Down to the wire and other news, rumors, etc.
- Thread starter VF21
- Start date
this is directed at no one in particular, but do we really have to continue the belittling of the city of seattle and its basketball fans? the committee's decision today represented an overwhelming vote of confidence in sacramento. however, it should be understood that it was not a vote against seattle. they may very likely end up with an nba team again in the near future. it just won't be this team. so why are we still talking about them? there is much to rejoice in this time, but there's no need to gloat...
They still seem to be talking about taking the team, lawsuits, who knows what. Until they officially back out of the deal or the full BOG vote happens they are still actively trying to steal our team (even though there seems to be quite a bit of wink wink, play the game and get your just rewards going on behind the scenes). I'd almost feel bad if they hadn't created such an echo chamber, banned all dissident thought and spread a campaign of misinformation and revisionism. I know there are a few decent folks up there and I feel sorry for them but I still say from my experience living in their rival town that their general fan population is a lot more like their internet culture than many want to believe.
SportsCenter on ESPN mentioned just ran a really short story on it the news. They mentioned the history of the the Kings moving from Rochester to Kansas City to Sacramento, and the relocation to Seattle fell through after the relocation committee voted unanimously to recommend to the BOG to vote against the relation. They also said that who the new owners are going to be is still up in the air.
rival town, huh? yeah, i bet that's some reeeeeaaaallll even-handed perspective you've got there...
my point is that the non-stop trolling really just needs to stop. it's playground antics, this back-and-forth between kings fans and sonics fans. throughout the entire ordeal, the city of sacramento, led by kevin johnson's charisma and class, has tried to maintain a position on the high road, and i'm genuinely bothered that the same kings fans who seem to enjoy baiting sonics fans down the troll-hole also seem to enjoy claiming some kind of moral superiority. it's kinda gross, to be perfectly honest. i don't care how misguided a great many sonics fans may be. this is sports, for chrissakes, a venue quite often bereft of rational thought. and, given the desperation that's touched KF.com across the last few years, it is quite foolhardy to believe that kings fans aren't also prone to the same emotional highs and lows, the same fears and anxieties, the same delusions and revisions...
my point is that the non-stop trolling really just needs to stop. it's playground antics, this back-and-forth between kings fans and sonics fans. throughout the entire ordeal, the city of sacramento, led by kevin johnson's charisma and class, has tried to maintain a position on the high road, and i'm genuinely bothered that the same kings fans who seem to enjoy baiting sonics fans down the troll-hole also seem to enjoy claiming some kind of moral superiority. it's kinda gross, to be perfectly honest. i don't care how misguided a great many sonics fans may be. this is sports, for chrissakes, a venue quite often bereft of rational thought. and, given the desperation that's touched KF.com across the last few years, it is quite foolhardy to believe that kings fans aren't also prone to the same emotional highs and lows, the same fears and anxieties, the same delusions and revisions...
new update
While we are disappointed with the relocation committee’s recommendation, we just wanted to let you all know that we remain fully committed to seeing this transaction through. As you are all well aware, we have a binding transaction to purchase the Kings for what would be a record price for an NBA franchise, have one of the best ownership groups ever assembled to purchase a professional sports team in the US, have clearly demonstrated that we have a much more solid Arena plan, have offered a much higher price than the yet to be finalized Sacramento Group, and have placed all of the funds to close the transaction into escrow. As such, we plan to unequivocally state our case for both relocation and our plan to move forward with the transaction to the league and owners at the upcoming Board of Governor’s Meeting in Mid-May.
When we started this process everyone thought it was impossible. While this represents yet another obstacle to achieving our goal, I just wanted to reassure all of you that we have numerous options at our disposal and have absolutely no plans to give up. Impossible is nothing but a state of mind.
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ―Muhammad Ali
—Chris Hansen
While we are disappointed with the relocation committee’s recommendation, we just wanted to let you all know that we remain fully committed to seeing this transaction through. As you are all well aware, we have a binding transaction to purchase the Kings for what would be a record price for an NBA franchise, have one of the best ownership groups ever assembled to purchase a professional sports team in the US, have clearly demonstrated that we have a much more solid Arena plan, have offered a much higher price than the yet to be finalized Sacramento Group, and have placed all of the funds to close the transaction into escrow. As such, we plan to unequivocally state our case for both relocation and our plan to move forward with the transaction to the league and owners at the upcoming Board of Governor’s Meeting in Mid-May.
When we started this process everyone thought it was impossible. While this represents yet another obstacle to achieving our goal, I just wanted to reassure all of you that we have numerous options at our disposal and have absolutely no plans to give up. Impossible is nothing but a state of mind.
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ―Muhammad Ali
—Chris Hansen
A hedge fund manager quoting Ali is a bit of a joke. There is little in common between the two.
Seriously though- Hansen's statement is a reminder the deal is not completely over. There is still work to be done.
You would think Hansen and Ballmer's best chance at gaining a new Sonics team would be to quietly pull Stern and Silver aside and wait for instructions. That is what the Sacramento stake holders did and it seems to have worked well for them.
Seriously though- Hansen's statement is a reminder the deal is not completely over. There is still work to be done.
You would think Hansen and Ballmer's best chance at gaining a new Sonics team would be to quietly pull Stern and Silver aside and wait for instructions. That is what the Sacramento stake holders did and it seems to have worked well for them.
He's a vile snake, but unlike the maloofs, a competent vile snake. The only thing that disturbs me is him dragging this out to as far as he can possibly take it, which seems so with that statement.
Though that press release did stink of a rich kid not getting his toys and then throwing a tantrum.
Moving an NBA's franchise is not YOUR decision, or the maloofs, Chrissy boy, but the collective say of ALL the owners.
Though that press release did stink of a rich kid not getting his toys and then throwing a tantrum.
Moving an NBA's franchise is not YOUR decision, or the maloofs, Chrissy boy, but the collective say of ALL the owners.
Yeah Android, I meant if Hansen did that initially.. Would we have fought to come up with competing bid at 525 if hansen initially came in peace? And if he came and didn't actively contribute to the arena plan, unlike our current will-be owners, what would have happened? One of my complaints about Hansen and Seattle's bid was that it seemed unprecedented to me that a new owner would just buy a team and move it in one transaction instead of making a "good faith" effort first, and maybe that actually is a positive now
Yeah honestly, that's something that worries me when I think about it (of course it is only a hypothetical at this point). I do think there is a (secondary) signal that gets sent from this whole mess which is that the "Clay Bennett method" is really the only way of moving a team - that is, make a bad-faith effort to play along unless you think the city is just going to lie down (like Vancouver did).
Honestly, if Hansen hadn't already been front-and-center as the guy bringing the Sonics back, how would we have distinguished him from a Vivek or a Mastrov? Bay Area guy, deep pockets, committed to basketball - sounds way better than the Maloofs, I'd have taken him in a heartbeat! So he grew up in Seattle (kind of - he also did grow up elsewhere, he just had his heart in Seattle) - who cares, not that many rich people grew up in Sac anyway, we don't really balk at them owning the team. Meanwhile, he keeps contact with Ballmer, who officially could have headed up ArenaCo while Hansen played point on getting the team - Hansen buys the team, steers the city toward deals that are terrible but look passable on the surface (renovating Arco?), is just cooperative enough to not look Maloofian (i.e. not vindictive and stupid) while not really working toward a solution. I mean, at some point we would have caught on, but it would have been a lot harder to put together Sac's effort a year down the road without the Maloofs as the boogeyman, without the all-or-nothing stakes we had now, after seeing another couple arenas fall through...plus Seattle would have had another year to firm up their arena and city/state support.
Scary to think about.
Honestly, if Hansen hadn't already been front-and-center as the guy bringing the Sonics back, how would we have distinguished him from a Vivek or a Mastrov? Bay Area guy, deep pockets, committed to basketball - sounds way better than the Maloofs, I'd have taken him in a heartbeat! So he grew up in Seattle (kind of - he also did grow up elsewhere, he just had his heart in Seattle) - who cares, not that many rich people grew up in Sac anyway, we don't really balk at them owning the team. Meanwhile, he keeps contact with Ballmer, who officially could have headed up ArenaCo while Hansen played point on getting the team - Hansen buys the team, steers the city toward deals that are terrible but look passable on the surface (renovating Arco?), is just cooperative enough to not look Maloofian (i.e. not vindictive and stupid) while not really working toward a solution. I mean, at some point we would have caught on, but it would have been a lot harder to put together Sac's effort a year down the road without the Maloofs as the boogeyman, without the all-or-nothing stakes we had now, after seeing another couple arenas fall through...plus Seattle would have had another year to firm up their arena and city/state support.
Scary to think about.
