http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/360997.html
A Bee Exclusive: Kings arena at Cal Expo?
In a blow to city's railyard plan, NBA is said to prefer fairground for its open land and parking lots.
By Mary Lynne Vellinga - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A13
The NBA has settled on Cal Expo as the preferred location for a new Kings arena, according to sources familiar with the league's behind-the-scenes effort to build the team a new home in Sacramento.
Despite its location on one of Sacramento's worst freeway bottlenecks, Cal Expo appeals to the NBA because it offers a ready supply of vacant land and a name already recognized as an entertainment destination, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the league hasn't yet unveiled its proposal.
NBA Commissioner David Stern has said he will reveal his plan for a new arena about the time the basketball season starts this fall. League consultant John Moag, who is in charge of the effort, said he will come to Sacramento later this month to brief elected officials on his progress.
Moag would not publicly detail the NBA's ideas for Sacramento, but said the proposal is taking shape.
"There's a lot of discussion that has to go on, but I think we're very quickly getting to the point where we can roll up our sleeves and see if we can work something out," Moag said Tuesday.
"The commissioner has kind of set the first part of November as a target date for having something wrapped up. I think that's realistic."
Assistant City Manager John Dangberg, the lead city staff member on arena issues, said Moag confirmed to him Tuesday that he will be in Sacramento the week of Sept. 17.
"I'm just happy we're at that stage where we're ready to start briefing council members," he said.
NBA Commissioner Stern took over the effort to build an arena for the Kings after voters in November soundly rejected a city-county proposal to raise sales taxes to fund a facility in the downtown railyard.
That failed campaign took place amid a fierce public battle between local leaders of the arena effort and the Maloofs, owners of the Kings, who insisted the financial terms of the deal were not favorable enough to them. Taxpayers would have funded the entire $500 million or so needed to build an arena.
The railyard has faded as a potential arena site, with Cal Expo now the favored location, the sources said. Unlike the railyard, Cal Expo has existing streets and other needed infrastructure.
The state-owned facility occupies 360 acres of prime real estate near Arden Fair mall, and its board is looking for new uses to help bolster its bottom line and occupy parking lots that sit empty most of the year.
Moag has visited Cal Expo and requested information, but the NBA hasn't presented an actual proposal yet, said Brian May, Cal Expo deputy general manager.
"We've been neutral on the whole matter because they haven't presented us with any kind of proposal we can react to," May said.
Dangberg stressed that the biggest hurdle to building an arena in Sacramento won't be the question of where to put it, but how to pay for it.
In previous interviews, Cal Expo officials have stressed that there's no way the state-owned fairgrounds could pay for an arena. Cal Expo does not generate enough cash to make a dent in its own $40 million in deferred maintenance needs, and receives no money from the state general fund.
Legislation moving through the Capitol could help.
Senate Bill 282, which is awaiting a vote in the Assembly, would create a joint powers authority that could authorize the issuance of bonds for improvements to Cal Expo, and the leasing of Cal Expo land to private developers.
Any bonds would have to be paid back with money generated by the fairgrounds, said Doug Yoakam, legislative director for the bill's author, Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks.
"The state would not be on the hook for any bond debt," he said.
Cox agreed to carry the bill as a way to help Cal Expo come up with money to modernize its aging facility, Yoakam said. An arena wasn't on the radar when the bill was introduced, and isn't a factor behind the senator's pursuit of the bill now, he said.
Cal Expo general manager Norb Bartosik said SB 282 is not connected to the arena effort. Still, there's nothing in the bill that would prevent it from being used as a financing vehicle for such a facility, he said.
"It would be handy to use in any developmental process Cal Expo (pursues) in the future," Bartosik said.
About the writer: The Bee's Mary Lynne Vellinga can be reached at (916) 321-1094 or mlvellinga@sacbee.com.
A Bee Exclusive: Kings arena at Cal Expo?
In a blow to city's railyard plan, NBA is said to prefer fairground for its open land and parking lots.
By Mary Lynne Vellinga - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A13
The NBA has settled on Cal Expo as the preferred location for a new Kings arena, according to sources familiar with the league's behind-the-scenes effort to build the team a new home in Sacramento.
Despite its location on one of Sacramento's worst freeway bottlenecks, Cal Expo appeals to the NBA because it offers a ready supply of vacant land and a name already recognized as an entertainment destination, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the league hasn't yet unveiled its proposal.
NBA Commissioner David Stern has said he will reveal his plan for a new arena about the time the basketball season starts this fall. League consultant John Moag, who is in charge of the effort, said he will come to Sacramento later this month to brief elected officials on his progress.
Moag would not publicly detail the NBA's ideas for Sacramento, but said the proposal is taking shape.
"There's a lot of discussion that has to go on, but I think we're very quickly getting to the point where we can roll up our sleeves and see if we can work something out," Moag said Tuesday.
"The commissioner has kind of set the first part of November as a target date for having something wrapped up. I think that's realistic."
Assistant City Manager John Dangberg, the lead city staff member on arena issues, said Moag confirmed to him Tuesday that he will be in Sacramento the week of Sept. 17.
"I'm just happy we're at that stage where we're ready to start briefing council members," he said.
NBA Commissioner Stern took over the effort to build an arena for the Kings after voters in November soundly rejected a city-county proposal to raise sales taxes to fund a facility in the downtown railyard.
That failed campaign took place amid a fierce public battle between local leaders of the arena effort and the Maloofs, owners of the Kings, who insisted the financial terms of the deal were not favorable enough to them. Taxpayers would have funded the entire $500 million or so needed to build an arena.
The railyard has faded as a potential arena site, with Cal Expo now the favored location, the sources said. Unlike the railyard, Cal Expo has existing streets and other needed infrastructure.
The state-owned facility occupies 360 acres of prime real estate near Arden Fair mall, and its board is looking for new uses to help bolster its bottom line and occupy parking lots that sit empty most of the year.
Moag has visited Cal Expo and requested information, but the NBA hasn't presented an actual proposal yet, said Brian May, Cal Expo deputy general manager.
"We've been neutral on the whole matter because they haven't presented us with any kind of proposal we can react to," May said.
Dangberg stressed that the biggest hurdle to building an arena in Sacramento won't be the question of where to put it, but how to pay for it.
In previous interviews, Cal Expo officials have stressed that there's no way the state-owned fairgrounds could pay for an arena. Cal Expo does not generate enough cash to make a dent in its own $40 million in deferred maintenance needs, and receives no money from the state general fund.
Legislation moving through the Capitol could help.
Senate Bill 282, which is awaiting a vote in the Assembly, would create a joint powers authority that could authorize the issuance of bonds for improvements to Cal Expo, and the leasing of Cal Expo land to private developers.
Any bonds would have to be paid back with money generated by the fairgrounds, said Doug Yoakam, legislative director for the bill's author, Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks.
"The state would not be on the hook for any bond debt," he said.
Cox agreed to carry the bill as a way to help Cal Expo come up with money to modernize its aging facility, Yoakam said. An arena wasn't on the radar when the bill was introduced, and isn't a factor behind the senator's pursuit of the bill now, he said.
Cal Expo general manager Norb Bartosik said SB 282 is not connected to the arena effort. Still, there's nothing in the bill that would prevent it from being used as a financing vehicle for such a facility, he said.
"It would be handy to use in any developmental process Cal Expo (pursues) in the future," Bartosik said.
About the writer: The Bee's Mary Lynne Vellinga can be reached at (916) 321-1094 or mlvellinga@sacbee.com.
