Will it be Larry Ellison?

[Arena Skeptic]

http://www.nola.com/hornets/index.ssf/2011/01/sacramento_kings_face_iffy_fut.html

It’s a game between two economically struggling franchises, one that was rescued when its former owner pushed Commissioner David Stern for the league to purchase the club, and the other whose once-wealthy owners find themselves in jeopardy of losing a Las Vegas gambling palace as well as the basketball team.

A third player in this unusual scenario is Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, reported to be the sixth-richest man in America, who made a play for the Hornets after he couldn’t close a deal to buy the Golden State Warriors. He was spurned by then-owner George Shinn, and now is rumored to be interested in buying the Kings and possibly moving them to Anaheim, Calif.

 

[kennadog]

Nothing new here at all. All speculation with no sources or basis in fact.

Also, the Maloofs have said they are exploring opportunites in other cities as far as moving the team, they still emphatically insist that the team is not for sale.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Hey, I'm interested in buying the Kings, too. I don't have the money, and they're not for sale, but I'm interested in buying the Kings. It's not even a rumor, it's a fact! Write a newspaper story about meeeee!

In other words, no. It will not be Larry Ellison because the Kings will not be sold. NBA teams don't go up for sale simply because somebody who works at a newspaper is of the opinion that they might. This is trash journalism at its best.

 

[NoBonus]

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — On Saturday night in Arco Arena — intimate, but antiquated by today’s NBA standards — the league-owned New Orleans Hornets will be playing the possibly soon-to-be-sold Sacramento Kings.


KingsFans.com blogger Capt. Factorial, said to be a person in America, is rumored to be interested in the Sacramento Kings. The offer to buy the Hornets was refused by then-owner George Shinn.
It’s a game between two economically struggling franchises, one that was rescued when its former owner pushed Commissioner David Stern for the league to purchase the club, and the other whose once-wealthy owners find themselves in jeopardy of losing a Las Vegas gambling palace as well as the basketball team.

A third player in this unusual scenario is KingsFans.com blogger Capt. Factorial, reported to be a person from America, who made a play for the Hornets after he couldn’t close a deal to buy the Golden State Warriors. Capt. Factorial was spurned by then-owner George Shinn, and now is rumored to be interested in buying the Kings and possibly moving them from Natomas to North Sacramento, Calif.

In a recent post on KingsFans.com, Capt. Factorial was quoted as writing, "Hey, I'm interested in buying the Kings, too. I don't have the money, and they're not for sale, but I'm interested in buying the Kings. It's not even a rumor, it's a fact! Write a newspaper story about meeeee!"

Confused?

 

[Warhawk]

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — On Saturday night in Arco Arena — intimate, but antiquated by today’s NBA standards — the league-owned New Orleans Hornets will be playing the possibly soon-to-be-sold Sacramento Kings.


KingsFans.com blogger Capt. Factorial, said to be a person in America, is rumored to be interested in the Sacramento Kings. The offer to buy the Hornets was refused by then-owner George Shinn.
It’s a game between two economically struggling franchises, one that was rescued when its former owner pushed Commissioner David Stern for the league to purchase the club, and the other whose once-wealthy owners find themselves in jeopardy of losing a Las Vegas gambling palace as well as the basketball team.

A third player in this unusual scenario is KingsFans.com blogger Capt. Factorial, reported to be a person from America, who made a play for the Hornets after he couldn’t close a deal to buy the Golden State Warriors. Capt. Factorial was spurned by then-owner George Shinn, and now is rumored to be interested in buying the Kings and possibly moving them from Natomas to North Sacramento, Calif.

In a recent post on KingsFans.com, Capt. Factorial was quoted as writing, "Hey, I'm interested in buying the Kings, too. I don't have the money, and they're not for sale, but I'm interested in buying the Kings. It's not even a rumor, it's a fact! Write a newspaper story about meeeee!"

Confused?

You win.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

You win.

Seconded. I will confirm the rumors that I am a person in America.

 

[Peter_Gibbons]

Its another silly "according to sources" article.

Though the reality is this.. The Maloofs owe a lot of money on the Palms and after missing their payment recently, their creditors are trying to take control of the Palms. One of their main debt holders is said to be Harrahs Group which is also one of the main players behind the Vegas arena being built as we speak. They supposedly want to use their leverage with the Palms debt to influence the Maloofs to either move the Kings into that arena or sell to them so they can move the team.

If the NBA does not approve a team in vegas or if the Maloofs refuse to sell the Kings or move them to vegas, they will most likely lose majority ownership of the Palms. Ladies and gentlemen that’s the reality right now.

I believe that the Maloofs (Gavin + Joe) truly do not want to sell the Kings. But they, along with George, also don't want to sell the Palms. They like the Kings and Palms so much that they were willing to sell their only main business that was making money for them in order to make payments on the two losing business. Unless some major negotiations gets worked out, there is a very high possibility that they lose majority ownership on either the Kings or the Palms.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I really don't think Harrah's can strong arm the Maloofs into their arena and if they did you can be certain the NBA would block the move. If and when an NBA team comes to Vegas I don't think the NBA will allow it to be by anyone with an interest in a casino, and it certainly won't be the result of some kind of aggressive power play deal like that.

As for the Maloofs losing majority control of the Palms I think that is a given at this point.

 

[kennadog]

Harrah's can ask for the moon and stars, too, doesn't mean its realistic, possinle or accepable to the Maloofs, the other owners of the Kings or the NBA. As a matter of fact, besides locating a team in LV as not acceptable to the NBA, I think the NBA would have a cow. Right now every casino in LV and every Harrah's would all have to agree to take NBA betting off the books. Why would Harrah's agree to that, let alone competing casinos? Harrah's makes far more money off that betting than any money they could ever possibly earn from the ownership of the Kings.

NoBonus: Thumbs up!

 

[Peter_Gibbons]

I really don't think Harrah's can strong arm the Maloofs into their arena and if they did you can be certain the NBA would block the move. If and when an NBA team comes to Vegas I don't think the NBA will allow it to be by anyone with an interest in a casino, and it certainly won't be the result of some kind of aggressive power play deal like that.

As for the Maloofs losing majority control of the Palms I think that is a given at this point.

Sure, they can't strong arm the Maloofs into selling the Kings or moving them. The NBA most likely won't allow it either. Those are the scenarios I've already covered and agree with.

If you think about the scenarios, what I'm saying is that IF the Maloofs want to save the Palms, then they will have to sell part of the Kings to generate money. Obviously not something they want to do. But they have nothing else of significant value to sell. They've already sold some of their houses on the cheap in LA to help pay for the previous payments. There is no more beer distributorship to sell. They don't necessary have to sell to Harrahs as thats just one of the scenarios. It can be to anybody.

Its a situation of do they save the Palms by selling the Kings? Its going to come down to what the family's shot callers decides with their shares. I understand why in the Maloofs standpoint it was worth it to sell their lucrative beer business to save the Palms. During high times, the Palms worths much more than the Kings + beer distributorship combined. They would hate to lose it to low ball creditors and see them prosper with it X number of yrs from now. The Kings have good potential to go up in value in the next 5 yrs or so also, but the scale of their worth are different.

The point is, its not a matter of do they want to sell the Kings or not. Its really if they want to save the Palms, they will have to sell at least some shares of the Kings if not most. Thats the reality.

PS: I've read in the Las Vegas news sites the Harrahs deal is that if the Maloofs go along with their wish, they will allow them to hold onto majority ownership of both the Palms and the Kings. Harrahs only ask for partial control of the Kings and the Palms. At the same time give the Maloofs extended and better terms to repay. Its a business decision that might be good for the Maloofs. I do think that its still unlikely because its not a good city for an NBA team and Stern knows it. And for the record, I don't want them to move to Vegas. I'm just stating what I know about the situation.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Assuming some public valuations of the property are correct, the Palms is a black hole and the Maloofs would be better off starting over from scratch if they chose to sell the Kings.

Also we make a lot of assumptions about how "the Maloofs" operate and think and I am not sure how much of those are true. The Kings and Palms are separate business entities and while their is some level of family wide interoperability the Kings are Joe and Gavin's baby and the Palms is George's. Maybe they do all get together and decide how its best to do things as a family but do we really know that? (honest question)

 

[Trueblood]

http://www.nola.com/hornets/index.ssf/2011/01/sacramento_kings_face_iffy_fut.html

It’s a game between two economically struggling franchises, one that was rescued when its former owner pushed Commissioner David Stern for the league to purchase the club, and the other whose once-wealthy owners find themselves in jeopardy of losing a Las Vegas gambling palace as well as the basketball team.

A third player in this unusual scenario is Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, reported to be the sixth-richest man in America, who made a play for the Hornets after he couldn’t close a deal to buy the Golden State Warriors. He was spurned by then-owner George Shinn, and now is rumored to be interested in buying the Kings and possibly moving them to Anaheim, Calif.

Typical uninformed NOLA Times Picayune article. They lost credibility when they said that Ellison would try to move them to Anaheim. Ellison wants San Jose and nothing else.

If he were willing to ditch San Jose for somewhere else, I would hope that he would consider Sacramento. It's just 120 plus miles from San Jose and he's one of the few guys who have enough cash lying around to fund a new arena on his own.

 

[Mike0476]

Typical uninformed NOLA Times Picayune article. They lost credibility when they said that Ellison would try to move them to Anaheim. Ellison wants San Jose and nothing else.

If he were willing to ditch San Jose for somewhere else, I would hope that he would consider Sacramento. It's just 120 plus miles from San Jose and he's one of the few guys who have enough cash lying around to fund a new arena on his own.

Excellent point made and I am glad you pointed that out because I was thinking the same thing when I read the article.