EMPTY THE ARENA. DON'T GO TO THE FINAL 4 GAMES

It's time to make another statement, Kings fans.

You did it last year when you wanted the team to stay.

Now it's time to do it again.  Except this time it's about being jobbed.  It's about being taken for a ride.  It's about a trio of clueless brothers named Maloof.

Friday's despicable display by the Maloofs was inexcusable and perhaps one of the most embarrassing presentations in the history of sports ownership.

Parading a dull economist in front of the press to basically tear the city's arena plan to shreds was a pure affront to any Kings' fan who was brave enough to watch.

George Maloof acted like a child who had no idea why things hadn't gone his way in the sandbox.  He was gonna pout and whine and claim that little Kevie hit him in the face with a shovel.

These guys are morally and financially broke.

They have no money because they have no business acumen. In fact, they have no businesses.   They have no way to make money any more.  Owning an NBA team is not a profitable business.  It's a hobby for rich men.  The Maloofs don't qualify.

So what can the fans do?

Easy.

Empty the arena.  Don't set foot in the place for the final four games.

Make it a ghost town.

The sports world doesn't care one iota about Sacramento, but it's time to hold up the owners to the ridicule they deserve.

Stay home.

Empty the arena.

Let the team play in silence.

When the highlights appear on ESPN,  the sound of shame will be deafening to the Maloofs.

Arena deal just doesn't pencil out with Maloofs as owners

Do the Maloofs have any money left?

That's the $387 million question as the all-important arena vote looms.

With the team struggling to fill the arena, their Power Balance naming rights deal in tatters, their casino interests drained almost to zero, and no other seeming revenue streams, how do these guys come up with any cash?

It's almost comical to think they will be able to pony up with anything close to the $85 million that Sacramento is demanding to build the arena.

And would the NBA lend them the money when Anaheim is willing and able to welcome them without a penny out of pocket?

This is looking bleak.  And sadly, it's not going to be on the City of Sacramento this time.  Because unless the Brothers Maloof finally relent and sell the team, I can't see how this deal works.

Does commissioner David Stern have the juice to force a sale? Doubtful.  Especially after the lockout fiasco that proved small-market teams have begun to erode his once enormous power.

Let's look at some harsh numbers:

--In 2009-10, a total of 23 of the NBA's team worked at an operating loss.  Eleven teams had net losses of more than $20 million.  With the economy in the tank and Sacramento hurting, you can bet the Kings are one of the league's least profitable teams.

--The Kings already owe the city the balance of a $70 million loan.  Combine that with a $60 million loan from the NBA and Maloofs would be sitting on $130 million in debt with no positive cash flow.

--The Kings would be simply tenants in the new building, meaning they would get no cash flow from parking or other events beyond basketball.

Now, nobody has yet explained why the Kings need to come up with this huge block of cash upfront.  It doesn't really make sense.  Yearly leasing fees would be much easier for the team to handle.

But that's the game of chicken being played right now.

From this vantage point, only new owners with very deep pockets make this deal in Sacramento work.

I could be wrong.  I hope I am.

But the Kings could not be in worse shape.  On the court, the team is a mismatched assemblage of ill-fitting parts.  Off the court, the owners have become financial zombies, former millionaires who just stumble through life with the desperate aura of lost wealth.

I just can't see how the Kings remain in Sacramento with the Maloofs as owners.

Zombie Arena is just not going to cut it.




.

Maloofs show their empty pockets with support of Power Balance

Gavin and Joe Maloof are desperate for cash.

That is the only explanation for their incredibly tone-deaf support of the fraudulent Power Balance company, a business that will be forced to refunds millions of dollars to customers for allegedly peddling a scam product.

According to Kings spokesman Chris Clark, the Kings are still quite satisfied to be in business with Power Balance simply because "they have assured us of their commitment to the Sacrmento Kings."

Without scientific evidence,  Power Balance bracelets seem to nothing but overpriced, worthless trinkets that pretend to have magical powers.  And that's why they were sued.

But with the NBA season on hold and their financial situation in turmoil, the Maloofs are grasping at any penny thrown their way.

It's time for them to figure out an exit strategy.

Sell the team.

Make a run for it.

It's best for the city of Sacramento.

The Maloofs are paupers.  We need Kings.



in

Cash-strapped Maloofs squirm as they go from whales to minnows

Is there anything more delicious than watching the cash-strapped Maloof boys squirm as their long-anticipated move to Anaheim slowly disintegrates?

I'll be honest.  I thought there were long gone.  And that's probably still true, but the events of the last two days are just fascinating to witness.

After playing ridiculous hardball with the city in negotiations for a new arena and then dismantling the team in the name of economics and killing the attendance, they are a bundle of mock outrage because an interloper has the nerve to make them look like small-time players.

Yup, welcome to the recession, Gavin and Joe.  You are cash poor and so are we.  How does it feel?

And now you're ready to blame Billionaire  Burkle for trying to move in and take your team.

Deal with it.

The Maloof brothers are like those Jersey guys in shiny suits who strut boldly and believe that outward signs of obvious wealth are what matter most.

Hell, Adrienne Maloof is the poster girl for such nonsense.  She paraded around the arena concourse Wednesday night, huge camera crew in tow, dressed to kill in designer clothes, and sporting a look so surgically enhanced you thought her face might implode at a moment's notice.

Yet this is the image Joe and Gavin and George Maloof want to convey.

Except for one important fact.

They're broke.

And Burkle isn't.

Suddenly,  the NBA owners are looking at the Maloofs as expendable.   The league is a club for the whales, not the minnows.

Is Sacramento an NBA town?  Maybe not.  But there's a guy with awful deep pockets who thinks it just might be.

And that might just be good enough for David Stern and the rest of the Billionaire Boys Club.