Friday, May 10, 2013

How the NBA can solve this dilemma with one simple stipulation

The poker game is on.  Oh, it is so on.

Chris Hansen and the Seattle group just took a tractor filled with cash and pushed it to the center of table.



The Maloofs sit on the sidelines, drooling, as they await to see just how big a windfall they can get for dismantling a franchise and alienating an entire fanbase.

And now some people say the NBA is in a pickle.  How can the league turn their backs on that much cash?  Hansen knows that everyone has their price.

So what to do?

Well, if Chris Hansen wants to buy the Kings, let him buy it.

The NBA should let the sale go through.

With one important stipulation:

The team stays in Sacramento and no other vote on relocation could take place for at least five years.

Would Hansen want to own the Kings and have them play in Sacramento for the next five years?  Is he that patient?

Call the bluff.  Hell, make it 10 years before a relocation vote could be taken again.  See what Hansen does then. Because it sure seems like the Seattle group is going to take this battle to the courts if it gets shut out.

Why not take away his ammunition?  Give him the team.  And give him Sacramento.  For years and years and years.

I'd like Chris Hansen as owner of the Sacramento Kings.  He's got deep pockets and doesn't seem to mind writing very large checks.  Could he stand to lose at a crappy arena for half a decade or more.  Would he do an arena deal with Kevin Johnson?

Let's find out.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its amazing how nobody is comparing this situation to the situation when the Seattle team was bought out from under them. Where was the NBA in this? Here they are holding Sacramento's hand in all these processes and did nothing to try and help Seattle get another ownership group to keep the Seattle team away from Clay Bennett. What i wont be surprised by is if the NBA allows the Kings to stay in Sacramento is an antitrust lawsuit opened up against the NBA.

Anonymous said...

You don't know how the NBA works, do you? The NBA doesn't want to play 2 years in the old arena, let alone 5 years.

Ron Wenig said...

I realize that. It's a way for the NBA to still be able to say yes to Hansen and yes to Sacramento. Hansen would forced to bargain in good faith with KJ. Stern might also figure Hansen would not want the team if he had to stay five years in Sacramento.

Anonymous said...

I think there's some merit to your idea, but I don't see it happening. I think there's gonna be an expansion deal.

Anonymous said...

We're gonna see just how much power Stern and the league really has.

Anonymous said...

The entire Sacramento based deal is shaky at best. Still trying to secure investors,still haven't secured the complete new arena project. The NBA is forcing the city to pick up the tab for a large part of the arena, from a city/state that is more than broke. The smart play would be to allow the Maloof's to complete the sale of their already agreeed to deal, let Hanson move the team, but promise Sacramento that IF they do complete their arena deal AND they complete their ownership group THEN they would automatically be approved for an expansion team as soon as all of the above is in place. I hate that Sacramento is in this position. I hated it when Seattle lost their team. But this seems to be the most logical and fair solution.

Anonymous said...

Not going to happen, Ron.

I won't bother with all the comparison's to Seattle in 2008 - you probably don't care.

One of two things are going to happen here:

1) The NBA owners are going to let the $ signs in their eyes (which are now as big as dinner plates) do the talking.

2) Stern is going to put the kabash on the whole situation, forcing the Maloof's to sell to a severely underpriced offer with no real arena deal.

Scenario one will have the Sacramento fans mad and wanting their pound of flesh, scenario two will have the Seattle fans and the HBN wanting their pound of flesh.

The only difference between scenario 1 and scenario 2 is that the HBN group has already planned how to exact their pound of flesh... and you can bet the NBA knows it.

Anonymous said...

Look at the ripple effect. If Hansen buys the Kings for 600mil, Ranadive can buy the Bucks for $350 and move them to Sac. Milwalke can buy the Timberwolves or Hornets for $300 and move them back to Mil...Everyone wins except the last guy!

Anonymous said...

Hansen's been completely transparent throughout this process - his intent is to purchase a team to play basketball in Seattle. He wouldn't take the deal you're describing. And if the Maloofs won't sell to anyone but Hansen, I'm not sure what will become of the Kings.

Unknown said...

Totally and utterly I agree 100% with you (major disclaimer I live in Seattle ..ok that's out the way) ! No extended deadlines, no hand holding and completely going out of their way to help us as the Stern lead "association "has done for Sacramento for "28 years of loyal fan and community support ". Hmmm..compared to the 41 years and NBA Championship that the Sonics produced up here, yet all because local politicians hurt poor lil Stern's feelings, he didn't provide us with the same outright obvious assistance as he's doing for Sacramento? I dare the NBA BOG to ok anything remotely close to what you're proposing...you're right, I'm sure their antitrust lawyers are salivating at the thought of litigation. The NBA ..I'm assuming probably not!

Anonymous said...

Funny how none of you are lawyers.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Hansen/Ballmer don't even want the Kings. The main side affect is that the raise forces the NBA's hand. If the NBA takes the Sacramento deal, they have effectively fixed the price of the franchise.

That's a serious anti-trust issue. Hansen/Ballmer can then sue the NBA into oblivion. It will be a rewarding revenge play against the NBA and Stern. At this point, Seattle has MLB/NFL/MLS, and pretty soon the NHL. They can afford to give a final FU to the NBA and make them pay.

So let's say that this blog post happens. NBA sells to Hansen/Ballmer and prohibits a move.

Guess what? There's NOTHING the NBA can do to prevent a move. Precedent was set in '81 when David Sterling moved the Clippers to LA despite the league telling him no. What happened? The NBA sued. After some preliminary rulings against the NBA which raised questions on anti-trust violations by the NBA, Sterling and the NBA settled.

Basically, this looks bad for Sacramento either way. Sorry you got your hopes up, Kings fans.

Anonymous said...

Someone above hit the nail right on the head: the situation will play out with the sale being approved and Sac receiving an expansion team if they have all their ducks in a row. The NBA has said no expansion until the new TV deal is brokered in 2016. That's the perfect amount of time for Sac to have a legit, binding arena deal in place to go with a sound ownership group. This scenario allows the NBA owners to realize the enourmous bump in franchise values and stops them from having to turn down an ownership group any professional sports league would beg to have aboard. This is really not much different than what the NFL did with the Browns and the NBA did not too long ago with Charlotte. It's actually pretty easy to see how this will play out.

JR said...

I'm gonna call my shot. Here is what is going to happen. Relocation to Seattle will get vetoed. The sale to Hansen will get vetoed because the NBA doesn't want him to be the next Clay Bennet. The NBA will advise Maloofs to sell to Ranadive Group or they will call in on the $75-$100 million that they owe the league. The Maloofs will be greatful for the NBA getting them off the hook. The Maloofs don't care where the money comes from at this point. They have to back the Hansen-Balmer offer publicly or Hansen's big pockets will sue them into complete bankruptcy. Ranadive will deposit the remaining 50% of the purchase price into escrow Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. After the relocation to Seattle and sale to Hansen are vetoed the Maloofs will take Ranadive's backup offer in time for Vivek's group to start planning for the upcoming draft and welcome the flux of season ticket holders. In sum, the Seattle Supersonics and their fans are a victim of being the third sport in Seattle. If they got their new arena financed before the Seahawks or lowly Mariners they wouldn't be in this position.
Your Welcome.
King's Fan

Anonymous said...

The NBA's stubbornness to not allow an expansion team to Seattle is ludicrous. This would be the preferred solution to both Seattle and Sacramento, while stiffing the Maloofs. Hansen has expressed a willingness to cover the loss of revenue to each team for the next two years on the TV deal because the NBA would have one extra team. Both Seattle and Sacramento should be working together to pressure the NBA to allow expansion, which will fix a wrong from 2008, allow the Kings to stay in Sacramento, eliminate the Maloofs from the equation, eliminate any threat of an anti-trust lawsuit and I'm almost sure Hansen would prefer it this way than move an existing team. He is doing what Clay Bennett did, based on precedence set in 2008. I'm not sure why Stern and the NBA is so stubborn about this. The TV deal is already started to be renegotiated. Why not make sure it includes 31 teams instead of 30?

Anonymous said...

Sacramento has suppoted the kings since day one. Its not there fault the Maloof ( Magoofs) dragged the team in2 nothingness. For the betterment of the nba they should have had the kings taken away from them a long time ago. Like what happened in New Orleans. And the Dodgers. The Magoofs really have no busness being in the nba. The r just born rich boys who have no clue what they r doing. If the nba alows the kings 2 leave it just goes 2 show it is not a viable league. Its as staged as wrestlng.

Anonymous said...

There will be no anti trust lawsuit.

Anonymous said...

Tired of this pickle, Seattle knows feeling of losing a team, I understand,the kings are Sacramento, period, and should stay. Give Seattle a expansion team.in.few years, everybody is happy except those crappy maloofs! Hope the palms.casino goes bust on em. Sacramento is the right choise,we fought.hard here to keep them in a crappy economy,new arena would boost all in the area economically. Problem
Solved

Anonymous said...

The Microsoft boss will get a devils payback of a slew of European anti-trust suits that have been brewing and u.s. federal regulators are as I speak reviewing certain activities of Microsoft that go beyond anti-trust it involves stock manipulation that involve Hansen the way I see it if they 're smart they'll back off and opt for an expansion team if they sue there will be stealth retaliation .
The United States military will cut off Microsoft contracts among other things all because numbnut feels his money can insulate him from other powers that be .
Selling it to city for a lower price is not price fixing lawyers that think that are smoking too much reefer.
Just because in 1981 the NBA lost a case is NOTHING ALOT of laws have been changed thanks to 8 yrs of deregulation by the G.W. administration providing broad protections against suits like these recent price fixing cases have been tossed out and the Supreme Court very Conservative will rule in the NBA's favor it may never get that far the NBA has laid the ground work for their defense by stating the rules and conditions and intents were met by the NBA and believe me the NBA imposed ALOT of conditions for a City , a community to meet in Sacramento's case precedent ticket sales sponsor support overall conditions of the current host city the key operative is current existing host city since 1981 and after probably Seattle the NBA has decided to make it HARDER for any owner to just up and leave and flip a birdy at the NBA what is the point of an NBA even existing if just ANY owner can leave a City ?
Price has nothing to do with this decision overall offer of just what are the potential suitors offering to the NBA it's not about money it's about public relations and many other things if the NBA were to allow the owners to do as they please sue as they see fit and poach and take away a team the larger scope of marketing and public relations and fan support and political support is the bottom line the Seattle supporters and orgy driven money chasers(pro anti-trust supporters) fail to see it the other way as well the City of Sacramento can also sue the NBA as well on that same issue price fixing to where there is no bottom but for sure there is a cap off price top price denying fair access to mid market buyers and keep in mind ,there is STILL California Legislation that will make it legally binding for ANY sport league team to pay off all fiduciary debts owing to the host city that said owners want to leave.
For sure this is a universal agreed upon view from ALL associations NBA/NFL do NOT want to see that law signed and if it means keeping the Kings in Sacramento then so be it.

Anonymous said...

Too good of bribe for owners to deny! Two lawsuits filed today against arena in Sacramento today and that makes it shaky for an already shaky Sacramento group that the Maloof family is not even talking to ? And take 65 million less ?

Gary Payton said...

Sonic-Kings coming home! Now I can retire my jersey # ! Everyone knows I turned Bennett and Okeville down flat!!!

Gary Payton said...

Seattle would prefer expansion, but that is on the NBA and David Stain. A commitment would take care of both great B-ball towns. Parading some other cities history around should never happen, if Seattle gets the team, I would hope the history remains in Sactown and they get an expansion team!

Gary Payton said...

Who is glad David Stain is on his way out ? He created this whole situation with help! Howard Schultz (boycott Starbucks)turning his back on Seattle, selling to that lying Clay Bennett who wanted a 500 million dollar arena built with public funds! Key arena was redone in 1995 and deemed obsolete by NBA standards 10 years later? This was a great place for average Joe fan and still is ! The NBA needs to be rebuilt politically for fans to not be held hostage!

Gary Payton said...

OKC is the 3rd smallest market in the NBA and All this was created when Stain and Bennett hatched a plan seven years ago!