Update on Va. Beach Arena Deal and Sacramento Kings

[Mike0476]

http://blogs.wavy.com/2013/01/08/update-on-va-beach-arena-deal-and-sacramento-kings/

Unfortunately, those negotiations are at a stand-still.


So, the Kings will not be signing an agreement to come to Virginia Beach if the arena is built.


At least not now.


And without that agreement, Virginia Beach will not ask state legislators for the 150-million dollars they need to finance the deal.

 

[Mike0476]

After being up for 20 hours I set my alarm for 6:00AM PST as I had a funny feeling someone would leak the information and I was right.

Crown Downtown was the first to break this news.

Please follow, like and subscribe to Crown Downtown on Twitter, Facebook and You Tube.

Thank you for your support of Sacramento.

 

[Mike0476]

"Va. Beach mayor says arena project dead for now"

You can read the joint-statement from Virginia Beach and Comcast-Spectacor with this linked story.

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/01/va-beach-mayor-says-arena-project-dead-now

 

[Chupacabra]

Change that to "dead permanently", Mayor guy.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Expected, though there was a bit of nervous time when a joint statement was announced. Congratulations, Mayor Sessoms. You just found out what it like to negotiate with somebody who is negotiating in bad faith back.

Honestly, I don't know how one can look at it any other way. From the details that we know, VA Beach was offering a completely free arena, what would seem to be exorbitant moving expenses, and compensatory profits for the years the team would be playing in smaller venues during construction. What else could they offer? And still George found a way to not sign on the dotted line at the last minute - just like he did here. Whatever his end game was, it sure wasn't moving to VA Beach, because that deal was a sweetheart.

The Maloof family is a complete and total joke, and an embarrassment to the league in general. But options outside of selling are rapidly diminishing. The league won't allow Anaheim (George just wants to move the team there and then sell it anyway). Even if the league were to allow VA Beach, apparently that's not good enough for the Maloofs. And getting a new arena in Sacramento to keep the status quo (because Sleep Train ain't gonna cut it long term) would require coming back on their hands and knees to the city and groveling, and Georgie has too much pride.

Where do they go? What do they do? Is a sale looming closer and closer? It seems the only option...

 

[Jose]

Expected, though there was a bit of nervous time when a joint statement was announced. Congratulations, Mayor Sessoms. You just found out what it like to negotiate with somebody who is negotiating in bad faith back.

^ This... whoever chooses to ignore history and deal with these guys is going to get what they deserve.

Whatever his end game was, it sure wasn't moving to VA Beach, because that deal was a sweetheart.

Try to inflate the value of the team by showcasing its "mobility" and the availability of other interested cities; scare more people into coming to games; milk the loyal fans more; put pressure on Sacramento (or any other interested city) to come up with a freebie (hey, VB could do it!)

And getting a new arena in Sacramento to keep the status quo (because Sleep Train ain't gonna cut it long term) would require coming back on their hands and knees to the city and groveling, and Georgie has too much pride.

Where do they go? What do they do? Is a sale looming closer and closer? It seems the only option...

Next is the proposed "renovation" of STA... where they demand the city invest over $100M into some absurd renovation / rebuild. Or some gimmick to get out of the loan or get it re-re-financed. Or who knows... anything else they can think of to squeeze $$$ out of the city and fans.

 

[Mike0476]

Bruce Rader of WAVY-TV interviewed VB Mayor Will Sessoms for his TV report on what happened with the arena deal that died today.

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/va_beach/No-agreement-reached-on-VB-arena-plans

 

[nebs]

I was just thinking.. has a city ever hated it's owners more than us? I guess Cleveland and Art Modell and then Charlotte and that dude that owned the Hornets.

 

[LWP777]

I was never worried about VB. The Magoofs are coming to the end of their road. At some point they will come to the realization that they have no choice other than to sell.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

I was just thinking.. has a city ever hated it's owners more than us? I guess Cleveland and Art Modell and then Charlotte and that dude that owned the Hornets.

Here's your 'dude' from the Hornets...another Georgie...George Shinn:

 

[Kingsfan23]

why would the Maloofs agree publically to this deal, before area officials could ask the State of Virginia for 150 million dollars? Is that in of itself a tall order?

 

[Jose]

why would the Maloofs agree publically to this deal, before area officials could ask the State of Virginia for 150 million dollars? Is that in of itself a tall order?

VB wanted to secure an anchor tenant before going to the state to ask for $$$. Not sure why they thought the Maloofs, given their history, would sign anything binding - especially this early in the timeline when there would be more $$$ that they could try to squeeze out of the city.

Maybe the city wanted to have a binding commitment before they went thru all the headaches of being extorted for every penny possible?

If you ask me, very smart of them to not proceed any further...

 

[Kingsfan23]

VB wanted to secure an anchor tenant before going to the state to ask for $$$. Not sure why they thought the Maloofs, given their history, would sign anything binding - especially this early in the timeline when there would be more $$$ that they could try to squeeze out of the city.

Maybe the city wanted to have a binding commitment before they went thru all the headaches of being extorted for every penny possible?

If you ask me, very smart of them to not proceed any further...

Jose, your right, from the city's perspective you better have a deal in place before you start getting your funds in order. But the Malooofs better have the funding in place before they agree to anything - and asking 150 million from the State - is far from having funding in place given how non-automatic a proposition that should be, at least in my opinion, as I guess I don't know how state's elsewhere play a role in arenas. As I believe you said, chicken and the egg

 

[kennadog]

I think its a problem that getting money from the state is very iffy. I can't imagine that the Maloofs want to sign any commitment at this point in the season. They'd want to wait until March 1st was close, anyway. I see it a problematic for the Maloofs to sign anything binding without having an approval from the league to move. Any agreement they sign will have to be contingent on league approval. In other words, if the league doesn't approve the move. the deal would not longer be binding.

I also believe that VB may be just the latest victim of Maloofing.

 

[macadocious]

Was anyone actually concerned about this?

 

[upinsmoke]

Was anyone actually concerned about this?

Not necessarily. George is a gambler not a businessman and ever sense he took over at the wheel magoof money and image have taken a huge hit. #HAHA

 

[kennadog]

Was anyone actually concerned about this?

I was a little worried. After all, they were offering a free arena and $80 million to the team. It was a pretty darn sweet deal. The only thing making it less threatening was that I was having a hard time imagining the Maloofs wanting to go back east to a much smaller media market. Although there might be more corporate support there.

 

[JB_kings]

The net effect could be that this would put off any other cities with hopes of getting the team to come to them. How many public deals could ever get launched now knowing that a free arena and 80 million cash payoff wasn't good enough?

I don't see any other cities like KC, Louisville, Vancouver, etc. putting a deal together. Barring another run at Anaheim and the anti-trust route, it's either time to sell or go back to the City Council and resurrect the deal. I don't think anyone is going to take the remodel seriously now that George floated the $500 million sale price.

 

[Livinthedream]

The net effect could be that this would put off any other cities with hopes of getting the team to come to them. How many public deals could ever get launched now knowing that a free arena and 80 million cash payoff wasn't good enough?

I don't see any other cities like KC, Louisville, Vancouver, etc. putting a deal together. Barring another run at Anaheim and the anti-trust route, it's either time to sell or go back to the City Council and resurrect the deal. I don't think anyone is going to take the remodel seriously now that George floated the $500 million sale price.

Agreed. The Maloofs have probably killed any chance they had of relocating the team while remaining owners. Not sure that was the goal, but it's dead now. They are backing themselves into a corner with few options. Although it's bad for the Maloofs, I'm not sure it means it's good for Sacramento. Never underestimate Gambler Maloof doing something that goes against his best interest just to hurt Sac.