One of the best pieces of news to come out of All-Star weekend was Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson's announcement that the city, Sacramento Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, and the NBA had agreed to the framework of a deal that would fund the construction of a sports and entertainment complex in downtown Sacramento that would include a new arena for the Kings. The tentative agreement would allow the franchise to remain in its home of 27 years,*representing the biggest step thus far toward a resolution of the "will they stay or will they go?" saga that has surrounded the team for far too long. (And, hopefully, ensuring that we don't see any more scenes like these for a long, long time.) Reaction to the news (as you might expect) has been largely positive, especially (as you'd definitely expect) in Sacramento, where fans turned out in droves at Sacramento International Airport late Monday night to greet and fete Johnson upon his return from Orlando. Jonathan Santiago of stalwart Kings blog Cowbell Kingdom was there, video camera in hand, when KJ touched down; the clip is worth three minutes of your time. It's important to remember, as Kings shaman Tom Ziller wrote at Sactown Royalty , that the agreement "was a crucial step ... but [still] just a step." The Sacramento City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposed deal at its March 6 meeting, and local politicians are just beginning to dig into what Sacramento Bee reporters Dale Kasler and Tony Bizjak called Wednesday*the "complicated ... financing arrangement" on which the deal hinges. In their breakdown of the plan's details , Kasler and Bizjak reported that council members are focusing on the "still-evolving plan to pull $200 million-plus in up-front cash from the city's parking operations," as well as the still-being-written specifics governing the development of the new arena. Slated to be released to the public Thursday, the "term sheet" detailing those development specifics is non-binding, but stands as a crucial element in the process, according to Kasler and Bizjak. So, yes: Still a long race to be run before all i's are dotted, t's crossed and ground broken. But the Kings, their fans and the city of Sacramento did just pass a pretty significant mile marker, and as the Bee's Matt Kawahara wrote , the mood inside Power Balance Pavilion as the team took the floor against the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night was celebratory:
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