Originally Posted by
tony bagadonuts
Feel bad for Sacramento fans, but not that bad.
Reports say Sacramento Kings finalizing sale to Seattle
It looks like the NBA may be making its return to Seattle.
Reports say the owners of the Sacramento Kings are finalizing an agreement to sell the team to the Seattle investment group led by investor Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
"The deal will sell the Kings for approximately $500 million, with the Seattle group seeking relocation to Key Arena for the 2013-'14 season," Yahoo News' Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Twitter.
Hansen has proposed building a $490 million arena in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood south of Safeco Field, with taxpayers financing nearly $200 million of the deal.
"The Seattle group's plans, with support of the NBA, is to play two seasons in Key Arena before moving into a new Seattle arena, sources say," Wojnarowski tweets.
Longtime Sonics announcer and 710 ESPN Seattle host Kevin Calabro says he spoke with 'a very reliable source' who texted him a one word response to the report: 'done.'
Listen: Former Sonics announcer Kevin Calabro reacts to reports of NBA return to Seattle
The news comes on the heels of rumors that began swirling Tuesday night after a noted Sacramento blogger tweeted "So I hear that the Seattle Kings is officially a done deal! The Maloofs finally sold the ailing Sacramento team." It was written by Daina Falk, a cookbook writer and foodie, who has since removed the Tweet from her page.
She is also a sports insider of sorts. Her father is David Falk, the pro sports super agent.
Falk followed up her first tweet with another saying she heard it from a friend.
A spokesman for Hansen and the Kings both refused to comment.
The sale would need the approval of the NBA and an ownership committee led by Oklahoma City owner Clay Bennett, who purchased the Sonics and moved them from Seattle.
The deadline for asking the NBA to relocate in time for next season is March 1. But Calabro says fans shouldn't worry about the deadline.
"The owners make the rules, they can set the rules. March, to me, is not a hard and fast date for a relocation committee to meet. Clay Bennett could rally the relocation committee ... he could do that at any point he wanted to in the summer time and probably get this done," Calabro says.
Wojnarowski says the Maloof brothers would retain an "extremely small percentage of team, but will have no real input or say in franchise, sources say."
The arena project also still needs to go through an environmental review, and the Longshore Union is suing to stop it, saying Hansen's preferred site near the Mariners and Seahawks stadiums would cripple the flow of cargo and hurt jobs at nearby Port of Seattle terminals.
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