Posted on 01/21/2013 11:46:53 AM PST by MinorityRepublican
The only thing stopping the Sacramento Kings from a sale and move to Seattle is approval by NBA owners.
The Maloof family has agreed to sell the Kings to a Seattle group led by investor Chris Hansen, the league confirmed in a statement Monday morning. The deal is still pending approval from the NBA Board of Governors.
A person familiar with the decision said Sunday night that Hansen's group will buy 65% of the franchise for $525 million, move the team to Seattle and restore the SuperSonics name. The Maloofs will have no stake in the team.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal was waiting approval.
The sale figure is a total valuation of the franchise, which includes relocation fees. Hansen's group also is hoping to buy out other minority investors.
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said last week he had received permission from NBA Commissioner David Stern to present a counteroffer to league owners from buyers who would keep the Kings in Sacramento.
The plan by Hansen's group is to have the team play at least the next two seasons in KeyArena before moving into a new facility in downtown Seattle. The deadline for teams to apply for a move for the next season is March 1.
Johnson, himself a former All-Star point guard in the NBA, said in a statement late Sunday night that the city remained undeterred despite the agreement with the Seattle group.
"Sacramento has proven that it is a strong NBA market with a fan base that year in and year out has demonstrated a commitment to the Kings by selling out 19 of 27 seasons in a top 20 market and owning two of the longest sellout streaks in NBA history," Johnson said.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I haven’t really followed the NBA that much ever since the end of “Dream Team” Era from the ‘90s.
Gee, I thought buying a team and moving it was an evil thing. At least that’s what the folks in Seattle said about Oklahoma City.
I haven’t followed pro sports much in general in a long time. As far as I’m concerned they can take the Thunder and Ship’em Back.
“””Seattle Looks Set to Get Sonics Back”””
I didn’t know they left. I guess that means I don’t care. Bummer.
I was in Seattle about 30 years ago and they must have been hot at the time because the whole town had some sort of Sonic Fever hysteria going on. Didn’t care then, don’t care now.
taxpayers should never have to spend a dime on sports teams or venues. Never
Just another example; the NBA is half a dozen Globetrotters and
the rest are the Washington Generals.
Washington State has no state income tax. California has a marginal state income tax rate of over 13% for high income earners. Well duh, of course the Kings will move to Seattle.
Sounds like there will be fewer high income taxpayers in the Sacramento area paying for the profligate spending of Jerry Brown and the Democrats. Watch for California state income tax revenue to “unexpetedly” drop.
The Kings franchise will be playing in their different city since the franchise started
Rochester, Cincinnati (first two cities as the Royals), Kansas City, Omaha (as KC-Omaha), Sacramento, and probably Seattle.
They will eventually leave Seattle, too
If you go back and review how the Sonics left...no one in the city government cared to launch a new arena. They were playing in a place that needed massive renovation...which wasn’t going to occur, and the city felt that they weren’t drawing any tax revenue or money for town.
After the Sonics left, then the town realized that they had screwed up and there was a base of income related to basketball.
Sufficient to come even close to paying for the facilities?
Cincinnati and Hamilton County are getting screwed on the Bengals' stadium and one of the terms of the agreement to keep the Bengals was that there couldn't be a tax on the tickets to pay for the stadium if sales tax revenues came up short.
I think the best thing to happen would be for cities to just start refusing to pay for these millionaires' playgrounds. If you have fewer cities willing to pay than you have teams, then the threats of moving the team won't work even on those cities that feel they must pay.
Too bad all of the win / loss records and hardware will be staying in OKC with the Thunder. So, they’ll be the SuperSonics, a fresh newcomer - until Seattle realizes, once again, that it cannot support an NBA team.
Professional athletes are taxed depending on which state each game is played in; ie what percentage of their income was generated by each game. They pay A LOT of states every year. So, with the high income players, this will have minimal impact on CA tax receipts. The support staff, on the other hand (coaches, trainers, etc) almost always reside where the team calls home and pays taxes accordingly.
The owner of the Miami Dolphins (worth $2 billion) is demanding $400 million from the Taxpayers so he can put a roof on his stadium.
The owner of the Carolina Panthers is also demanding Taxpayer money for stadium upgrades with the tacit threat of taking the team to LA.
“This paper reviews the empirical literature assessing the effects of subsidies for professional sports franchises and facilities. The evidence reveals a great deal of consistency among economists doing research in this area. That evidence is that sports subsidies cannot be justified on the grounds of local economic development, income growth or job creation, those arguments most frequently used by subsidy advocates.” - http://econjwatch.org/articles/do-economists-reach-a-conclusion-on-subsidies-for-sports-franchises-stadiums-and-mega-events
The general problem is that hotels tend to benefit from a sports team pitch that runs year-round. If you run a one-sports team operation...there’s no stable income. If you had a smart planning staff and could work up the numbers for hotel taxes...it’d probably all pay off in the end.
It is insane. Billionaire owners and millionaire players want and demand OUR money, they should just earn it and pay for their own stuff. Sandra Flukes, all of them
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