"Coalition" threatening arena efforts
- Thread starter Jose
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Sac.1989
Starter
"The attorneys, Patrick Soluri of Soluri Meserve, and Jeffrey Anderson of Cohen Durrett, say in the letter they represent a "nascent coalition ... concerned about the city's proposal for a significant public subsidy to keep the Kings NBA franchise in Sacramento." an absolute discrace
fansinceday1
Starter
I hate F'ing lawyers.
Mike0476
Starter
fansinceday1
Starter
Don't mean to offend you lawyers on here. (s)
IMO that lawyers have made this country worse off. It would just be a stick in the eye if these two yahoos are able to throw a wrench into the machinery and help lose us our team.
Who are these guys working for? Maybe they're in cahoots with people from seattle.
IMO that lawyers have made this country worse off. It would just be a stick in the eye if these two yahoos are able to throw a wrench into the machinery and help lose us our team.
Who are these guys working for? Maybe they're in cahoots with people from seattle.
Mike0476
Starter
They are Sacramento based lawyers. Last year STOP couldn't get it done even with $15,000 from Sheedy and their so-called thousands of volunteers. Their BBQ produced about 10 people. Yet they claimed they were the reason why the Maloofs backed out of the arena deal. Little do they know they had nothing to do with it. Basically the Maloofs are NBA broke.
Gary
All-Star
Umm, Brick?
It really depends on the type of Lawyers. The kind of Lawyers that get a woman off death row and released from prison because the detective that arrested her had a history of lying on the stand. Those lawyers irritate me. The woman had her husband and another guy kill her 4 year old son (shot in the back of the head 3 times) after getting the poor kid dressed up telling him they were going to se Santa". All for a $50,000 llife insurance claim.
So those Lawyers I hate. Let the lady rot.
As for the Lawyers I like? District Attourneys and workers comp Lawyers. In my line of work I have to deal with those two on a regular basis.
As for the lawsuit or whatever I think it's no big deal and wont hinder us keeping the Kings.
Circa_1985_Fan
All-Star
THIS^^^ I don't get it...I've messaged back and forth today with Greg Van Dusen(former Kings minority owner)and Kehriotis cheerleader who wants to continue to push Natomas as a viable location. They keep talking about how they have all this $$$, but have no details. Kehriotis isn't even close to Burkle/Mastrov rich, and I don't know who they have as their financial backers to get $750 million, but I am skeptic, and unsure of their real motive, other than creating distractions from the grand plan KJ/Burkle/Mastrov have for Downtown. Kehriotis has to have whales for his plan to work, he can't operate team with his $$$ even if his longshot plan happens. So...what gives Kehriotis?!?
HndsmCelt
Hall of Famer
Just a guess Kehriotis and pals probably have property in Natomas they wold love to develop/sell if an arena is built there. Hopefully the NBA will be looking at the offers Holistically when deciding who should buy the team.
Mike0476
Starter
It would be best to ignore them. But if you had some questions to ask GVD it would be this, "It has been reported by the media that JK's plan is to have a preferred arena site at Natomas. If that is the case, why Natomas? Why not the Downtown Plaza? How can you build at Natomas when it's not allowed at this time? Why did JK say it would be 100% private and now he's changed his tune on that saying there will be some public dollars involved? By the way, how well did a privately financed arena in Natomas work out? Someone should ask Gregg Lukenbill (he sold the team and arena due to financial problems for the obvious reasons)."
Yep, and the City has already said they won't really contribute to a new arena in Natomas as it doesn't help the City stuck out there on it's own. So where is this public subsidy going to come from?
kennadog
Dog On It!
JK and GVD are just a distraction, as far as I'm concerned. If they really were on the side of Sacramento keeping the Kings, they would support the plan already being worked on.
Basically, to do a referendum, the anti-arena group would have to get 10% of validly registered Sacramento City voters to sign a petition within 30 days of the March 26th vote. That's estimated at 22,000 signatures. personally, I think that will be very tough to do. There letter does not state all the facts accurately, at least on several points.
Basically, to do a referendum, the anti-arena group would have to get 10% of validly registered Sacramento City voters to sign a petition within 30 days of the March 26th vote. That's estimated at 22,000 signatures. personally, I think that will be very tough to do. There letter does not state all the facts accurately, at least on several points.
Mike0476
Starter
Some recent tweets from GVD and for the record I am not attacking him. Just bringing up some critical points/questions.
Yes, but remember there were two other key figures in that move: Gregg Lukenbill and Joseph Benvenuti (RIP).
I wish someone from the media would ask Lukenbill on his thoughts on this very subject. Maybe he has turned down their requests.
The way they brought the Kings here and built two arenas (one temporary and one permanent) with private financing, those things led to the large amount of debt which then led to the Kings being sold to an outsider of Sacramento in Jim Thomas and later the Maloofs. Do we really want to go down that path again?
What did Kehriotis do when the Maloofs tried to make their case to move to Anaheim?
What did Kehriotis do to help with the arena plan from a year ago?
I know what Mayor Johnson did in the two above questions. If Kehriotis wants to back the city and Mayor Johnson, then I will welcome him with open arms.
Don't forget that Kehriotis said this: "In five years, I think your ownership group could be considered the best in the NBA," the Kings' executive said to Lacob. "I completely get the vision you have for the arena in San Francisco."
http://www.sfgate.com/sports/articl...a-ideas-in-New-York-3600968.php#ixzz1wW9higdS
Yes, but remember there were two other key figures in that move: Gregg Lukenbill and Joseph Benvenuti (RIP).
I wish someone from the media would ask Lukenbill on his thoughts on this very subject. Maybe he has turned down their requests.
The way they brought the Kings here and built two arenas (one temporary and one permanent) with private financing, those things led to the large amount of debt which then led to the Kings being sold to an outsider of Sacramento in Jim Thomas and later the Maloofs. Do we really want to go down that path again?
What did Kehriotis do when the Maloofs tried to make their case to move to Anaheim?
What did Kehriotis do to help with the arena plan from a year ago?
I know what Mayor Johnson did in the two above questions. If Kehriotis wants to back the city and Mayor Johnson, then I will welcome him with open arms.
Don't forget that Kehriotis said this: "In five years, I think your ownership group could be considered the best in the NBA," the Kings' executive said to Lacob. "I completely get the vision you have for the arena in San Francisco."
http://www.sfgate.com/sports/articl...a-ideas-in-New-York-3600968.php#ixzz1wW9higdS
They only time I saw Kehriotis during last year's arena push, was sitting behind George Maloof at his infamous Friday the 13th press conference in New York where he ripped apart the city of Sacramento with his stable of lawyers and paid economist. That's who JK put his support behind.
When I asked GVD why JK was at this meeting, Greg said he had no idea why and only very recently met the man. Anyone putting their faith behind Kehriotis is going to be disappointed no matter what happens.
Mike0476
Starter
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Kingsfan23
All-Star
I may be wrong and I may be ignorant but to me the arena issue comes in a distant second in terms of worries. I'm about 90% sure the arena issue will be ironed out, that is the part that is in the city's and investors hands directly and they have the will to get it done. Now I would like to see someone else besides those *****s Hansen/Balmer that valuates this franchise at 525
butteredbiscuit
G-League
Well the arena issue is important because the NBA wont allow the team to stay in Sacramento without a new arena. See the thing is is how come these guys didnt come out earlier? They didnt come earlier because the city didnt know the team was for sale. But they should have guessed that it was possible. They should have been prepared for it. If they are willing to go to Anaheim or Virginia Beach, they should have been working on this forever. None of this is directed at you kingsfan.
Here is my thing.. It shouldnt take this long to get an arena deal done. You should go "ok, lets have a meeting tommorrow." Im worth 1.3 billion. I will pay for everything. It is as simple as that. If I want something, I want it and I pay for it all! The point is to keep the Kings in Sacramento not friviling about who owns what. Who cares if Burkle or Kehriotis owns the arena? Who cares if it is in the plaza or out in Natamos? The city is being greedy! This arena thing should have been done. Nothing to think about. You know how much money you have in your checking out. You say I know the Kings are in trouble. I dont want to own the team but I want to pay for the arena. Ok, so I am worth 1.3 billion. I want to pay for the arena. The city feels like hey if we can own it, we can get out of the debt we are in. How about "we want to have a continual revenue stream coming in so we can continue to mismanage the people's (tax-payer) money and spend money to pay people off and spend $1.00 per pencil when you can get it for 5 cents a pencil. The point isnt to keep shelling out money so the city to solve the issues. It is the government stop spending money like hotcakes so we have money to keep us in the black.
The point is the Kings! Hello??? If Kehriotis has the money to build the arena out in Natamos and wants to pay all of it, that is the arena we want. I cant believe that some people would rather like Burkle's plan and that the people would rather pay 255 million in parking funds for it? We should be celebrating Kehriotis's private arena. Seattle says look, we dont want public money to go into an arena unless it favors us. They did an I-91 to protect themselves but the truth is we need to have a plan made yesterday about this arena. We should have this already done. We should be prepared in advance.
Trueblood
Bench
It's the other way around for me. If the arena deal comes to fruition and Stern says that the only thing keeping the Kings from leaving is a match of the $525 million offer than I have no doubt that the whales will come through.
With the arena, it's much more confusing. Buying out owners of the remaining spots at DTP and funding the rest of the arena is time consuming and difficult. Much harder than a rich guy simply writing a check. With the whales, it's just a matter of whether they want it or not. I agree in that if they don't want it then we're screwed but it's clear that tons of people want the arena to happen but wanting it to happen and getting it done in such a short period of time is just more difficult.
That being said, I'm confident that the arena will happen. It's just that it's tougher to nail so many variables.
Trueblood
Bench
If someone is really willing to pay for the entire thing then that's great. In that case, I would have no problem with Natomas. The problem is that there is the building moratorium. As far as I know, there is no construction allowed at Natomas for a long time. That's too long for the NBA.
That's why we're looking to the city. Not only that but this is bigger than just the Kings. A downtown arena helps make downtown vibrant and that's good for the entire city. A building in Natomas does nothing for the rest of Sacramento.
Oh please. I swear you must be related to Hansen or some of the Sonicsrising folks.
A new arena cannot be constructed in Natomas now or in the foreseeable future. If you'd actually been following all of this, you would know that. There is a federal moratorium on building in the area., Period. End of Natomas arena discussion, at least until the moratorium issue is resolved, which could take years or decades.
As far as your criticism of the city goes, it is also off base and without merit. Until Kevin Johnson became mayor, the city council was rife with those who did not want to support the Kings. To get to where we are today took a lot of effort. The idea of renovating the downtown area of Sacramento is part and parcel to the support for the entertainment and sports complex. IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT AN ARENA!
The point isn't just about the Kings.
Ugh. So much misconception here.
The city was in fact prepared for this. You probably remember from the beginning that KJ had his three options in order of preference:
1) Same team, same owners
2) Same team, different owners
3) Different team, different owners
Now, I think that putting "Same team, same owners" in the #1 spot was a whole lot of blowing smoke up the Maloofs' rear ends, but the point is that the City has been looking at all angles of this since well before the current sale - at least from the time that the Maloofs had their initial failed flirting with Anaheim. Can you remember how long the name Ron Burkle has been in the social conscious of the Sacramento area? The infamous "You've got Burkle?!?" moment was over two years ago. The City and Burkle have been working together, to the extent possible, since then. The problem is that you can't buy a team that's not for sale. Of course they knew it was possible that the team might come up for sale, but the City had to wait for a trigger - in this case the announcement that the Maloofs had agreed to sell to Hansen - before they could actually act.
You know, I imagine that if there were a rich investor who was willing to plunk down the entire amount for an arena then that probably would have happened. The problem is that it doesn't work that way. The Arena Fairy is no more real than the Tooth Fairy. This is why the NBA is so goshdarned concerned about the "business model" of public-private partnerships to build arenas.
The City cares whether the arena is in the Plaza or Natomas. If you have been paying attention, you ought to realize that the City has practically zero interest in helping to fund an arena in Natomas. Why not? Because the City expects to be able to about break even on an arena, and it carries at least some risk of being a losing venture. There is risk. If the arena is built in Natomas, there is no up-side to the risk. (And let's ignore the building moratorium in Natomas for now.) On the other hand, if the arena is built in Downtown, the City expects an economic revitalization of the kind that simply has not and will not happen in suburban Natomas. Have you noticed the complete lack of restaurants and nightlife around Sleep Train Arena? Suburban areas are get-in, get-out spots to have arenas. Downtowns, on the other hand, support tons of nightlife. When arenas are put downtown, restaurants can go in with the knowledge that they'll have very busy nights say 200 nights a year. It's not just restaurants, but you get the point. Economic revitalization is the key - the City is taking risk on a venture that is probably break-even in order to get a big benefit in jumpstarting the economy and transforming downtown.
The City wants the arena downtown, and it matters. The issue is, as some of us like to say, Bigger Than Basketball. You can take the attitude that you don't care as long as you can watch your team, and that's an understandable position. Sometimes I feel that way, too. But you can't pretend that the City's point of view must simply be the same as your own and hope to be able to add to any informed discussion on the issue. The City wanting the arena downtown weighs a lot more than you not caring where it goes, and the City is footing the bill.
Kehriotis looks to be the latest in a long line of pretenders to the throne. Kehriotis is full of vague promises, and frankly, for someone who rails against the City for not being prepared enough, why do you support Kehriotis when he comes in far, far later than the City when we are up against a deadline. At least KJ had Burkle lined up for years and was ready to go as soon as the bat-signal came on. Kehriotis shows up with a month and a half to go before the BOG meeting with a miracle plan? Where was he the whole time? And speaking of where was Kehriotis the whole time...why exactly is it that none other than John Kehriotis was sitting between Phil and Joe Maloof during George's infamous "Indian Burial Ground" press conference where the Maloofs had the audacity to call off the arena agreement because it wasn't "good for Sacramento"? Hmm? Why in the world are we supposed to trust this man?
Kehriotis is offering a deal (the wrong deal, no less, in that it's in Natomas) that looks too good to be true while himself appearing too shady to be trustworthy. This is the moment of truth - do you walk away, or do you give the very nice Nigerian prince your bank account number so he can transfer millions of dollars into it? Your call.
The city was in fact prepared for this. You probably remember from the beginning that KJ had his three options in order of preference:
1) Same team, same owners
2) Same team, different owners
3) Different team, different owners
Now, I think that putting "Same team, same owners" in the #1 spot was a whole lot of blowing smoke up the Maloofs' rear ends, but the point is that the City has been looking at all angles of this since well before the current sale - at least from the time that the Maloofs had their initial failed flirting with Anaheim. Can you remember how long the name Ron Burkle has been in the social conscious of the Sacramento area? The infamous "You've got Burkle?!?" moment was over two years ago. The City and Burkle have been working together, to the extent possible, since then. The problem is that you can't buy a team that's not for sale. Of course they knew it was possible that the team might come up for sale, but the City had to wait for a trigger - in this case the announcement that the Maloofs had agreed to sell to Hansen - before they could actually act.
You know, I imagine that if there were a rich investor who was willing to plunk down the entire amount for an arena then that probably would have happened. The problem is that it doesn't work that way. The Arena Fairy is no more real than the Tooth Fairy. This is why the NBA is so goshdarned concerned about the "business model" of public-private partnerships to build arenas.
The City cares whether the arena is in the Plaza or Natomas. If you have been paying attention, you ought to realize that the City has practically zero interest in helping to fund an arena in Natomas. Why not? Because the City expects to be able to about break even on an arena, and it carries at least some risk of being a losing venture. There is risk. If the arena is built in Natomas, there is no up-side to the risk. (And let's ignore the building moratorium in Natomas for now.) On the other hand, if the arena is built in Downtown, the City expects an economic revitalization of the kind that simply has not and will not happen in suburban Natomas. Have you noticed the complete lack of restaurants and nightlife around Sleep Train Arena? Suburban areas are get-in, get-out spots to have arenas. Downtowns, on the other hand, support tons of nightlife. When arenas are put downtown, restaurants can go in with the knowledge that they'll have very busy nights say 200 nights a year. It's not just restaurants, but you get the point. Economic revitalization is the key - the City is taking risk on a venture that is probably break-even in order to get a big benefit in jumpstarting the economy and transforming downtown.
The City wants the arena downtown, and it matters. The issue is, as some of us like to say, Bigger Than Basketball. You can take the attitude that you don't care as long as you can watch your team, and that's an understandable position. Sometimes I feel that way, too. But you can't pretend that the City's point of view must simply be the same as your own and hope to be able to add to any informed discussion on the issue. The City wanting the arena downtown weighs a lot more than you not caring where it goes, and the City is footing the bill.
Kehriotis looks to be the latest in a long line of pretenders to the throne. Kehriotis is full of vague promises, and frankly, for someone who rails against the City for not being prepared enough, why do you support Kehriotis when he comes in far, far later than the City when we are up against a deadline. At least KJ had Burkle lined up for years and was ready to go as soon as the bat-signal came on. Kehriotis shows up with a month and a half to go before the BOG meeting with a miracle plan? Where was he the whole time? And speaking of where was Kehriotis the whole time...why exactly is it that none other than John Kehriotis was sitting between Phil and Joe Maloof during George's infamous "Indian Burial Ground" press conference where the Maloofs had the audacity to call off the arena agreement because it wasn't "good for Sacramento"? Hmm? Why in the world are we supposed to trust this man?
Kehriotis is offering a deal (the wrong deal, no less, in that it's in Natomas) that looks too good to be true while himself appearing too shady to be trustworthy. This is the moment of truth - do you walk away, or do you give the very nice Nigerian prince your bank account number so he can transfer millions of dollars into it? Your call.
butteredbiscuit
G-League
I understand that now. Let me ask you this.. What is the point of Kehriotis arena? Is he here just to stir up the pot like what the group here did to stop Farmers field? See you would only know.. Ok remember over in the city of industry we had the drawings for the new football stadium right? Ok so City of Industry is a dump but there is usuable land there. Lets be honest! So it would be privately built but then all of a sudden, they want it by staples over on Pico. Then they want 1 billion to build it? If you want football in LA, Why would you spend 1 billion for a stadium downtown when you could do it so much cheaper in the City of Industry for so much less? Then now they want to build a football stadium above Dodgers stadium? Just ridiclous! That was my point! Why not build at Natamos if it was cheaper? But since everyone except Kehriotis thinks you cant do it, seems that maybe K knows something or is he just a real joke? Maybe he is doing what OKC owner bennett did? Oh we will look at building an arena in Renton WA instead of Seattle and then turn it down like Maloofs did to VB showing that at least we tried but it didnt work.
I swapped some twitter responses with GVD - the idea is apparently to build the arena high enough in Natomas that it is out of the flood zone. Basically an arena on a hill. I guess this is technically feasible (I will leave that to others to decide), however I don't think it is the wisest choice......for a variety of reasons.
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