Peon noted in an earlier post that the owners of our local NBA team, the Kings, are contemplating a move to Anaheim (in Orange County) because they're in financial trouble and are essentially selling a piece of the team. Well, the details of the agreement between the Maloofs (the Kings' owners) and Anaheim have leaked and, shock of all shocks, I'm right. In the deal the Maloofs get an infusion of $50 million, a good portion of which will go to the NBA for the right to move the team. This leaves about $20 million which, I suspect, is already "spoken for" by other creditors.
This is important for Sacramento because the Kings owe the city some $77 million for the Arco Arena bonds. And we ain't never gonna see a penny from Joe and Gavin. But there's this little part of me that thinks it's a good idea for Sacramento's pundits to see what happens when richer people default on their obligations to poorer folks. Might make them feel differently about pension obligations.
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2 comments:
Yep, you called it. I had an unspoken inkling way back when they sold off their beer distributorship, and when they refused to open their books to the city in 2006 before the arena deal collapsed. I have a feeling they'll try and buy out the city's ownership stake, and stick us with Arco.
You have to wonder how the Maloofs squandered their billions. Hookers and blow, hookers and blow...
Unfortunately this can be filed with my other Cassandra moments, as it's likely to leave Sacramento with an old arena and $77 million in bond debt.
You'd have to do an awful lot of high (sorry) living to lose that much money. They were probably just overleveraged, like lots of other people, and got caught. But I'll save my sympathy for the many victims of the economic crisis who deserve it more than the Maloofs do.
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