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Kings owe $83 millionWhile the Kings look for a new arena, an old financial debt came into view recently. Apparently the Kings still owe $83 to the city of Sacremento. "They've been in the arena a number of years and it looks like nothing has been paid on the principal," said Joe Sullivan, president of the Sacramento County Taxpayers Association. "How much has the city really gotten back?" "They were not able to put any capital into the business to keep it going, for players or any other expenses," Friery said. "They never got a dime coming back to help pay for basketball operations. And meanwhile, the costs of basketball continued to rise." Terri Hardy reports that the Sacramento City Council and Thomas settled on a loan of $70 million. The city would go to a bank, borrow the cash and float 30-year bonds. The Kings would own the arena and make payments on the loan each year. Although the loan contract addresses what is necessary if the Kings were to move out of the city, it does not specify requirements if the team moves to another arena in Sacramento. Sullivan, of the taxpayers group, said his members are concerned that if a new arena deal is forged, the old loan will be waived. "That's a lot of money to forgive," Sullivan said. "That's not the way our tax money should be spent." Councilman Steve Cohn said even though the contract does not specifically outline a new arena scenario, he believes the Maloofs would be required to pay the loan. "I don't think there is a circumstance where they can get out of it," Cohn said. "That could mean wrapping it up in a new loan or paying it off in its entirety." John Thomas said no matter what happens with a new arena, the Maloofs intend to pay the loan. "The clear view we have is that the loan is a debt obligation that we intend to fulfill; it's one of the Maloofs' family values that we pay our bills on time or earlier," Thomas said. "At no time have Joe or Gavin asked or discussed being let out of the loan. We have no expectation of that." Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets John Madden to the Kings: Try againFailing to reach the finals once again after being labeled a Championship contendor for so long, the Maloofs have every right to dismbember and rebuild. Rather, the Maloofs will try again with some advice from John Madden. "I think two days after that loss in Minnesota, Gavin and I were at a bar mitzvah at some good friends of ours in Sacramento," Joe says, "and John Madden was there. You know John Madden, the broadcaster, who used to be the football coach? You know who Madden is. "And he says to us, 'Lemme tell ya something: You guys are so close. You were four free throws away from going to the Western Conference finals.' He says, 'Be careful. Don't do drastic things. This is still one of the top teams in the NBA.' " Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Will Kings Deal Webber?According to this columnist in The Sacramento Bee, Kings president Geoff Petrie had a difficult decision to make after his team was bounced from the playoffs again. Perhaps this was his most difficult call during his six years running the Kings in Sacramento. Petrie had to decide who would stay and who would go and his head coach Rick Adelman was the first and easiest person he could dismiss. But Petrie made the choice to stay with Adelman and now all eyes are on the Kings front office to see if Chris Webber has played his last game as a King. Petrie’s decision certainly had to have something to do with the fact that Adelman had the team playing beautifully with Webber out of the lineup early in the season. They got off to a terrific start, were the model of good ball movement, and played with a furious tempo and energy that even made their defense suffocating at times. Then Webber came back into the lineup, declared that the Kings were still his team, and the team’s basketball efficiency and winning ways slowed down. So without saying so explicitly, Petrie is ready to find out what he can bring back for Chris Webber. Or at least this is the assumption. So now the pressure is on Petrie to come up with an ingenious maneuver or two to keep his team moving forward. Petrie will look to make the 2004-05 Kings younger, deeper and more athletic, and Webber will be available in this pursuit. The task will not be easy. Trying to deal Webber for premium value will be at the heart of the Kings’ off-season planning but this presents a number of obstacles. Webber has an $80 million deal and a bad knee, and he is now getting into the later stages of his playing days at 31 years of age. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Kings May 2004 Archive
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