Please start Save Our Kings movement and get behind Kevin Johnson

[cholyu]

I'm a diehard Seattle Supersonics fan and I just want to share some ideas how to save Kings in Sacramento.
First off, you need Kevin Johnson.
We had a mayor that betrayed us and finally sold the city off and let the team leave to Oklahoma City.
You have to have a mayor that will fight for you until the end.
Secondly, don't trust Maloof brothers.
You have to move towards to build the new arena first, instead of trusting they will rethink moving the team.
You have to move towards take the arena or leave it to someone who are willing to put in even more money to keep the team here which means Maloof brothers can be out of equation there.
It means you are pressuring Maloofs to sell the team to local owners and keep the team here because Arena plan is all set up.
Take it or Leave it.

Kings fans. We learned the lessons in traumatic way.
Please be smart, move forward and don't forget, get behind Kevin Johnson and continue to fight.
Please keep the Kings in Sacramento.

From Die Hard Seattle Supersonics fan

Please visit www.sonicsgate.org

 

[Trueblood]

Good post. If anyone wants to really get down to the root of the problem regarding NBA relocations, one need not look farther than comparing Sacramento and Seattle. Sacramento's leaders did what they had to do to bring the team back for one year and will do all they can to get an arena done. Seattle was the complete opposite. The fans were/are great and I hope they get a new team but the pols up there get no sympathy from me nor should they avoid having the finger pointed at them.

 

[JB_kings]

I think most of what you said is accepted as the plan going forward. Given that we have no other sports or facilites to hang our hat on, we all really want that new building. The only ones opposing a new arena are just the died in the wool naysayers who hate all things and especially sports.

The Maloofs are on a tight watch by the NBA now. They made the dumb decision to let their displeasure of Stern's decison to stay a little too well known. You don't even let the possibility of suing the NBA outside of your own head. They did and got ***** slapped along with being forced to stay one more year. They pissed off the Grand Poohbah. So the mayor's team is negotiating with George Maloof and several of Stern's generals. There will be no shennaigans and gold plated parking lot demands. However there will be a hard bargain driven so that the Sacramento Kings situation, no matter who owns the team, will be a nice golden one if there is a team sale in it's future.

I think the Mayor with the help of the fans has gotten the general topic of discussion turned around from "should we?" to "how do we?" when it comes to the arena. That in itself was a huge turnaround.

 

[The Hammer]

Good post. If anyone wants to really get down to the root of the problem regarding NBA relocations, one need not look farther than comparing Sacramento and Seattle. Sacramento's leaders did what they had to do to bring the team back for one year and will do all they can to get an arena done. Seattle was the complete opposite. The fans were/are great and I hope they get a new team but the pols up there get no sympathy from me nor should they avoid having the finger pointed at them.

Seattle will get the hornets and there will be an arena built in Bellevue and yes I have zero media references I can give you for that other than living here and being privy to convos with high end real estate people here on the eastside. This circumvents the problems with the Seattle city govt/Seattle arena entirely. Hornets. Arena in Bellevue. (Probably even renamed the Sonics since they retained the colors/name.)

 

[Trueblood]

Seattle will get the hornets and there will be an arena built in Bellevue and yes I have zero media references I can give you for that other than living here and being privy to convos with high end real estate people here on the eastside. This circumvents the problems with the Seattle city govt/Seattle arena entirely. Hornets. Arena in Bellevue. (Probably even renamed the Sonics since they retained the colors/name.)

They will definitely be the Sonics. The name and colors stayed as part of the settlement with Clay Bennett and the rest of the OKC group.

And yes, I agree that if you get things done privately, you don't need to worry about the pols putting a dent in the program.

Let me ask you this. Are these the same real estate people that are in good with Steve Ballmer and were rumored to be part of a group that wanted to renovate Key Arena before the Sonics left for OKC? If so, they are making a good move by changing plans from a renovated Key to an arena on the eastside. I'll take your word for it.

 

[The Hammer]

Let me ask you this. Are these the same real estate people that are in good with Steve Ballmer and were rumored to be part of a group that wanted to renovate Key Arena before the Sonics left for OKC? If so, they are making a good move by changing plans from a renovated Key to an arena on the eastside. I'll take your word for it.

It's a Ballmer group. Keep in mind Ballmer is microsoft. To give you an idea of the presence of microsoft on the eastside... it's hard to overstate... very hard. It's mindboggling. They essentially have their own entire public transportation system... you see microsoft shuttles at a rate that competes with the county bus system. They have a total of roughly 250 large multistory office buildings interspersed in Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland. The next most prestigious and populous set of companies are microsoft "partners"... which is essentially a relationship similar to how Walmart treats their vendors... complete dependence, singular client. In addition, I posted a picture of the Bellevue skyline... pretty impressive, and every one of those large buildings is less than 12 years old... most less than 8. And most of them say microsoft on them, say roughly 8 of the 14 largest buildings in downtown bellevue. It's just crazy.

 

[kennadog]

We fianlly do have some good and organized efforts down here in Sacramento. Those who worked to keep the Kings another year, know that was only a battle won, not the war. I and many others are prepared to actively participate in supporing Mayor KJ and the other politicians on board and getting an arena deal done. We also have more businesses and other regions actively working on this, which is a huge improvement. We just need to keep the momentum going.

 

[Trueblood]

It's a Ballmer group. Keep in mind Ballmer is microsoft. To give you an idea of the presence of microsoft on the eastside... it's hard to overstate... very hard. It's mindboggling. They essentially have their own entire public transportation system... you see microsoft shuttles at a rate that competes with the county bus system. They have a total of roughly 250 large multistory office buildings interspersed in Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland. The next most prestigious and populous set of companies are microsoft "partners"... which is essentially a relationship similar to how Walmart treats their vendors... complete dependence, singular client. In addition, I posted a picture of the Bellevue skyline... pretty impressive, and every one of those large buildings is less than 12 years old... most less than 8. And most of them say microsoft on them, say roughly 8 of the 14 largest buildings in downtown bellevue. It's just crazy.

I've heard that light rail will be going to Bellevue eventually as well. How will that work? Will there be a new line going from Sea/Tac up through the eastside or is the line that goes from Sea/Tac to downtown Seattle going to go north and around the lake over to the eastside?