Mayor McGinn, Dow Constantine to join Chris Hansen for Seattle pitch to NBA
Apr 1, 2013, 3:14 PM | Updated: 4:48 pm
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, left, walks with investor Chris Hansen, second from left, along with Seattle City Councilmember Mike O'Brien, third from left, and King County Executive Dow Constantine, fourth from left, and Joe McDermott, second from upper right, as they arrive at a ceremony to sign legislation, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, in Seattle, on the funding plan for construction of an NBA arena. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and King County Executive Dow Constantine will join investor Chris Hansen Wednesday in New York to pitch the plan to buy the Sacramento Kings and move the NBA team to Seattle.
Both leaders announced their participation in the presentation to NBA owners via Twitter Monday.
Hansen’s group and a group of leaders and investors from Sacramento will both meet with the members of the league’s relocation and finance committees April 3.
The committee members will then make tentative recommendations for all of the league’s owners to consider when they ultimately decide whether to approve the sale of the Kings by the Maloof family, majority owners of the Kings, to Hansen’s group and allow the franchise to relocate. That vote is scheduled to take place at the NBA’s annual Board of Governors meeting April 18-19 in New York.
Unconfirmed reports out Monday said Hansen and the city of Seattle are expected to announce up to $20 million in improvements to KeyArena, where the team would play for two years while a new SoDo arena is built.
Just last week, Hansen reached agreement to purchase an additional seven percent stake in the team from minority owner Bob Cook in bankruptcy court to boost his effort.
Sacramento will tout a plan of its own to buy the team and build a new arena partially funded by taxpayers, backed by billionaires Ron Burkle, Vivek Ranadive, and 24 Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrove.
