I agree the Seattle plan isn't complete, it is however a bit further along than the Sacramento plan, not that I'm using this as an argument point, it just seems that from everything I've read, the Seattle plan is perhaps 50-60% of the way done while Sacramento is perhaps 20-30%. Don't disregard the fact that the land for the Sacramento deal isn't in Ranadive's control, everyone whose involved in the Downtown Plaza deal is going to want to get a piece, or they're going to drive up their price since there is a major construction project. Or if the Sacramento group chooses to purchase the land, its a real financial challenge to have to secure land AFTER an arena proposal has been pushed through because then the owner of the land has control over the price of the sale, and if this proves to be difficult and there is indeed a plan B that has to be pursued, thats going to take a lot more time. Again, from everything I've read, this is a huge point that has to be settled for Sacramento. The lawsuits need to be settled for Seattle, but the land being secured is huge on Seattle's end.
I completely agree and understand this, but the league NEEDS the Maloofs gone. Legally the league cannot afford to turn down the Maloofs deal at the valuation of $550 million in order to force a sale for say $450-$500 million to the Sacramento group, the NBA is setting themselves up for a massive anti-trust litigation from the Maloofs, who can pay for their legal fees with their $30 million deposit from Hansen. Remember Al Davis? He sued the NFL for anti-trust and won, the NBA from what I have read does not have an anti-trust clause. If the league turns down Hansen's offer, and then if the Maloofs choose to sell to the Sacramento group (which is still legally in their power to choose who they can and can't sell to), they can only do it for the $550 current valuation.
Obviously in an ideal world Sacramento keeps its team and Seattle is given the expansion, but I don't really know how you do this unless the sale is approved to Hansen, who then turns around and sells to Vivek, but even under this circumstance Hansen has to get all of his money out of the deal, no businessman sells for less than what he bought particularly when Hansen could be a dick and even drive up the price (which I doubt he does, I'm just talking from a business sense, Hansen has to get paid if this is the process which secures him an expansion team). Which brings up the point of how much does Sacramento value the team in their city? If there are two teams on the table, expansion at say $450 million or whatever the figure out there may be, and the current Kings at $550 million which is the value of the Kings from Hansen's perspective, which would all of you prefer. Plus, lets take into consideration the relocation fees, which would be paid to the owners. If they're approving an expansion team out of all of this to one of our two cities, it seems to me they'd want to squeeze Hansen for the $75 million if given the option since the expansion price will get spread around to all of them anyway, thats just the way business works. Again, as a Seattle fan, I would honestly prefer the expansion team, but the reality of how that happens doesn't add up.