5:54pm: Commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver addressed the media after both sides finished the presentations. Here are the updates based on their remarks, along with some more updates from Sacramento's side.
- Stern said the Kings' future may still be unresolved by the time the two-day Board of Governors meeting that's set to begin April 18th is finished, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Still, Stern doesn't expect the decision will take too much longer, as TNT's David Aldridge points out (Twitter links).
- Stern spoke about the timelines involved for a new arena in either city, and Aaron Bruski of NBCSports.com believes it will be a hot-button issue (Twitter link).
- The 12 owners who met today will do so again before the full Board of Governors meeting later this month, Berger notes via Twitter.
- Deputy commissioner Adam Silver said the $30MM down payment the Seattle group gave to the current Kings owners "was a contingency deal" to buy the team, Aldridge tweets. The Sacramento bidders are operating on a different model, Silver added.
- Vivek Ranadive, the primary investor in Sacramento's bid, wouldn't say whether his group will match that $30MM deposit or the $341MM total that Hansen's group agreed to pay, Aldridge also reports (Twitter link).
- Nonetheless, when asked whether the Sacramento side needs to improve its offer, Stern said, "That is not one of the issues," tweets Cowbell Kingdom's James Ham.
- The Sacramento group was "extremely loose and confident" after their presentation, according to Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press (Twitter link).
4:55pm: Following their presentation to the committee of NBA owners, Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, prospective lead partner Vivek Ranadive, and Senator Darrell Steinberg spoke to the media about the meeting. Here are a few highlights, via TNT's David Aldridge, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, and Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (all Twitter links):
- The owners were "very open-minded" about Sacramento's presentation, according to Johnson.
- The Sacramento pitch promoted the market, the arena deal, and the potential ownership group, along with the strength of the fans. Johnson believes the group made a "compelling" argument.
- The Sacramento group described the atmosphere in the meeting as very positive, and felt that the questions from the NBA committee were all fair.
- Senator Steinberg said the state of California is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure there aren't any unnecessary delays in the arena construction.
- Ranadive on the Sacramento bid: "We feel like our offer is very, very good. I think all our stakeholders were pleased with the offer we made."
- Johnson noted that George Maloof was in the room for the presentation, and told reporters that the Sacramento group was happy to share its story for the Maloofs.
2:54pm: Sacramento's and Seattle's investment groups are each meeting with a committe of 12 NBA owners today, making their cases for why their respective markets make the most sense for the Kings franchise. Chris Hansen's Seattle group has already completed its presentation to the committee, with the Sacramento group currently making its pitch. We'll round up the highlights from the Sacramento meeting when it finishes, but in the meantime, here are a few tidbits from Seattle's meeting, via Twitter:
- Although King County executive Dow Constantine and Seattle mayor Mike McGinn were in Seattle's presentation to the NBA, it was Hansen that led the meeting on the group's behalf.
- George, Gavin, and Phil Maloof were also in the meeting, with George expressing that the family wants to move forward on its deal with the Seattle group.
- During the presentation, Hansen stressed Seattle's appeal as a "marketplace and destination for the NBA.
- Mayor McGinn called the meeting "very positive" and said there's still strong political support to bring the NBA back to Seattle, which was a question raised by the NBA committee.
- The Seattle group repeatedly suggested that the "pieces are in place" for an NBA franchise.
- The committee asked the Seattle group about environmental studies and lawsuits that could delay the process, but were given assurances that those wouldn't be an issue.