Tag Archives: Sacramento

Aug 16 2013
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NBA

Hey Sacramento Fans, for real….

Chris Hanson with Deal with It Glasses On

In a story that I thought was going to take a turn for the dormant for the next few years, a quick blip hit the radar today as it was discovered through legal disclosure that Chris Hansen had made a contribution to a firm that represented opposition groups in Sacramento, gathering signatures to try to put their arena deal to a vote.

At first, I was a little surprised to hear that he would do that, considering Hansen has pretty much taken the high road (almost to a fault) during the entire ordeal that resulted in the NBA (read, David Stern) not allowing the move to happen in the first place.

Then, predictably, the vitriol from the people in the national media (well, mostly Deadspin) started to roll out.

Being a calm, somewhat rational being that hadn’t heard a peep from Seattle’s savior yet, I waited for his statement.  Lo and behold, he apologized.

Ever done something in the heat of the moment?  Have you ever had multi-million dollar land acquisitions planned for months along with a purchase and sale agreement with a $30 million dollar advance deposit to show your serious all of a sudden be jeopardized by the worst commissioner in professional sports?  While I know this blogs readership is pretty affluent, my guess – probably not.

So yeah, he plunked down some pennies to figure out what opposition was being mounted and the efforts that they were taking to block the arena, considering the fine folks of Sacramento, their mayor and David Stern had just done to him.  It was a small hedge to his giant bet on a system that is irrevocably broken.  He tried.  Deal with it.

Chances are, the effort in Sac to stop this is futile – and even if it did come to ballot, prove you want the team Sac-town.  Vote it in, and you get to watch years of DeMarcus Cousins instead of us.

Lastly, if anyone thinks that this is going to stop the Seattle NBA train from pulling into town and “how bad this makes Hansen look!!!!!!111″ – you are verifiably crazy.  This is a league where money talks, and the guy who somehow scared owners into being unanimous when they didn’t want to, is almost out of office.

I can’t wait for sports next best rivalry in a few years.  Seattle definitely has it out for NorCal.

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May 01 2013
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NBA

Time To Go Nuclear

Hansen

Ok – so the relocation committee is going to recommend against the Hansen/Ballmer/Nordstrom (HBN) group moving the Kings upon them purchasing the team?

It’s now time for the good guy to become the bad guy.  If he wants to play the NBA way, I am going to lay out the steps below and possible outcomes from the chain of events.

  • Immediately raise purchase price of controlling interest of the Kings another $120 million dollars.
    • There are theories floating out there that while the HBN offer was more than Sacramento’s in terms of straight up dollars for dollars (then accounting for debts held by the Maloofs that needed to be paid back to the city or something to that effect brought the two offers to basically dead even), it’s now time for Steve Ballmer to open the checkbook again and make the offer basically too good for the Maloofs to refuse.  This would immediately make the offers not even in the same territory.  Other owners will see this and basically can’t refuse someone who wants to pay that much for a franchise. (Not even 100% of a franchise, I might add)
  • Drop the relocation bid, but keep purchase in play.
    • This sounds counter-intuitive, but it is time for some dirty poker.  Keep the land use permit application going, but change it to a large outdoor mall in the footprint of the purchased land.  Draw up the sketches and put them in the press.  It is going to take time to knock down these buildings anyways to clear room, so “work” can technically start.
  • Immediately draw up plans for a $600+ million dollar publicly funded arena in the Railyards location in Sacramento.
    • This is an immediate flash-bang (COD style) right in the middle of Sacramento.  The city is debating the location of the arena in their plan (still) and there are supporters for the downtown Sac site, as well as the railyards which has come up a few times.
    • The dollar amount immediately launches this into the “can’t or won’t” get done territory.  It doesn’t matter, HBN is going through the motions anyways and can recant all of the Sonics arena talk that they have had going so far.  The leaked OKC emails didn’t stop this from happening  so a flagrant website and movement for 2+ years can be easily forgotten in the eyes on the owners.
    • 100% publicly funded – that’s what the owners like, right?
  • Appeal to the state of California for this arena funding, and try to get a state tax to pay for the Sacramento arena.
    • This is such an insane non-starter, but it takes a page out of the Bennett playbook, who went to Olympia with Stern and wonder why they got shot down.  Plus, I am sure LA voters and SF voters would love paying for a stadium for an opposing team.  But hey, they are trying, right?
  • This plays into the first, but since larger investments were made in team acquisition, no private funds from HBN can be used.
    • HBN is already tied up in several real estate deals in the Pacific Northwest, and with the large purchase price of the team, this is the only way that they can stay competitive in the market is to get a publicly funded stadium only.
  • Immediately not honor any progress made by the former competing ownership group with regards to the Sacramento Downtown Arena
    • HBN wants to enter their own agreements, and “explore” other taxable revenue streams that they think are more sustainable than a parking tax.
      • This isn’t true, but it again puts the public at odds with regards to financing and tax revenues to be used.
  • Wait

I think the above is tenable for probably a year.  The Kings will be playing a known lame-duck season in Sactown (at least in the eyes of the fans, but HBN is “trying”) in which attendance drops, team support withers which makes all of the above that much harder to get anything done.  Soon, HBN won’t be able to run their franchise the way they would like and relocation will have to be done to save the franchise.

If you haven’t noticed, this blueprint was used in Seattle in 2008.  Is it fair?  No.  Does Sacramento take it in the ass? Yeah.  Does Seattle/HBN do what they said they wouldn’t?  Yes.

Pretty ridiculous, isn’t it?

Stern, if your meddling is going to block this move, approve expansion.  Now.  Your legacy means so much to you, this is how you save it.

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Mar 28 2013
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Podcasts

#22 No Fair Weather Fans Podcast – NCAA Tourney, Mariners and More

fgcu meme

All these upsets are making this tournament fun! Relax, everyone’s brackets are wrecked. Dunk U. (FGCU) has won everyone’s heart, not Hart. Mike Hart and the Zags are out, much to the pleasure of Ben. The Mariners made a few moves and we are torn on whether they are good or not. Watch out of all the innuendos!

Other topics touched on:

- Hansen swoops another 7% on the Kings.

- Heat streak is stopped at 27.

- USA soccer win in the snow and “win” a point in Mexico.

PLAY IN YO BROWSER

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Feb 22 2013
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Podcasts

#20 No Fair Weather Fans Podcast – Felix, Mariners, Kings Trade and Gonzaga

Big deals were being made all over the place. Felix got signed to a seven year deal worth $175M, the Kings are making trades to dump salary, and Gonzaga is making themselves a big deal in college basketball. The guys get down on more randomness and plant the seed for an event for all you listeners to get down on a prize. Find out what it is, as well as enjoying the randomness that is No Fair Weather Fans.

Play In Yo Browser

 

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Jan 23 2013
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NBA

Not So Fast, Seattle. They’re Still the Sacramento Kings.

Apparetly this King's fan has had enough...

Apparently this King’s fan has had enough…

The past few weeks have been exhausting if you’re a fan of the former Seattle Supersonics.  Rumors started floating around that the Maloof family was looking to sell the team.  Then came rumors of the Hansen Group getting involved.  Now, The Maloofs and the Hansen Group have a signed sale of the Sacramento Kings, which would give Hansen the power to move the team.  Are you excited yet?

Not so fast, my friend.  At least that’s what Kevin Johnson, former NBA player and current Sacramento Mayor, is telling the city of Seattle.

Over the past few years, Sacramento has found a way to keep their only professional sports team.  In 2011, Johnson bought the city time to work out a deal with the Maloofs for a new stadium.  However, that fell through as Maloofs did not think the deal was a good financial deal for the team.

Now, with the Maloofs selling, Johnson is gathering a large group of investors in an effort to pool enough money to keep the Kings in Sacramento.  He says he has 20 people who have pledged at least $1 million each.  That includes billionaire, Mark Mastrov, founder of 24-hour Fitness.

The Hansen Group and Maloofs have submitted a purchase agreement to the NBA Board of Governors.  But until the sale is approved, the Maloofs can still receive other offers.  Johnson intends to submit just that before the relocation deadline of March 1st.

This is where things get interesting.  Johnson has proven on many occasions that he is capable of saving the Kings from certain “death” (by relocation).  If he continues gathering funds as he has, the future of the Kings may not be in Seattle.

The Maloofs only selling 65 percent of the franchise, meaning they will collect $340 million (of the $525 million that the team is worth to the Hansen Group).  That means Johnson must come up with at least that in order to put up a fight against Hansen.  Mastrov is almost capable of doing that himself.

Here’s the point.  Yes – the Maloofs have agreed to sell to the Hansen Group.  That’s a huge step in the right direction.  But, DON’T GET YOUR HOPES UP, Seattle.  There is still a lot of time before this deal is made official.

Johnson added this in an address to the city of Sacramento.  He said, “Seattle had some of the best fans in the NBA…Incredible fans. And when they lost their team a couple years ago, it was devastating to me, because those fans fought like crazy and rallied and they cheered on the home team. And I strongly believe they deserve an NBA team at some point. Just not ours.”

I applaud your efforts, KJ, I really do.  But I really hope they’re all for naught.

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Feb 11 2012
1 Comment
Editorial, NBA, NHL

I Want the NBA Too – but the Kings?

After what seems like yesterday, the discussions are back.  Land is being purchased.  SoDo is the target for potentially a new multi-purpose (NHL & NBA) arena in Seattle.  With these discussions, this means a team for each is on the way.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am excited at the prospects of not just one, but two sports putting roots down here in the Northwest.  One, a sport returning since stolen only a few short years ago, and another which hasn’t been around since the 1920′s.  However, our collective Seattleite memories are pretty short considering the agony that NBA fans in this region went through as Clay Bennett up and bought the team from the clutches of an apathetic local owner.

Except this time, it is a Seattleite turned San Franciscan that is looking to uproot another NBA franchise from a community in which it has been a part of since 1985.

Granted, the history of the Kings has been quite a nomadic one.  Moving from Rochester to Cincy, Kansas City and now Sacramento, the Kings were living the current NBA business model before it was cool.  Their history is nothing like the one of the Sonics, granted as an expansion team in 1967 to Seattle, winning a championship in 1979 as the Seattle Supersonics and being unceremoniously moved to the heart of America to blossom into one of the leagues best young teams.

When the Kings moved to Sacramento, I would have tipped the age scales at 3 years old.  I don’t remember them as the Kansas City Kings, but as the Sacramento Kings, in which there is an entire generation of fans which grew up with them as only that.

Now they are on the way out if every rumor is to be believed.  A new stadium deal must be reached by March 1st or the relocation buzzards can officially circle around the Power Balance Arena.  David Stern is working with mayor Kevin Johnson (yes, the Kevin Johnson that was a thorn in the Sonics side as a member of the Phoenix Suns) in an attempt to “keep” the Kings in Sacramento.  An all too familiar story, as Stern supportively was behind that too here in Seattle before the Sonics moved.

Now the shoe is on the other foot and the excitement of the local NBA fanbase, at least the one that voices into sports radio locally is nothing but excited.  But isn’t the way Seattle is acquiring the team the same way that Oklahoma City did the same?  There is an air of hypocrisy that I can’t get my head around.  I want the NBA back now as much as the next guy, but at the expense of another community losing their team?

This hasn’t been said much, but I think our tactic should be different.  Expansion.  Start from scratch.  Authentically build another Seattle Supersonics.  No history coming in but the one that has been paused as the other team left.  No robbing a team from another community.  Let us not forget how we felt when the Sonics left, and doing the same thing to a community in which the Kings are the only act in town.

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May 03 2011
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UFL

@UFLCommissioner – Draft in 140 Characters or Less

Like the World Football League, World League of American Football, the USFL and the XFL before it, the UFL held it’s annual draft tonight to fill out the rosters of its five teams in an attempt to either supplement the NFL, or give it competition during this current labor crisis.

Normally, the drafts of leagues that generally have a shelf life up there with Raisin Bran are not worth spending much time on unless you like to scour the rosters of these teams for former favorite players, or guys from the PAC-12 that you remember. For example, Daunte Culpepper still has a job as a QB, which gives me just general “life hope” about my professional career.

Daunte Culpepper leads the Mountain Lions to glory

While similar colors to UCF, this isn't a shot of Daunte in his college days...

What made this draft unique compared to those technological luddite leagues before this is that the entire draft was held on Twitter.

To be fair, I am sure the World League could have figured something out with America Online to get a chat room going in the sports channel, granted if they freed up an office line for them to connect via a 56k modem.  However, for a league though that is run about as lean as it can get, I am sure keeping costs down are paramount.

With each coach firing off his selections via their Twitter accounts, players were taken off the board with various experience levels in professional football.  Some had played in the NFL in the past and are now free agents (which currently means they cannot sign with another NFL team) or college un-drafted free agents in which the league would like to have signed under contract before the NFL figures out their labor situation.

You can catch a recap of the entire draft here – but I will share my one highlight of the draft with you below.  Emphasis is my own added below.

#12 OVERALL – OMAHA NIGHTHAWKS – OT JOE TOLEDO, WASHINGTON

Toledo was a fourth-round pick of the Miami Dolphins in the 2006 NFL Draft, although he has yet to appear in a regular-season NFL game. He also was on the San Francisco 49ers’ practice squad for the entire 2008 NFL season.  Toledo slipped down in this draft due to some perceived character flaws, which included stealing the team issue shorts from walk-ons at the University of Washington during his time there. He blatantly wore them around during workouts even though the number screen printed on them was not his own.

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