City of Seattle

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.

It's a big day for the future of the Kings, as the Sacramento and Seattle investment groups vying for the team are prepared to make presentations to the NBA, explaining why their respective cities deserve the franchise. In advance of that meeting, let's quickly round up a few of the latest links on the fight for the Kings….

• David Lucchetti, who currently owns just 1% of the Kings, is the minority shareholder matching Chris Hansen's bid for the 7% currently owned by Bob Cook, reports Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee (via Twitter).
• According to Aaron Bruski of NBCSports.com (via Twitter), Sacramento's acquisition of Cook's 7% share could give them the right of first refusal on the Maloofs' 65% share.
• Bruski also reports (Twitter links) that environmental challenges could delay Seattle's arena plan, pushing it back to 2017/18, whereas Sacramento's arena proposal has it on track for 2016.
• Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today tweets the 12 owners on the joint committee who will hear today's pitches from the Sacramento and Seattle groups: Peter Holt (Spurs), Glen Taylor (Timberwolves), Micky Arison (Heat), Clay Bennett (Thunder), James Dolan (Knicks), Wyc Grousbeck (Celtics), Greg Miller (Jazz), Robert Sarver (Suns), Herb Simon (Pacers), Larry Tanenbaum (Raptors), and Jeanie Buss (Lakers).
• Tom Ziller of SBNation.com revisits an argument he has made before, writing that giving Seattle an expansion team is the most logical solution for the NBA.

Tomorrow, competing bidders from Sacramento and Seattle will convene in New York to make their pitches for ownership of the Kings in a joint meeting of the NBA's Relocation and Finance committees. Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson has already been in New York for days, since, as luck would have it, he had a wedding to attend there over the weekend. As we get down to the business portion of Johnson's trip, here's the latest on the Kings saga:

• On the eve of Wednesday's critical meeting in New York, there is trouble on the homefront in Sacramento, as a citizens' group filed a "notice of intent" to sue the city in order to block the proposed downtown arena, reports Dale Kasler and Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee.  The "Coalition for Responsible Arena Development" intends to challenge last week's approval to finance the downtown arena on the grounds that it committed to construction and operation without completing environmental reviews.
  
  Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/04/02/5311482/sacramento-arena-opponents-makes.html#mi_rss=Kings/NBA#storylink=cpy
• According to an Associated Press report (via NBA.com), Seattle fans have already requested 44,000 season tickets in the event that the team relocates.  The prospective ownership group urged fans to join a "priority ticket waitlist" to display their desire for a team and the results have been "nothing short of stunning," according to Chris Hansen. 
• State Senator and Sacramento native Darrell Steinberg will head to New York to join the group lobbying to keep the Kings in Sacramento on Wednesday, writes Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee.  Steinberg will try to persuade the NBA's committees that the rallying effort of the city's political community is reason enough for Sacramento to keep their team.  "There is political support for streamlining the regulatory process of environmentally sustainable and economically vital projects like the proposed Sacramento downtown arena," said a Steinberg statement released today.

Earlier updates:

• Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/04/02/5311308/city-beat-sacramento-delegation.html#mi_rss=Kings/NBA#storylink=cpy
• Lawyers for the longshoremen's union in Seattle are trying to expedite their appeal in response to a February ruling that rejected their lawsuit against a plan for a new arena in Seattle, reports Jon Humbert of KOMO-TV in Seattle (Twitter link). According to one of the union's lawyers who spoke to Aaron Bruski of ProBasketballTalk.com, there's strong public sentiment in Seattle against the arena plan (Twitter link).
• Johnson spoke to Sam Amick of USA Today about how he'll make his case on Wednesday, and explains how Vivek Ranadive became the primary investor in the group bidding to keep the team in Sacramento. Johnson also said he's not concerned about the notion that the Maloofs may decide to keep the team for a while if the league won't allow them to sell it to the Seattle group.
• Last we heard, a pair of Kings minority owners were considering exercising their right to match the offer for fellow minority owner Bob Cook's 7% stake in the team from Chris Hansen's group of Seattle investors. A source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com that other minority owners will indeed match the bid for Cook's share by Wednesday.
• In the same piece, Berger argues that while it may initially seem like a better financial move for the owners to approve a move to Seattle, the NBA should be worried about setting an unwanted precedent should the league ignore Sacramento's willingness to fund a new arena. Other cities may not be so eager to build if there's a chance their team will move away regardless.
• Tom Ziller of Cowbell Kingdom believes the presence of the Maloof family, which owns the Kings and has a deal in place to sell the team to Hansen's group, could be a negative for the Seattle bidders, considering how clumsy the Maloofs have come off in past presentations.
• In response to a source who told TNT's David Aldridge that the Seattle investors would announce an additional $20MM for improvements to Key Arena, Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times reports Hansen and city officials are still negotiating over the arena upgrades, and no one has made an announcement yet. Still, a spokesman for Seattle mayor Mike McGinn says the city officials present at Wednesday's meeting will make it clear that the arena will be ready for an NBA team in time for next season.

Just a few days remain before competing bidders for the Kings go before the NBA's Board of Governors on Wednesday to make their cases, so news regarding the future of the team won't be in short supply. Here's the latest, with any updates added to the top of the page throughout the day: 

• Marc Stein of ESPN.com doesn't agree with Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson's assertion that Sacramento has a 90% chance of keeping the Kings, but a source tells the ESPN scribe that Sacramento is "gaining momentum" in its effort to keep the team. Stein, who was told that the battle between Seattle and Sacramento is too close to call at this point, also hears that the determining factor will come down to simply how much money Sacramento bidders can pony up in their counteroffer to Chris Hansen's Seattle group.
• Minority owner John Kehriotis has ended his bid for the team after a critical financial backer withdrew from the effort, reports Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee. Kehriotis, like the primary Sacramento bidding group led by Vivek Ranadive, aimed to keep the Kings in town.
• Hansen's group has filed court documents confirming their deal to buy minority owner Bob Cook's 7% share of the team, Bizjak reports in the same piece. Four other minority owners have a right to match the offer, and two told Bizjak they're considering doing so.
• Johnson is nearing his goal of having 10,000 Sacramento-area residents pledge to buy Kings season tickets in advance of Wednesday's meeting. More than 9,000 pledges are in at HereWeBuy.org as of Saturday afternoon, up from about 7,500 a couple days ago.