OT: Solidarity with the Sacramento Kings

I heard about that. It wasnt housewives though..the whole premise was that they would be Silicon Valley entrepreneur/VCs by day and party animals by night.

i think this would kill any professional credibility anyone would have. maybe someone from LA is desperate enough though.

 

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Wonder if Larry Ellison will want a part in this?

 

Unfortunately, if this arena is built, the Phoenix Coyotes will move there as well giving them two tennants.

 

I haven't heard a single thing about this rumor, and I live in Sac. Where did you hear this?

 

The Coyotes are owned by the league who desperately want to unload them. Seattle has been in the press as an option as someone there has expressed an interest to buy and relocate the team. This has been news here in Phoenix for 4-5 months now.

 

Well Glendale barely held on to them last year when Winnepeg was trying to get a team. Would not shock me to see the Coyotes finally move as the reasons they've been on the block before still exist and have not improved any... local interest is still low and their attendance (or lack of it) reflects that. The only reason they haven't been moved yet is that Glendale is using the, "we built you an arena" card fairly effectively. But fact is building an arena essentially in the middle of nowhere was a bad idea.

It would be like if we built the Epicenter in Morgan Hill (only worse) and were then surprised when attendance was bad...

 

I don't think that analogy holds up too well.

I think it's more like RBNY and the NY Jets/Giants. They built a stadium way out there, thinking that the fans would show up like they do for the football team, only to learn that it was hardly the case. A lot of Phoenicians I have talked to wondered if the attendance would be better at the US Airways Center. People from Mesa and Tempe wouldn't mind seeing a Suns game because of the light rail.

 

I agree. They never should have left downtown. And I think they'd do far better IN downtown (maybe even good enough to justify them staying in Phoenix). But fact is they're not moving to downtown now or in the near future is not happening. And there's no guarentee that it would improve. Winnepeg has proven that moving a team out of a questionable market that hockey probably shouldn't be played in to go back to Canada (or close to it as the case in Seattle would be) is a no brainer. Frankly I give the Coyotes 3 years. They'll be in either Quebec or Seattle after that.

 

I don't see the NHL wanting to move into Seattle after NFL, MLB, MLS, NBA and NCAA have set up camp. It's not that big, nor does it represent the entire Pacific Northwest like some boneheads seem to think.

 

Oh I agree. I think Quebec City is a far more likely option for the NHL. However the NBA and Seattle make a ton of sense. Particularly when you consider if they don't move a team into Seattle soon the league owes the city of Seattle around 50 million dollars in Sonics payoff cash.

 

Sorry but for once I can't agree. The NHL, like the NBA, is already overextended. They've diluted their talent pool far too much with recent expansions and both leagues are not in cities that aren't supporting them well (NHL more than the NBA). Expansion is neither needed, nor desirable at this point. Relocation of poorly placed teams is the better option no matter how distasteful the idea might be to Quakes fans. Phoenix is currently one of those cities be it due to poor arena location in the market or a problem with the market itself. Atlanta was another one (and one that has since been rectified with a far superior location and situation in Winnipeg). Arguably Florida and Carolina are two more (basically all of the NHL's "sunbelt" experiment teams are having issues to one extent or another with a few exceptions like San Jose and Tampa).

And I agree on Sac, OWNED. If they don't make this parking scheme work (and there's no guarantee they do given it has to go to vote and does take funds that currently go to the general fund) then they're done. Anaheim is ready and waiting, and if Seattle can get something together (and don't pick up the Hornets first), then the Kings could be heading north as well.

Another oddity of note however is the "Cleveland Browns/Earthquakes" problem that moving an established team into Seattle raises. The Sonics history is currently being held for use of whatever team moves into Seattle. An expansion Sonics would obviously not be an issue just as the expansion Quakes and expansion Browns weren't in Cleveland. But moving the Hornets or even worse the Kings to Seattle means suddenly 67 and 23 years of history respectively would vanish and be replaced with the Sonic's 40 year history as far as the club were concerned. Even worse is the fact that the OKC Thunder (ex-SuperSonics) also still claim ties officially to the Sonics history. Meaning we'd have two NBA teams with history dating back to the formation of the SuperSonics and some current franchise's history would be thrown into the circular file never to be seen again. Which frankly is another reason to favor the Hornets over the Kings. The Hornets history is far shorter and far less distinguished than the Kings so it would be far less of a loss when they end it.

 

To their faces anyway...

 

I don't particularly like the Maloofs, and think they should have sold the team a year ago. But they've stepped up. Gavin Maloof is the better of the brothers, with George being the primary force behind wanting to move.

This is big for Sacramento. HUGE. The future of the city and region hinged on getting a new sports and entertainment complex.

Talk about a fantastic week for me regarding my teams' new homes!

 

Now if only Bud Selig would open up San Jose to the A's we can complete the quadfecta.

 

Yea. Except I'm not an A's fan. More power to SJ though

 

Too many nice things happening around here.

We're going to get that 8.0+ quake if that happens...

 

I'm back in SD until summer and they already had a 7.2 in 2010...

 

If you guys think the BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything) faction was strong in opposition to the Quakes stadium, you have no idea what the opposition to a new arena has been like up here. There has been loud opposition from NIMBYS, anti-taxers, the "rebuild it in its current location or nowhere at all" people, the "I hate the mayor so I will oppose anything he does" people, the basketball haters, and your general anti-progress people. You can hop on the Sacramento Bee's site on any article involving the arena and see the mass chaos. Looks like things today are a little more positive, thank goodness. Should be noted, this is in no way a done deal just yet.

 

As in San Jose, so also there are BANANA schizos running around trying to turn back the clock to the good ol' days.