The Kings seemed all but gone. The deals were struck, the Maloofs, the family who claims majority ownership of the team, agreed to a deal to have the team moved to Seattle. A group led by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen was slated to pay $525 million to get the Kings to Seattle.
Enter the procedurals.
Before any deal to move a team can be finalized, it must be approved by majority of the Board of Governors, consisting of league owners. Typically, when a deal like this is being struck, matters of due diligence are handed to two separate committees. In preference for a more streamlined approach, David Stern”said last week he combined the two committees that oversee sales and relocations and told them, “You guys figure it out.””
Kevin Johnson has now taken the lead in an effort to keep the Kings from moving. He has been going to members of the corporate community, seeking support in his efforts. Johnson has also attempted to work with grassroots efforts such as “Here We Buy”, a group that helps encourage increased attendance for Kings’ games.
Having been promised an opportunity to present a case as to why the team should stay, Johnson is evidently pulling out all the stops. He is expected to be in Houston during this weekend’s all-star festivities.
More from Sacramento’s mayor:
“”You just cannot tell me that when Sacramento presents a comparable, fair, competitive deal to what Seattle’s done and makes good on this arena that this team is going to be plopped and relocated somewhere else,”
Another way to look at this is yet another snag in this contract-turned-saga. It’s dragged on for quite some time. It’s about time Seattle got itself a basketball team, after it had its own historic franchise taken away, right?
Well, we all felt for Seattle losing its team. But, this sort of long, overdrawn process is exactly the sort of thing needed to keep negotiations and moves fair. It makes sense to allow a host city to exhaust every resource possible to keep its basketball team.
“2013 is kind of the final act,” Johnson said. And a final act, they deserve.
[HT to ESPN]
Mohamed Abdihakim is a journalism student at Florida Atlantic University. He is a Phoenix Suns fan, who is not prepared for the possibility of Nash winning a title in a Lakers jersey. Mohamed is also an editor at Hoops Nation and contributes to Les Snobs. Interests include International basketball, Mad Men, and blues music. Nearly all stats are credited to Hoopdata or Basketball-Reference.
Twitter handle: @Abdi_hakim.
