Sam Amick - Will Maloofs opt for litigation?

[Glenn]

Seriously, watch the Sonicsgate video. Those fans made ours look tame. Gigantic turnouts for rallies and such. Their mayor sold them out, but Stern pretty much turned a deaf ear to the fans. We as fans helped light a fire under KJ perhaps (though I am sure he was always going to do his best) and made a good showing that we would still pay money to see the team, but i think we would seriously be fooling ourselves if we think Stern all of a sudden is going to make financial decisions based on fan love. If Stern wants to keep the team here it will be because he feels financially it is the best decision for the league overall for a number of reasons.

We as fans definitely had an impact. We don't deal with the big money but we have appealed to the intermediary with energy and a little cash.

Stern and the NBA are very careful about image. I think that's a huge part of Stern's job description. If finances is the ultimate driving factor, he has to keep a good image. It can't appear to be a bunch of rich people toying with the feelings and the money of the man on the street. His goal has been to make the NBA a world wide phenomena (read "money"). He can't do it if the teams play musical chairs within the home country and head for the nearest pot of gold. At some point, the NBA has to be universal in the US.

This may not bring in the most money in attendance and those nice suites but I could make an argument that in the end, it really does. I have said before, if there is no team in Sacramento, the people in Sacramento are less likely to watch the NBA on TV hence loss of money. The more all inclusive the NBA seems, Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada, and Australia, the more TVs click on and the more sponsorshop money flows to the NBA.

 

[Jim Les]

I wrote this in another thread, but I'm starting to get my hopes up:

Here's my dream scenario: The Maloofs still refuse to sell and want to move the team because they don't like the terms involved in getting the arena done. This, of course, angers commissioner Stern, who leads an effort to muscle the Maloofs out of the NBA and back to Vegas. This in turn causes a rift amongst owners in the NBA, who may not like the Maloofs, but fear a commissioner drunk with power. The owners oust David Stern as commish, and a new era is born in the NBA where small markets actually have a shot at winning an NBA championship, officials no longer play favorites with star players, and the overall competitive balance is restored. All thanks to the collective efforts of Sacramento fans.

Everybody wins...well, except David Stern, but he's the devil, so who cares.

 

[Livinthedream]

I wrote this in another thread, but I'm starting to get my hopes up:

Here's my dream scenario: The Maloofs still refuse to sell and want to move the team because they don't like the terms involved in getting the arena done. This, of course, angers commissioner Stern, who leads an effort to muscle the Maloofs out of the NBA and back to Vegas. This in turn causes a rift amongst owners in the NBA, who may not like the Maloofs, but fear a commissioner drunk with power. The owners oust David Stern as commish, and a new era is born in the NBA where small markets actually have a shot at winning an NBA championship, officials no longer play favorites with star players, and the overall competitive balance is restored. All thanks to the collective efforts of Sacramento fans.

Everybody wins...well, except David Stern, but he's the devil, so who cares.

You left out one important detail. Do we get to keep the Kings in Sac? What happened to the team when the Maloofs went back to where they came from? Did you wake up from your dream before you got to that part, because it's crucial?

 

[Krunker]

If Stern wants to keep the team here it will be because he feels financially it is the best decision for the league overall for a number of reasons.

It's really the better scenario for the league:
- Acknowledges viability of small market teams
- Keeps the Sac market and prevents oversaturating the LA market
- May force the Maloofs to sell to an owner with stronger finances
- May force the Maloofs to sell to the NBA and help with the upcoming negotiations

 

[Gary]

It's really the better scenario for the league:
- Acknowledges viability of small market teams
- Keeps the Sac market and prevents oversaturating the LA market
- May force the Maloofs to sell to an owner with stronger finances
- May force the Maloofs to sell to the NBA and help with the upcoming negotiations

If I were Stern I would take a look at the Maloofs finances and see if they are even eligible to purchase an NBA team right now let alone sustain one. Meaning, if they didn't have a team at this moment would they be approved to even purchase majority share in an NBA team? I bet they would get declined because of lack of finances

 

[sk4ever]

If I were Stern I would take a look at the Maloofs finances and see if they are even eligible to purchase an NBA team right now let alone sustain one. Meaning, if they didn't have a team at this moment would they be approved to even purchase majority share in an NBA team? I bet they would get declined because of lack of finances

I was thinking the same thing. What if I came to the league and said" I want to but the Hornets", then borrowed the money to do it,
and was depending on making a profit. Would I get approval?

 

[bajaden]

Surely the Maloofs are not THAT stupid?!

Then again, they might be seeing the writing on the wall (ie NBA wanting them to sell) and will go down swinging. Not a smart move, but an emotional one which is right up their alley

I think the Maloof's are desperate men. They saw their empire falling apart and looked for quick fix, something that seems to be in their genes. I think they thought that the Anahiem deal was a slam dunk. They probably had rental houses or apartments already picked out. Now its falling apart, and I think they're desperate. History tells us that desperate men tend to do stupid things when they feel cornered. Right now, they want their cake, and want to eat it too. You don't always get what you want!

 

[Fireplug]

Glenn, did you watch Sonicsgate? You are being quite naive if you think Stern will choose image over finances. Watch it then come back.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Sacramento is not Seattle. WA state flipped the bird to the NBA by blocking public funding of a new arena after they built stadiums for the M's and Seahawks. Publicly financed arenas are a major business goal of the NBA. Sacramento has no such law in place and is still trying to make that happen.

The Maloofs have raised a lot of red flags for Stern in this Anaheim deal but I suspect the idea of an NBA team being the secondary tenant in a hockey arena is higher up the list than many think.

 

[JB_kings]

It really is more about where they want to move. That's the part that is getting some blow back from other owners and now the league. Stern didn't really care about Seattle because they thumbed their nose at him about a new arena. Big mistake as Brick mentioned above. And the other difference now is that there is a serious effort to get a new arena. If KJ had not lined up what he did and worked to address the issues, Stern would not have given it second thought to allowing them to leave. If the Maloofs were looking at another city like KC, I think they would have gotten the votes. But they chose a big market saturated with 2 teams already. And made enemies of one very powerful owner with 800 pound gorilla type connections. Seattle and Sacramento are going down very differently due to the way KJ responded and the the Maloofs plans on where they wanted to move.

 

[Glenn]

Glenn, did you watch Sonicsgate? You are being quite naive if you think Stern will choose image over finances. Watch it then come back.

Image = economics or you didn't get my point.

 

[Fireplug]

Pdx and jb, yup. Nothing to do with love for fans.

 

[Fireplug]

Image = economics or you didn't get my point.

Yeah, the NBA sure took a financial hit when all us fans boycotted the league in a show of solidarity with the Seattle fans whose team left. (Rolleyes)

Remember, one area's tragedy of a lost team is another area's ecstasy of a new team. There may be a lot of NBA fans who will shake their heads saying Sacramento shouldn't have lost a team, but they will do it while still putting their money down for tickets to their own team. We did it with Seattle, afterall, and the Seattle FANS didn't deserve it.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

WARNING: Put on your tinfoil hat before reading this post...

What if, Stern and the NBA really wanted the Kings in Anaheim this whole time?

But, they knew it would look really bad to recommend an Anaheim move while Kevin Johnson is doing everything in his power to keep the team in Sacramento?

How would the league handle such a conflicted issue?

One way would be to put out a fake recommendation for the Kings to stay in Sacramento. A smokescreen. You’d have to make it look real so you’d send teams of experts to Sacramento to look all official and verify things and what not. Then, you’d make your recommendation that the team stays.

Now let’s backtrack a few weeks... Stern tells “the boys” OK, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to approve your move but we have to make it look like that’s not what we really want. So, we’re going to put out a fake recommendation. Then, you guys file for relocation on the last day. Then we’ll put it to a vote. We have to make the vote close or people will get suspicious. We’ve taken measures to make sure you get approval by the slimmest of margins.

 

[Aenadin]

I don't see buss conspiring and letting this happen and him losing millions. when the maloofs do the unthinkable and stupid. this will be a bad image for the league. you give the city hope and rip their hearts out, not good for business too...

i don't see the league siding with the maloofs. that would just make them look stupid and open the doors to samueli. really he's into buying into the minority,. sooner were going to see him owning the team if they move.

the nba recommended to stay, its conflicting and at the sametime a bad judgement to all of a sudden discard that. what has anaheim done in the last few days other than "sweeten" the deal by burying the maloofs into further debt?

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

I don't see buss conspiring and letting this happen and him losing millions. when the maloofs do the unthinkable and stupid. this will be a bad image for the league. you give the city hope and rip their hearts out, not good for business too...

i don't see the league siding with the maloofs. that would just make them look stupid and open the doors to samueli. really he's into buying into the minority,. sooner were going to see him owning the team if they move.

the nba recommended to stay, its conflicting and at the sametime a bad judgement to all of a sudden discard that. what has anaheim done in the last few days other than "sweeten" the deal by burying the maloofs into further debt?

I was just throwing out a ridiculous conspiracy theory for kicks. But, stranger things have happened. The league wouldn't really be siding with the Maloofs, they'd just be siding with what they saw as a more lucrative market.

 

[Aenadin]

yeah im not convinced the nba would go WWE on us and go heel turn in the last minute. that is a disaster... Eitherway the maloofs really burned those bridges to Sacramento good... and they are looking forward to anaheim. they can't and shouldn't be nba owners any longer.

given anaheim is a big market, with bigger population, it is still questionable. and its fishy how the TV deal is from samueli also.. everything from anaheim sounds fishy.. and till now its not still clear.

I also haven't heard from C-Webb, what his group has done.. and what he is up to other than that anchor comment on tv.. there's burkle, KJ, and id give crandall the benefit of the doubt that the private equity., not to mention that guy with 11k signatures, there are alot of factors going against the move. or any move.

 

[John Galt]

I think a combination of occams razor and the golden rule suggest this is really all about Buss potentially losing 500 million in TV money, other large market owners realizing it could happen to them too, and Stern googley-eyed over the prospect of getting Burkle into the NBA.

Simplest explanation for the barriers to Maloofs, and the ones who have the gold (most gold) make the rules.

I bet if the move was to KC it would have been long since done regardless of anything Kevin Johnson or the fans came up with.

 

[Aenadin]

if the 500 million deal pushes through, would that be included in the revenue sharing? a portion of it? that is for the leagues best interest if tha is the case.

here in the corner awaits burkle, a proven guy who has saved a franchise, and had an arena built with taylor/ICON group. ... burkle has a much deeper pocket than the bros maloofs. he can handle the loss and gain of an nba franchise. they said they will have a decision before weekend and there's still nothing

 

[John Galt]

they said they will have a decision before weekend and there's still nothing

no surprise when liars lie.

 

[Fireplug]

no surprise when liars lie.

Im gonna steal that, Francisco.

 

[Section 101]

if the 500 million deal pushes through, would that be included in the revenue sharing? a portion of it? that is for the leagues best interest if tha is the case.

here in the corner awaits burkle, a proven guy who has saved a franchise, and had an arena built with taylor/ICON group. ... burkle has a much deeper pocket than the bros maloofs. he can handle the loss and gain of an nba franchise. they said they will have a decision before weekend and there's still nothing

That's the thing. If there is revenue sharing they will have to give some of that to the other teams. Now if another teams moves into the area they have to cut part of their contract reducing their money even more. I've said this for months that Buss' best move is to tell Stern it's one or the other not both. So if a team moves there he will not support revenue sharing.

 

[funkykingston]

WARNING: Put on your tinfoil hat before reading this post...

Tinfoil hats have never seemed to fit right on me. To me the simplest answer is almost always the right one.

Stern doesn't have any reason to play games. If the team gets moved, no one will care whether the NBA was divided about the move or that the relocation vote was close. All that will matter is that the team moved. In fact, I think it's a much bigger black eye for the league if the team moves with major disagreement from the BOG about whether it is a good idea.

If Stern/the BOG wanted the team to move to Anaheim they'd have voted already, rubber stamped the move and said that it was unfortunate but Sacramento, for all it's great fan support, could never get an arena deal done and Arco (it'll always be Arco to me) was not up to NBA standards. End of story.

I think anyone looking at PR reasons for the team to stay or go are barking up the wrong tree. Similarly with thinking that it's the great fans of Sacramento that have the BOG advising the Maloofs to stay in Sacramento. I think the simple truth is that the NBA doesn't want 3 teams in the same market and Buss & Sterling (Buss especially) are fighting it with everything they can and secondarily that issues with the actual deal with Anaheim and questions about the Maloofs financial stability/viability aa owners are the reasons the moving vans aren't fueling up right now.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Tinfoil hats have never seemed to fit right on me. To me the simplest answer is almost always the right one.

Stern doesn't have any reason to play games. If the team gets moved, no one will care whether the NBA was divided about the move or that the relocation vote was close. All that will matter is that the team moved. In fact, I think it's a much bigger black eye for the league if the team moves with major disagreement from the BOG about whether it is a good idea.

If Stern/the BOG wanted the team to move to Anaheim they'd have voted already, rubber stamped the move and said that it was unfortunate but Sacramento, for all it's great fan support, could never get an arena deal done and Arco (it'll always be Arco to me) was not up to NBA standards. End of story.

I think anyone looking at PR reasons for the team to stay or go are barking up the wrong tree. Similarly with thinking that it's the great fans of Sacramento that have the BOG advising the Maloofs to stay in Sacramento. I think the simple truth is that the NBA doesn't want 3 teams in the same market and Buss & Sterling (Buss especially) are fighting it with everything they can and secondarily that issues with the actual deal with Anaheim and questions about the Maloofs financial stability/viability aa owners are the reasons the moving vans aren't fueling up right now.

I tend to agree. But sometimes there is more going on than meets the eye and it can be fun to speculate about it, as long as you don't take it too seriously.

 

[kpm308]

Stern only cares about getting public financing for arenas. He needs to set a precedent here for when the time comes for some of these other small market teams need new arenas. As it stands now these small market teams can be economically okay if they do everything right, but if these owners have to put up 150-300 million dollars to fund all or part of the new arenas, with an estimated 30 year life span on arenas, that is an extra 5-10 million a year that has to come out of the owners pockets. If you say that 20 of the 30 franchises will have trouble at some point securing financing for a new arena, you may eventually looking at a 100-200 million dollar a year swing for the NBA.

So Stern is making his stand on public financing for an arena issue. He worked with Seattle up to the point that they voted to never allow financing for a new arena, but then had no problem shipping them out to OKC. I'm sure he would rather keep teams where they are, but loyalty is only worth so much, and it is obvious now that the total cost of private vs. public financing is more important to Stern than tradition.

When it seemed like public financing in Sac simply wasn't going to happen, it seemed like he would have no problem with a move to Anahiem. Now that there seems like there is a chance of Sac pulling it out, Stern has no choice but to give them at least a little more time to get it done. He doesn't care about the Maloofs or if they can afford the team right now or not. He cares about when it comes time for San Antonio or Utah or whatever other team to need a new arena, that he has the history to make it clear to the respective city that they either pay up or lose the team. If they want to play hardball like Seattle, they will lose, but if they want to keep the team, they are going to have to scrape something together the way Sacramento is trying to do. He's on a mission to show the future cities that they don't have the power to force on e of his owners to do it on his own.

 

[Jim Les]

You left out one important detail. Do we get to keep the Kings in Sac? What happened to the team when the Maloofs went back to where they came from? Did you wake up from your dream before you got to that part, because it's crucial?

Yeah, kings stay in Sac. Sorry, I thought that was implied. It would be a pretty cruel dream if all that happened and they still left.

 

[Jim Les]

Stern only cares about getting public financing for arenas. He needs to set a precedent here for when the time comes for some of these other small market teams need new arenas. As it stands now these small market teams can be economically okay if they do everything right, but if these owners have to put up 150-300 million dollars to fund all or part of the new arenas, with an estimated 30 year life span on arenas, that is an extra 5-10 million a year that has to come out of the owners pockets. If you say that 20 of the 30 franchises will have trouble at some point securing financing for a new arena, you may eventually looking at a 100-200 million dollar a year swing for the NBA.

So Stern is making his stand on public financing for an arena issue. He worked with Seattle up to the point that they voted to never allow financing for a new arena, but then had no problem shipping them out to OKC. I'm sure he would rather keep teams where they are, but loyalty is only worth so much, and it is obvious now that the total cost of private vs. public financing is more important to Stern than tradition.

When it seemed like public financing in Sac simply wasn't going to happen, it seemed like he would have no problem with a move to Anahiem. Now that there seems like there is a chance of Sac pulling it out, Stern has no choice but to give them at least a little more time to get it done. He doesn't care about the Maloofs or if they can afford the team right now or not. He cares about when it comes time for San Antonio or Utah or whatever other team to need a new arena, that he has the history to make it clear to the respective city that they either pay up or lose the team. If they want to play hardball like Seattle, they will lose, but if they want to keep the team, they are going to have to scrape something together the way Sacramento is trying to do. He's on a mission to show the future cities that they don't have the power to force on e of his owners to do it on his own.

I agree with this 100%. Stern is looking out for that bottom line. As long as owners aren't footing the bill for new arenas, the NBA has one less line item (and it is a huge one) that they need to take care of in-house. This, of course, is hundreds of millions of dollars that the NBA and the owners get to pocket to spend however they see fit. Stern got his bidding war between two cities. Anaheim approved bonds to update an old arena, and Sacramento is pushing to help fund a brand-new arena. Advantage: Sacramento. If Sac was only looking to renovate Arco, or if Anaheim was guaranteeing a brand-new arena, Anaheim would hold the edge right now. The TV deals and market infringement issues complicate things a bit, but in Stern's eyes, he needs to send a message to all small market teams: Meet our demands or lose your team.

 

[Warhawk]

no surprise when liars lie.

Forgive my ignorance, but did that come from MSE or someone saying that a decision would probably be made? And did they say they would announce it or just make it? I honestly don't remember....and there are some differences between all 3 options.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Remember in 2009 when MSE was using Poker Face in their commercials for awhile? Maybe they were trying to tell us something, hahaha.

 

[John Galt]

Forgive my ignorance, but did that come from MSE or someone saying that a decision would probably be made? And did they say they would announce it or just make it? I honestly don't remember....and there are some differences between all 3 options.

probably a source close to the Maloof family.

Willi Cicci: "yeah senator, the family had a lot of buffers".