City of Seattle

While the NBA Board of Governors met to discuss the future of the Kings, George Maloof told reporters that he's fine with the way the league has decided to handle deliberations as well as the process for both cities (tweets Nick Monacelli of News 10 Sacramento). It appears that today's meeting is over, but we'll keep track of more updates/Twitter links we've gathered up tonight involving the Seattle/Sacramento situation: 

• Bryan May of News 10 Sacramento hears from George Maloof that he expects a final vote to be taken during the first week of May. Maloof would neither confirm nor deny if the proposed Sacramento offer was equal to Seattle's. 
• According to Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee, sources close to the Maloof family say that the current Kings owners still keep their binding agreement with the Seattle group in mind and would prefer that the league decides to approve it. 
• Lillis also says that Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson flew to New York last night after the Kings game in order to be ready if needed (Twitter links). 

6:15pm: The earliest a decision will be made would be the first week in May, Stern told reporters, including Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times. The joint committees reviewing the bids will likely convene again next week after the Board of Governors meeting this weekend. Next week's meeting is likely when the committee recommendation will be made (All Twitter links). 

6:00pm: Despite commissioner David Stern's insistence that the league will not expand, that issue isn't off the table, says NBA Board of Governors chairman Peter Holt. The Spurs owner adds that there's been no down payment made by the Sacramento group, presumably referring to the $30MM non-refundable payment Seattle's group made to the Maloofs. Chris Daniels of KING-TV in Seattle tweets the news.

4:15pm: A source close to the situation tells Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee that Sacramento's bid for the Kings is a "non-binding term sheet." The source tells the Bee that the bid would require the Maloofs to terminate its agreement with the Seattle group before the NBA's Board of Governors vote on it, at which point the Sacramento group would negotiate a final, binding offer for the franchise.

Predictably, the Maloof family doesn't sound entirely on board with that idea. The Bee reports that the Maloofs, in a letter to the NBA, expressed a desire to move forward with the Seattle agreement.

3:07pm: This week's NBA's ownership meetings have begun, which means discussions that will determine the fate of the Kings are underway. In advance of the meetings, the Vivek Ranadive-led group seeking to buy the team and keep it in Sacramento submitted its official bid to purchase the team, according to Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee.

The Sacramento bid, along with the offer made by Chris Hansen's Seattle group, will be reviewed today by a handful of NBA owners that are members of the league's relocation and finance committees. The 12-owner committee will eventually forward a recommendation to the league's full Board of Governors, which includes all 30 team owners. As Ken Berger of CBSSports.com explains, the Board of Governors will meet tomorrow and Friday, although no formal vote is expected this week (Twitter links).

Here are a few more of today's notes and links related to Seattle, Sacramento, and the Kings:

• Lillis notes in his report that the amount of Sacramento's bid was not revealed. Based on yesterday's reports, it sounds as if it may not match Seattle's increased offer dollar for dollar.
• According to Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game (Sulia link), one reason the vote is being delayed is because the committee will need more team to evaluate which group will have the ability to build a new arena more quickly. Other factors are being vetted as well, but the arena issue could be a big one, says Bucher.
• Hansen has completed deals to purchase all the land required for Seattle's proposed arena, according to Chris Daniels of KING-TV.
• Ken Benson of the New York Times explains how Ranadive's influence in India could be a boon for the NBA if Sacramento keeps the Kings.

Seattle mayor Mike McGinn said that he has been informed that there will be no vote regarding the fate of the Kings taken this week when the NBA Board of Governors meets in New York City, reports Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times.  A combination of the NBA's relocation and finance committees are meeting in New York tomorrow and the full Board of Governors (the owners of the 30 NBA teams) will be meeting on Thursday and Friday.

Tony Bizjak and Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee confirm Condotta's report, adding that while no reason was given for the postponement, David Stern did hint a few weeks back that a decision may not be made by this week.  Per the Bee, Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson indicated the city's bid is being finalized and will be ready by tomorrow's NBA meetings.  Johnson expressed confidence that the bid "can win favor with both the NBA and the Maloof family," but also implied that it will not match the increased offer Seattle's group announced Friday night. 

Votes on the approval of sale and relocation were expected to happen this week, but McGinn said he was told by Stern himself not to expect a decision by Friday. As we outlined yesterday, once it does happen, it will take the votes of 23 of 30 owners to approve the sale of the Kings to the group led by Seattle investor Chris Hansen and the votes of 16 of 30 owners to approve the request to relocate the team.

Despite this latest delay, Seattle continues to move forward with their plans.  According to King TV's Chris Daniels, McGinn also announced on Tuesday that a formal deal for Key Arena has been struck between the city and Hansen's group that calls for a minimum of $3MM in permanent investments and guarantees $2MM more annually, which will bump to $750,000 should the arena add an NHL team.  The investments will enable seating and technology upgrades along with locker room and club improvements.  (Twitter links located here) 

After months of back-and-forth jostling, it's finally time for the NBA owners to vote on the sale of the Kings to the group backed by Seattle investor Chris Hansen.  Hansen needs 23 of 30 votes to secure the sale and we know that he has at least one in the Maloofs.  The Sacramento side, meanwhile, needs eight no votes to block the transaction.  If the sale goes through, all Hansen needs is a simple majority of 16 votes to move the club to Seattle.  If Hansen gets denied the overall sale, however, it could create an opening for Sacramento, as detailed by NBA.com's David Aldridge.  

If the Seattle deal is rejected, Sacramento stands ready with a counteroffer to the Maloofs that may match the parameters of the Seattle offer. Some sources involved in the discussions say it does but others say it doesn't.  Regardless, a source indicated that the Maloofs would be willing to sign a backup offer with the Sacramento-led Vivek Ranadive group if the Hansen deal was rejected by the NBA.

Factors like television market size can come into play in the approval process, but there are three major factors that will influence the decision, according to Aldridge.  

• The key issue is the arena, as in, which side can get the building finished first and closest to the estimated price tag.  There are significant hurdles on both sides.  The new Seattle arena – which would be heavily financed by Hansen – might not be ready until 2017, which means that the team would have to play in Key Arena for longer than the previously estimated two year span.  The $448MM proposed arena in Sacramento would see $250MM from taxpayers, but there's still the matter of securing the land necessary and purchasing it, and that could cost more than estimated in total.
• There's also a matter of a $30MM non-refundable deposit that the Maloofs have secured from Hansen but have yet to receive from Ranadive's team.  It's still unknown whether the Sacramento group will take that plunge.  
• Finally, the league's new revenue sharing system will affect the franchise differently, depending on where it lands.  If the Kings stay in Sacramento, league sources believe the team will continue to take in money from the pool.  If the Kings move to Seattle, those sources believe the team will become a revenue payer, which obviously benefits the league more.

On the surface, it would appear that the cards are stacked against Sacramento.  However, there is always the wild card of commissioner David Stern, who is said to be helping the Sacramento group behind the scenes.  The Maloofs, who still want to make the deal happen with Hansen, believe that Stern has gone above and beyond in his efforts to keep the Kings where they are.  Stern has backed off and let franchises move in the past, like when the Sonics were moved to Oklahoma City, but has also prevented sales that would have lead to relocation, like the Hornets' proposed sale to Larry Ellison, who probably would have brought them to San Jose.  

As it stands, Hansen probably has the upper hand, but Stern could shift things to Sacramento's side in a hurry if he can help secure more financing for them.

In a few days, the NBA Board of Governors will meet to decide the fate of the Kings, though a decision may not come until a while after the meeting is finished. In the meantime, there's plenty of news as Sacramento and Seattle jockey for position.

• Christine Willmsen and Steve Miletich of The Seattle Times profile Chris Hansen, the lead investor in Seattle's effort to land the Kings. The story mentions Hansen's friendship with Celtics co-owner Irv Grousbeck, and Chris Daniels of KING-TV in Seattle points out that Irv's son, Wyc Grousbeck, sits on the joint committee currently weighing the competing Kings bids (Twitter links).
• If there's a difference in the size of the bids, the league doesn't necessarily have to go with the larger one, sports legal expert Michael McCann tells Times scribe Bob Condotta.
• Still, there's little doubt the Sacramento bidders for the Kings will match Seattle's $25MM addition to its bid, writes Marcos Breton of the Sacramento Bee, who argues that there's no compelling reason for the league to allow the team to leave a supportive market.
• Commissioner David Stern insists expansion isn't on the table, but it should be, opines Ailene Voisin of The Bee.

SATURDAY, 10:38pm: According to Tony Bizjak, Dale Kasler, and Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee, the Sacramento group refrained from delivering a counter to the Seattle investors' increased offer, looking at it as a move of desperation that "isn't much money in the grand scheme of things" and downplaying the notion that it will do anything to ultimately sway the NBA's decision.   

FRIDAY, 11:21pm: Hansen has released a brief statement on the Seattle bidders' website.

"While we already have a binding purchase agreement to purchase the controlling interest in the team, the Seattle Ownership Group has elected to voluntarily raise its purchase price as a sign of our commitment to bring basketball back to our City and our high degree of confidence in our Arena plan, our financing plan, the economic strength of the Seattle market, individual and corporate support for the team and, most importantly, the future of the NBA," the statement reads in part.

11:09pm: Seattle's group has officially upped its offer by $25MM, a source tells Ian Thomsen of SI.com (Twitter link).

10:54pm: It's unlikely the NBA will allow a "bidding war," Bruski hears (Twitter link).

8:22pm: The Seattle investors are contemplating upping their bid by $25MM in reaction to the competition from Sacramento, tweets Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee.

6:40pm: The Sacramento bidders have no plans of adhering to the Maloofs' deadline, according to Sam Amick of USA Today, who adds that the deadline primarily signals the Maloofs' acknowledgement that the league may block their move to Seattle. Meanwhile, the Sacramento group has withdrawn its claim to minority owner Bob Cook's 7% share of the team. The bidders were operating via minority owner Dave Luchetti, who had the right to exercise the right of first refusal to deny the share's sale to Hansen's group. Since the league will ultimately vote up or down on any sale of the 7% stake, this move simply shows the Sacramento group's desire to focus on the larger issue of the majority stake, Amick explains. 

5:20pm: The Maloofs still prefer to sell to Chris Hansen's group, and regard the Sacramento bid as a backup offer that they only intend to accept if the NBA rejects the Hansen sale, Aldridge writes. 

4:49pm: Both the NBA and the Sacramento group are operating on their own timelines at the moment, sources tell Aaron Bruski of NBCSports.com (Twitter link).

3:54pm: The Maloofs have agreed to give the Sacramento group additional time beyond today's 5:00pm deadline to submit a competing offer, reports TNT's David Aldridge (via Twitter). Of course, as noted below, the Maloofs' deadline may ultimately not matter a whole lot, since the NBA isn't adhering to it.

3:47pm: The Sacramento investment group attempting to buy the Kings has informed the NBA that it will match the offer made by Chris Hansen's Seattle group, according to Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee (via Twitter). Sam Amick of USA Today first reported last night that the Sacramento group was expected to match the Seattle offer.

Read more