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Earlier in January, it was reported that the Maloof family, owners of the Sacramento Kings, was closing in on a deal to sell the team to a group of investors intent on relocating the team to Seattle.
On Sunday night, that deal became official, with a sale agreement being signed and submitted to the NBA for approval.
This news has been met with mixed reactions around the league. Having been through the pain of losing the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City in 2008, when they became the Thunder, the city of Seattle had many defenders in the public and the media, arguing that they deserved to get a team back after nearly four decades of support.
However, if the bid to move the Kings to Seattle is approved, the people of Sacramento, who have fought passionately and tirelessly to hold onto the city’s only professional sports franchise, will have been cast aside just as cruelly as Seattle was in 2008.
It’s a complicated moral predicament, once which proves that two wrongs don’t make a right.
The Maloof family has been grossly negligent over the past decade-plus. They have turned one of the most exciting teams of the turn of the century into one of the biggest jokes in the NBA. Everyone remembers those beloved Kings teams of the late ‘90s, featuring such venerated names as Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic, and Mike Bibby.
The contrast between those glory days and the past several seasons of futility is stark, and is due almost entirely to the Maloofs’ incompetence.
It is proven, through the city’s 28-year track record featuring many sold-out seasons, that Sacramento is a viable and vibrant NBA city, when the team is managed competently. To hang the fans out to dry because of the Maloofs’ greed would be a travesty.
The NBA has the power to stop the sale from going through. Sacramento mayor and former NBA player Kevin Johnson has been working around the clock to put together an ownership group to put forth a competitive offer to buy the team and build a new arena to replace the outdated Sleep Train Pavilion.
The city had an agreement to build a new arena in place and agreed upon, but the Maloofs backed out at the last minute. However, there is interest.
David Stern has made it clear that he will give Johnson and Sacramento a fair chance to keep the Kings in the city where they have resided for nearly 30 years. If they are able to put together a good offer, there would be every reason to force the Maloofs’ hands and ensure that yet another relocation doesn’t happen.
The feelings of the shunted SuperSonics fans are understandable. Their team was taken from them in an incredibly ugly and dishonest manner, and they want a new one. Any fan would. But they should also understand that fans in Sacramento are suffering every bit as much as they did five years ago, and stand with them.
The saga calls into question many things about the nature of sports and sports fandom. Sports are a business, and businessmen are expected, and known, to make the best decisions for themselves.
But every indication is that Sacramento will be able to wield a competitive offer to keep the Kings, and all other things being equal, what other incentive do the Maloofs have to sell the team away than simple spite?
Whether you live in Sacramento, Seattle, or somewhere else entirely, it should be plainly obvious that a move to Seattle would set a terrible precedent for sports fan loyalty.
The city of Sacramento has done everything that has been asked of it by the league and by the Maloofs, and may still have their beloved Kings ripped away from them. It’s not right.
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