Kings Talks Continue

Sacramento, Calif., Mayor Kevin Johnson planned to meet with Kings co-owner George Maloof April 26, the second such sit-down in an attempt to revive talks about a new arena for the NBA team.

The pair’s first meeting after the apparent collapse of a deal to build a new arena took place in Las Vegas April 20, and was at least cordial if not necessarily a love fest.

“The first thing to say is that we had a productive meeting,” Johnson said at halftime of that night’s Kings-Oklahoma City Thunder game. “I thought it was important to keep the lines of communication open. In the spirit of Sacramento, if anything is going to be productive, we have to communicate.

“We didn’t get into the core principles of the deal. That wasn’t what it was about. It was just us sitting down face-to-face and talking about possibilities.

“It was a solid step forward. We agreed to have a follow-up conversation next week.”

The Maloof family issued a statement after the meeting. “This afternoon, Mayor Kevin Johnson had a meeting at the Palms Hotel and met with George Maloof for nearly an hour,” the statement said. “The meeting was cordial; however, nothing definitive resulted from the meeting. The Maloof family will not have any further comments on the meeting.”
However, reports later emerged that the Maloofs questioned the accuracy of revenue and profit estimates developed by AEG, which would build the $391 million arena in California’s capital.

George Maloof, in an April 20 news conference, acknowledged the family’s dismissal of AEG’s figures had just as much to do with the rejection of the deal as did terms of the putative agreement.

Among other issues, Maloof “scoffed” at estimates the team would reap nearly $160 million in total revenue the first year in the new building.

“A lot of other (NBA) owners came up to me in the last few days saying it’s the craziest thing ever, it’s crazy,” he told the Sacramento Bee.

AEG estimated the Kings would bring in about $60.4 million in ticket revenue in the venue’s first year. Maloof family adviser Christopher Thornberg said that ticket revenue would have to nearly triple from current levels for the team to meet that projection.

With the improving economy and curiosity about a gleaming new facility, some increase in ticket revenue is a reasonable assumption, he said. But the team wouldn’t suddenly be flush with cash.

“I didn’t say they wouldn’t see an increase in revenue – what I said was they were going to come up $5 million to $15 million short,” the Bee quoted Thornberg saying. “It’s just puffery.”

Johnson has said Sacramento would be interested in keeping the Kings under another owner, but the Maloofs have repeatedly said they aren’t interested in selling, even as they have faced financial difficulties that left the family with only 2 percent of ownership of the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.

Anaheim is still interested in luring the team to the city-owned Honda Center with the backing of Henry Samueli, the billionaire tech executive who owns the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks. Samueli recently embarked on a $20 million improvement project, adding several amenities to the well-maintained arena by early 2013.

Johnson was asked if he trusted the Maloofs when they say they want to stay in Sacramento. “I’ve got to take them at face value,” Johnson said.