Sacramento accelerates arena deal timeline in continued effort to keep Kings

BY Chris Sullivan  on March 6, 2013 @ 5:16 am (Updated: 9:36 am - 3/6/13 )

AP: b1a2ee8a-8403-4ee2-a30d-85cc61de69b2
The Sacramento City Council is stepping up their timeline to get an arena project started, in hopes of giving the NBA more time to consider keeping the Kings in California's capitol. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) | Zoom
Sacramento's city manager says waiting until April 2 to get an arena plan before the city council is cutting it too close - so he's moving up the timeline.

City manager John Shirey hopes to get the terms of a deal with investors Ron Burkle and Mark Mastrov before the Sacramento City Council on March 26, a week earlier than he promised last week.

He wants to give the NBA as much time as he can to consider their competing offer versus the plan to move to Seattle.

"This is a tight schedule to get everything done," Shirey told the city council last night. "I'm going to remain optimistic that we can get it done within the time we're given."

Shirey plans to begin negotiations with Mastrov and Burkle next week. The two are pitching a new arena in Sacramento's downtown, using up to $250 million in public dollars.

City council member Allen Warren believes the three will come up with a deal that the council can approve. "We're in the game," Warren said. "We've made a very valiant effort to keep the Kings in Sacramento and to build a new sports and entertainment facility here."

The NBA Board of Governor's meets April 18 to consider the future of the Kings.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson hopes to pitch his city and this counter offer to the owners just before that.

Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio Reporter
Chris loves the rush of covering breaking news and works hard to try to make sense of it all while telling stories about real people in extraordinary circumstances.
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Comments (3)


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  • darrengrama wrote...
    Wait...
    March 6, 2013 7:46 am
    ...public dollars?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • uralnutjobs wrote...
    get your city's straight first
    March 6, 2013 12:40 pm
    not seattle public funds
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • The Dude Abides wrote...
    For God's Sake
    March 6, 2013 11:32 am
    It's Sacramento's only professional franchise. How about instead we take one of the TWO NBA teams from those spoiled Angelinos? We'll take the Clippers, along with Blake Griffin and CP3, and they can keep the aging Kobe circus that is the lakers. The Kings stay where they are, and everyone's happy. I doubt most LA fans will even notice the clippers left. Lord knows they haven't noticed them up to this point.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }