Programming Alert: Mayor Johnson will hold a press conference at 4:30

KJ: "Had a team that represented Sacramento in a stellar way"

"We knew the stakes were high. I was clear somethings are worth fighting for"...being part of the NBA family, keeping the kings in Sac

Talked about Sac being a viable market, revenue opportunities, arena update, and how its important to have a strong ownership group in Sac. The Maloofs need to be afforded the opportunity to explore their options.
 
The new revenue ops resonated with the owners. Have a great team in place to compete the feasibility study by the end of may. Will need to go forward w/S&EC for the community.

Things are different now, different leadership and political will.

There are certain aspects they can accelerated with the report by the deadline, it wont be complete, but let the NBA feel confident about it.
 
Says you learn from coaches, you can worry with what was going on Anahiem, not going to be discouraging to Maloofs, Anaheim proposal or tell the owners what to do.

But not going to sit on hands as Mayor and not let anyone think they are not going to fight.

Came into the meetings to show what they can do. Top 20 market, only team in market, revenue streams for next season.

Committee is going to look at case in sac and will have to evaluate it vs Anahiem but feels confident.

Bought more time, the fact that the Maloofs did not file show what we can do in Sac.

Did not think it was a hail Mary, not with promises that cannot be filled. TV market, corporate sponsorship etc..but know what that the fabric of the NBA is the fan and wanted to remind the NBA of that, fans have sold out 19 seasons. We live to fight another day which is very important
 
Why the the sponsorship was not available before:

Encouraged by the delay, encourage by the committee, suggest their stragey met their goals. Not declaring victory, wants the Maloofs in Sac but can't control their decision.

One of the points made to the owners, is he believes there are corporate $ not realizes. Less than a week got more than 7 mil

Had to cultivate corporate owners.

Differed than Seattle, lots of time to respond by certain date, wish he would have known from the Maloofs a little sooner what they need to do a little sooner, not learning over ASW. Did not get the headsup
 
The places do not have to be in place by May 2nd for Sacramento. Spoke frankly with NBA owners, told them where they are and will be by May. They want to see the new potential arena sight, see the Taylor group, the financial. Not financial plan yet, but the community is ready. There are a lot of ways citys have built an arena and will explore all of those.

Hopes there is a way to mend relationship with the Maloofs and keep the kings. Fans very forgiving and much easier to retain the team. But if the owners decide to leave, his obligation to have an ownership group to say that they are ready.

Three scenarios:

same team same owners
Same team diff owners
Different team diff owners

Option 1 is first choice
 
Interestingly said he thought the fans would forgive and move on and that would be easier to do with the current team and owner.

lol

But he just listed the three scenarios mentioned earlier.

1. Same team, same owers
2. Same team, new owners
3. New team brought here
 
Promise made to NBA is that they would fight to keep the Kings, not say anything neg about Maloofs and Anaheim, or tell NBA owners what to do.

Laid out the tv market, corporate sponsor, arena and new ownership. New arena is not a sure thing, but they have a dream team in place.

Had conversation with George Maloof 3-4 days before meeting. Would tell them the same thing, want to keep them there is there anything we can do to keep them.
 
Burkle has a lot of respect for Maloofs, if they don't want to sell thats fine, there should not be any frustration with that. Probably frustrated because they want the Anaheim deal to be done. The city has love the team, owners have come and gone but the love affair is still there.

Clear to the owners they want to remain and NBA city. Want the same owners and team but if that doesn't work out have an ownership group ready.
 
I was disapointed that the arena deal was left up in the air. It won't be known by May 2. But then if a team can leave at a moment's notice as Stern crowed, they can put off the decision until the last moment. What's THEIR hurry?
 
I think that the biggest thing that happened as explained in the press conference was the fact that KJ was able to show that the city found $7 million dollars worth of corporate sponsorship in the form of ticket sales in less than a week. KJ said that you have to cultivate the business relationships in the community. This was a direct shot at the Maloofs and they felt it. It's the job of the Maloofs to get ticket sales and corporate commitments. How come they couldn't do it, but a city government can. This speaks to the viability of the Maloofs as league owners, which is why the other owners and David Stern perked up when they heard this news. Anyone claiming that the Maloofs have done everything they can needs to know the difference between wanting to get things done, and knowing how to get things done. The Maloofs don't know what they are doing. If they couldn't raise $7 million for their own business when the money was there, how are they going to help build an arena? The combination of Fargo and the Maloofs are what has us in this position today.
 
Listening to him right now, KJ seems like he knew what he was doing all along. He may turn out to be a great politician all along.

In my opinion, he already has. Something always seemed fishy about the throw in the towel schtick. Phenomenal playing dead strategy. Came up and shocked the HELL out of the Maloofs, now they've been stunned and are scrambling.

Which allows us now to surge ahead and gives KJ the time, and the power, to continue to get more corporate sponsorships. All the buzz and media and possible leaving are going to make corp. sponsors look like heroes. That's the sell. BAM.

It's those corp. sponsor dollars that are going to buy the team one more year. Any arena plan we can get together before May 2 would not have been persuasive enough alone, but if it's a good report (of progress and feasibility, it won't be a complete plan... MAYBE!) it will help seal the deal of giving us a year to figure it out. If that happens... we've got allll the momentum... and an arena deal likely happens, and the team stays.
 
I think that the biggest thing that happened as explained in the press conference was the fact that KJ was able to show that the city found $7 million dollars worth of corporate sponsorship in the form of ticket sales in less than a week. KJ said that you have to cultivate the business relationships in the community. This was a direct shot at the Maloofs and they felt it. It's the job of the Maloofs to get ticket sales and corporate commitments. How come they couldn't do it, but a city government can. This speaks to the viability of the Maloofs as league owners, which is why the other owners and David Stern perked up when they heard this news. Anyone claiming that the Maloofs have done everything they can needs to know the difference between wanting to get things done, and knowing how to get things done. The Maloofs don't know what they are doing. If they couldn't raise $7 million for their own business when the money was there, how are they going to help build an arena? The combination of Fargo and the Maloofs are what has us in this position today.

Interesting points. Agreed. Might add that perhaps they did know how to get things done, but just stopped trying a year or two ago... and attempting to publicly make it look like it was the market.

I'm just blown away by KJ to tell you the truth. Dude showed phenomenal negotiation/political skills, and salesmanship. Not swindler type sales, but delivering value type sales.
 
I liked what KJ said. I like his style and I think he's a lot slicker than he lets on. One thing Grant said that i agree with though (which is rare) is that KJ, the Maloofs, and everyone else involved need to put egos aside, stop assigning blame, forget the past, and just get down to straight talk. No grandstanding, no posturing, just stick to business and get something done.
 
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Interesting points. Agreed. Might add that perhaps they did know how to get things done, but just stopped trying a year or two ago... and attempting to publicly make it look like it was the market.

I'm just blown away by KJ to tell you the truth. Dude showed phenomenal negotiation/political skills, and salesmanship. Not swindler type sales, but delivering value type sales.

Alot of this went to John Thomas who went for only the big corporate type sponsors. They didn't try for the small/medium businesses.

I thought it was kinda wierd watching the game at the Warriors the last week of the season. I was kinda puzzled to see a Cache Creek sponsor add along their media row courtside rotational banners. So they sponsor both the Kings and the Warriors.
 
I think KJ mentioned that ICON-Taylor can accelerate some of their findings and have a few things ready for the committee to ponder. I would feel better if he had a nice tidy package all approved and ready. I think when it really comes down to go or stay in the committee's eyes, it will be a new facility that is the make or break mark. The next home run has to come in this area. The rest is pretty easy to put into place.
 
Alot of this went to John Thomas who went for only the big corporate type sponsors. They didn't try for the small/medium businesses.

I thought it was kinda wierd watching the game at the Warriors the last week of the season. I was kinda puzzled to see a Cache Creek sponsor add along their media row courtside rotational banners. So they sponsor both the Kings and the Warriors.

I'm no fan of John Thomas and I've certainly heard some griping about this guy from more than one person in the know. But who is really at fault? The guy who isn't getting the job done or the boss who lets him continue to do a bad job for years too long before sacking him?
 
I think that the biggest thing that happened as explained in the press conference was the fact that KJ was able to show that the city found $7 million dollars worth of corporate sponsorship in the form of ticket sales in less than a week. KJ said that you have to cultivate the business relationships in the community. This was a direct shot at the Maloofs and they felt it. It's the job of the Maloofs to get ticket sales and corporate commitments. How come they couldn't do it, but a city government can. This speaks to the viability of the Maloofs as league owners, which is why the other owners and David Stern perked up when they heard this news. Anyone claiming that the Maloofs have done everything they can needs to know the difference between wanting to get things done, and knowing how to get things done. The Maloofs don't know what they are doing. If they couldn't raise $7 million for their own business when the money was there, how are they going to help build an arena? The combination of Fargo and the Maloofs are what has us in this position today.

Exactly my thoughts. I understand KJ, as mayor, needs to do this work now to make it clear that this market is viable. But this is showing there was work the Maloofs did not do, and thus undercuts their claim that a move is necessary because the market isn't viable. KJ deserves a lot of credit for his work the last few weeks putting this together.

That said, I think this will still come down to an arena.
 
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