04/19/24
February 22, 2011
Sacramento Kings Considering LA Move: The Sacramento Kings are considering the possibility of applying to the NBA at the league's March 1 deadline to relocate to Anaheim and play in the Honda Center. The Kings have played in Sacramento since 1985 after prior stops in Rochester, Cincinnati and Kansas City. "We have to look at all of our options at this point," said owner Joe Maloof.
posted by rcade to basketball at 08:08 AM - 4 comments
Would this make them the Los Angeles Kings of Anaheim ?
posted by tommybiden at 09:47 AM on February 22, 2011
They should get Sleepy's as their main sponsor and call themselves the California Kings.
posted by Meathooks at 11:57 AM on February 22, 2011
Reporting from Sacramento- Local fan base is about 50/50 as to if its even a big deal if the Kings leave, according to our local crack journalists on TV. They seem to be a late-night comedy show in recent years, and provide plenty of comic material...Coach Mussleman DUI stuff, Coach Theus' flameout and midseason x-out. They lost a lot of the pink-shoelace crowd anyways with the disbanding of the Monarchs and their lame-o excuse of needing to concentrate on the Kings and Palms casino operations instead. Their season tix base is .....gone. They ginned up prices starting in 2002 after their playoff run, and convinced seatholders to pay way up for next seasons and beyond, convincing them that Kings tickets were going to be a resellable commodity- ala Red sox, Yankees, Lakers tix- but no, that plan backfired with the ongoing losses, and trading off of any player that had any ability. The players they've traded away could be back-benchers on an AllStar team. How they haven't traded Tyreke Evans away yet is kinda amazin'. The Kings sell more tickets now at the window than for season-tix-holders. A recent ballot measure to have a new arena w/public financing went down by about 70-30 %...no one wins elections by that much. The Maloofs may need to move it just to stop the money bleed anyways. They've sold the New Mexico beer distributor (wow)- a completely recession-proof business, Their wells Fargo Stock is off 50%, the Palms Casino is bleeding, reportedly valued by one equity holder as having a value of 106 million, and who knows what the Kings are actually worth, given that the City of Sac is owed ...how much, that number is hard to find. And now, they get a decent offer to relocate to the Honda in Orange Co......time to line up the U-hauls. I smell a marketing deal already with disney and the Anaheim Lion Kings.
posted by Leominster at 12:57 PM on February 22, 2011
They should be forced to go home to Rochester. That would give them an appreciation for Sac Town winters.