stevelarge_cbs13 @largesteven
Source: Seattle groups offer was rejected by Maloofs. Hmmm. Plot thickening by the minute.
Maloofs nearing deal to sell Kings to group that plans to relocate franchise to Seattle
Adrian Wojnarowski
The Maloof family is finalizing an agreement to sell the Sacramento Kings to a group that hopes to move the franchise to Seattle for the 2013-14 season, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
The deal will sell the Kings for approximately $500 million to a group led by hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft chairman Steve Ballmer. The group is seeking to relocate the franchise to Seattle's KeyArena for the 2013-14 season.
The Seattle group's plans, with support of the NBA, is to play two seasons in KeyArena before moving into a new Seattle arena, sources said.
No agreement has been signed, but one source with knowledge of the talks described the deal as "first and goal at the 1." Sources said it will take "some time" to get a formal agreement in place. The Maloofs' history of changing course late in negotiations still has some uneasy about getting the sale completed. The Maloofs previously neared a deal with Sacramento leaders to help finance a new arena in the city before backing out.
The Maloofs are expected to keep an extremely small percentage of the team, but will have no real input or say in the franchise, sources said.
Once the sale is completed, the Seattle-based group will have until March to file for relocation. NBA commissioner David Stern has been a big proponent of the Hansen-Ballmer group, and league officials will work diligently to help the franchise move to Seattle if the sale is finalized, sources said. The Seattle-based group is determined to not have the franchise spend a final lame-duck season in Sacramento.
The prospective Seattle ownership plans are to change the Kings' name and logos back to the original proprietors of the city's NBA history: the Sonics. "Same name and logos," a source working with the group told Y! Sports.
When owner Clay Bennett moved the Sonics franchise to Oklahoma City in 2008, he left behind the name, logos and history.
The Kings' status in Sacramento has been tenuous since the arena deal fell apart near the end of last season.
You would think being Cleveland fans we would all know what it is like to lose a team and maybe show a little support for Sacramento. The Magoofs are the biggest trash in the nba. All the money was committed from investors, the nba and the magoofs agreed upon it, then they come back and say they don't want to spend three million dollars for a new arena. Now that they can't get anybody to give them a free arena, they bail. They pay Travis Outlaw three million dollars to rot on the bench, yet they couldn't pony up that kind of cash for a state of the art arena?
These guys are grade A clowns that have no business owning a lemonade stand, let alone a sports franchise. They have done nothing but lie to the Sacramento community. They will just squander this cash just like they did Daddy's money. Remember when they were so heart broken by selling the rockets and they would never sell the Kings? Everything that comes out of their mouth is a lie. Cleveland is very fortunate to have such a passionate owner in Dan Gilbert.
Yeah, it is cool that Seattle gets a team again, but it is at the expense of another hurting franchise that has over 70 years of history and 28 years in Sacramento.
I really don't understand why they don't make a rule that, if a team is moved, the name and history do not move with it. Seems a fairly simple concept, and it would spare us stupidity like a New Orleans team named the Hornets or a team in Utah named the fucking Jazz.
Thrilled that Seattle is getting the Sonics back. If there was any city that was going to get a franchise, I wanted them to be the first.
But, I also feel badly for Kings fans. They were robbed of a Finals appearance years ago by those crooked referees, and they had such a great team in the beginning part of the decade. The Maloofs are some of the worst owners in sports, and I personally hope that they are barred from buying another professional sports franchise ever again.
Wikipedia:The Sonics team name and history went with the Thunder to OKC... If there were to be a team, Seattle would need to pick another name.
Settlement terms of a lawsuit between the city of Seattle and Clay Bennett's ownership group stipulated the SuperSonics' banners, trophies and retired jerseys remain in Seattle; the nickname, logo, and color scheme are available to any subsequent NBA team; and the Sonics' franchise history will be shared with the Thunder.[1]
Wikipedia: