................
I have yet to see one concrete proposal from the maloofs on what exactly they want. What kind of deal do they want? EXACTLY how much will this arena cost? How much will the city be on the hook for? Private deal? Public deal? If the city is so inept and the maloofs are so uterly t'd off then why havent they called the city to the mat? Apparently they arent too worried about getting a deal done either. I have yet to hear one thing that is worth a crap from the maloofs camp. I don't think the maloofs are too commited to keeping this team here.
 
love_them_kings said:
I tend to blame Sacramento more than the Maloofs, because, simply put, we need them more than they need us.
Again. Well put. It is up to the people. Fork over some cash, LOL. But, I do agree with lovethemkings.
 
sanchosforhire said:
I don't know why so many here are so quick to hammer the city and give the maloofs a pass on this subject. I am one of the first ones to call the city on their unwillingness to do things that would better this community. For some reason they cannot get things done in this city. However................
I have yet to see one concrete proposal from the maloofs on what exactly they want. What kind of deal do they want? EXACTLY how much will this arena cost? How much will the city be on the hook for? Private deal? Public deal? If the city is so inept and the maloofs are so uterly t'd off then why havent they called the city to the mat? Apparently they arent too worried about getting a deal done either. I have yet to hear one thing that is worth a crap from the maloofs camp. I don't think the maloofs are too commited to keeping this team here.

For the simple reason that the Maloofs are not the one with anything to really lose right now. They will still own the team, still have courtside seats. And unless something changes will be playing in a much nicer arena in a town eager to embrace them. Its Sacramento, its fans, and even its non-fans, which have everything to lose here. Short of moving back to Sacramento and running for mayor to jar this stupid process into life, not much I can do about things from across the country. But its long past time for people in Sacramento to wake up and save their team. They are the only ones who can, and the only ones who should care enough to make something happen. You don't blame the guy selling his house because somebody else outbid you for it. Did you want it or not?
 
What irks me as a nearly 40-year Sacramento resident, is that we won’t just lose a basketball team. As was pointed out in a Bee article sometime back, there are other potential arena events that are starting to pass on Sacramento, because of the condition of our arena. We’ll lose our only pro sports franchise, which a lot of people don’t care about, but we will also lose the opportunity to host a whole lot of other events eventually. Pro basketball makes up about 25% of the events that take place at Arco in one year.

As to hearing nothing, we have been told the arena will cost at least $400 million. The Maloofs said they would be willing to come up with something in the neighborhood of 20% of that or what other teams in the league have put up on average.

The Sonics are having a hard time getting the city to finance a renovation/expansion of Key Arena for a couple hundred million dollars. So I suspect that $400 million is a low estimate for a brand new arena, especially since their proposed renovation has zero land costs. Of course, the Sonics can’t get their city to help either. They may even have a worse mess than Sacto.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002244667_keyarena18m.html

And building an arena gets more expensive, the longer it takes to get it done. Land costs go up (especially in California) and so does the cost of labor and materials. Concrete costs have gone up tremendously in the last year or so, for example. It is not easy to pin down a moving target. It is also difficult to be firmer about cost until you at least know where you are going to build something. The site chosen can affect the cost substantially, either because the land cost is higher or lower and/or because some sites physically require more work (adding to the cost). For a simple example, it costs more to build on a steep slope than plain old flat land. It can cost more to build in a 100-year flood plain or on a site that has to have a major environmental impact report done with costly mitigation then required. The list goes on and on. And a final site hasn’t even been selected for a new arena.

Also, finalizing plans and costing everything to give a “real” estimate takes a fair amount of cash up front. I wouldn’t be willing to spend potentially a few hundred thousand developing more complete estimates when it looks unlikely the project is going to get off the ground here in Sacramento. I suspect a fair amount of money has already been spent with nothing to show for it.

Unfortunately, the citizens don’t seem to care much about an arena, with or without the Kings. A real shame. We’ll just go backwards to a time when to attend the kind of events you can go to at Arco, we had to drive to the bay area. Talk about a long, expensive night out!

By the way, city leaders in Kansas City said Sacramento should learn from them, because they are sorry they ever let the Kings go. They will be more than happy to welcome them back with open arms and an already built, city-financed new arena. Sometimes you don't appreciate something until you've lost it. And often, you never get it back.

We can get mad that the Maloofs won't just do it, but Brick's right, they don't have to. So fume as much as we want, that's the reality. Given a choice of having to pay 20% of the cost of the house you want or 100%, which would you choose? Given a choice of being blasted and villified as greedy and selfish or welcomed with open arms, which would you choose?

And, if the Kings leave, the city won't have one cent more to spend on anything else people keep saying we should spend the money on. There is no pot of money sitting there waiting to be spent. You have to raise taxes, increase/charge fees, sell bonds or something to pay for anything. I haven't seen a single proposal for raising money for those "other" things the City "should be the spending money on" that people keep using as the argument against the arena.

And the City spends quite a lot of money to lure and keep businesses here. Sacramento spent a lot of money getting 3 major hotel chains to build hotels downtown. Do people think that Embassy Suites, Sheraton and Hyatt aren't rich enough to build hotels without public subsidy? Well, the City wanted them to build here, but they had to provide substantial financial incentives to get them.

Sorry for the rant, this subject gets my dander up. :(
 
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I have never understood why this is such a difficult project to get off the ground. Every city and team develops a collaborative partnership in order to get and give what both sides want and need.

If I am not mistaken the City of Sacramento way back last year said that they were able to pony up 50 percent or up to $175 million dollars. The Maloofs said that they are willing to fund them selves 20 percent. The land owners said based on their estimate they can raise about $200 million dollars. Lets do the math shall we?

425 MILLION DOLLAR ARENA
Land owners - $200 million
City of Sac - $175 million
Maloofs - 20 percent or $85 million

That comes up to $460 million dollars. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM???? I will tell you the problem. Lack of collaboration skills. Everybody is mad and clueless right now, and I put this square on the shoulders of Joe and Gavin Maloof. It is their job to come up with a plan to bring all of the stakeholders to the table to share their vision. Sure, it is going to take a public referendum, which means that Joe and Gavin can not do their business behind closed doors like they do it in Vegas. When you need public money, you do it in public on the table. In my view the Maloofs are to blame for this whole fiasco. The landowners complained that the Maloofs would not cooperate. The city complained that the Maloofs would not do business in public.

Step up to the plate Maloofs, get this thing done.
 
One: The landowners are now out of the equation. There goes $200 million and you are now down to $260 million. Too little.

Two: As Brick stated, they have nothing to lose, the City and the Team's fans do. They can go to KC and not have to pay a cent in building costs. In fact, they probably could get a piece of the pie in terms of other revenue the stadium brings in.

Three: Why bother? Is it worth the headache? (see point two)
 
whozit said:
One: The landowners are now out of the equation. There goes $200 million and you are now down to $260 million. Too little.

Two: As Brick stated, they have nothing to lose, the City and the Team's fans do. They can go to KC and not have to pay a cent in building costs. In fact, they probably could get a piece of the pie in terms of other revenue the stadium brings in.

Three: Why bother? Is it worth the headache? (see point two)

yep. I think people overestimate the Maloofs desire to keep the team here. Honestly, I would love to see them step up to the plate and come through with a great offer, because I want the Kings to stay. But from what I've seen, that just doesn't seem likely. The Kings have a new arena waiting in KC. They have fans in KC that are dying to have an NBA team back there. I don't think they are going to bend over backwards to keep the team here. Sad, but true. So, where does that leave us? It leaves Sacramento with a big decision to make. Do we want to end up like Kansas City 20 years from now... or do we want to try and keep our team?
 
Purple Reign said:
Lack of collaboration skills. Everybody is mad and clueless right now, and I put this square on the shoulders of Joe and Gavin Maloof. It is their job to come up with a plan to bring all of the stakeholders to the table to share their vision. Sure, it is going to take a public referendum, which means that Joe and Gavin can not do their business behind closed doors like they do it in Vegas. When you need public money, you do it in public on the table. In my view the Maloofs are to blame for this whole fiasco. The landowners complained that the Maloofs would not cooperate. The city complained that the Maloofs would not do business in public.

Step up to the plate Maloofs, get this thing done.
No this is not up to the Maloofs. If it was them building on their own it would be up to them. However, they cannot just tell the city what they have to do. The City has to decide what it is willing to do.

All kinds of deals are made with business owners and public money. I cited 3 hotel deals above. Ask the average citizen if they have any idea how many millions those hotel owners got from the city, even though once the deal was negotiated, there was a public hearing and vote. Usually the negotiations take place out of the public view. Then when the deal is pretty much decided on, then it is presented publicly for a yea or nay. The Maloofs are the only business I have seen that is being asked to negotiate in public. That's what they were mad about. They were not being treated the same as every other business is treated in negotiations with the city, including arena deals (or other public-private deals) in other cities.

The landowners still interested could come up with some money, but it would still take some commitment of funds from the city. The City took the $175 million off the table and has been completely silent about any possibility of joint funding with the Maloofs and the willing landowners.

And the $175,000 was going to come from a bond sale and there seemed to be no support among Sacramentans to vote for the sale of a bond.

No if the city wants this, it is squarely on their shoulders to tell the Maloofs what they can realistically offer. Or at least to negotiate with the Maloofs. Both sides try to get the most they can for their money, but in the end you see what kind of deal all sides can live with and then you put it up for a public yea or nay. But almost never do those negotiations take place in public. And its easy to see why. Because they public gets all heated up over every proposal, instead of realizing its not the ultimate proposal, its only the negotiating positions at a certain point in time.
 
sanchosforhire said:
I don't know why so many here are so quick to hammer the city and give the maloofs a pass on this subject. I am one of the first ones to call the city on their unwillingness to do things that would better this community. For some reason they cannot get things done in this city. However................
I have yet to see one concrete proposal from the maloofs on what exactly they want. What kind of deal do they want? EXACTLY how much will this arena cost? How much will the city be on the hook for? Private deal? Public deal? If the city is so inept and the maloofs are so uterly t'd off then why havent they called the city to the mat? Apparently they arent too worried about getting a deal done either. I have yet to hear one thing that is worth a crap from the maloofs camp. I don't think the maloofs are too commited to keeping this team here.

I'm sure there are talks behind the seens. Not sure how long you have been a kings fan or how long you have been in sacramento, but the Maloofs are committed to keeping the kings here and will do what it takes. The city leaders are IMO a bunch of over-paid baboons. The Maloofs had a proposal but the city wouldn't ever hear it. So, I blame the narrow minded city for the problems with the arena
 
Well, I've been in Sac for almost 40 years and also work in government financing (not city, thank you). I blame the city, although I can't deny there are some legitimate concerns on the part of the city. There just seems to be a vacuum in leadership. This isn't really a Kings arena, its a multi-use, metropolitan Sacramento arena. Why this isn't the message, I don't know. And why the surrounding counites/cities can't step up to some degree, I don't know. Its not like their citizens never go to Arco for any event.


It is my fervent hope that negotiations like I described above are actually going on, but won't be made public until they can present what is the best they can work out and agree on.
 
West Sac might be more cooperative, but they are a young city and don't have near the resources of Sacramento. The cheapest site is right where the current arena is.
 
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