Resolution nearing on Sacramento Kings sale

Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

NEW YORK – Clarity remains non-existent today on the future of the Sacramento Kings.

There is still no answer to the question: Will the Maloof family sell the franchise to a local group, which plans to keep the team Sacramento or will the Maloofs sell the team to a group which plans to move the team to Seattle?

But NBA Commissioner David Stern said on Friday there will be a resolution the week of May 6 when the league's Board of Governors are expected to vote on the sale of the franchise.

After two-plus days of meetings in New York, Stern said a joint committee of owners will meet late next week, take a vote on their recommendation and issue a report to the rest of the NBA's owners.

Owners then have seven business days to consider the report, and Stern said a vote will be taken after that. Stern continued to call it one of most complex dilemmas of his tenure as commissioner.

"This has been wrenching," Stern said. "This is one that's just been quite difficult and confusing for the owners as well."

He later added, "We have expended not only enormous man-hours but enormous sums of money for outside consultants. This will be by far our most extensive review of anything like this in the league's history."

Wealthy Indian businessman Vivek Ranadive is the lead investor in the Sacramento group and is joined by 24 Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov, among others.

In a letter sent to the NBA this week, the Maloofs re-stated their preference to sell the team to the Seattle group, led by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

The NBA encourages owners to sell to the person or group of their choosing, but, "when a team wants to move, it becomes the province of the board, rather than ownership," Stern said.

The sale of team requires 3/4 approval from league owners, and relocation requires a majority.

Stern said the league is not trying influence the decision, a sentiment echoed by Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver, who will replace Stern when Stern steps aside Feb. 1.

"There's no lobbying or campaigning going on by the league office," Silver said. "We are presenting the facts in a most full way we can to the owners."

The joint committee that will meet next week is comprised of 12 league governors from the relocation and advisory finance committees: San Antonio's Peter Holt, Minnesota's Glen Taylor, Los Angeles Lakers' Jeanie Buss, Washington's Ted Leonsis, Miami's Micky Arison, Oklahoma City's Clay Bennett, Toronto's Larry Tanenbaum, Boston's Wyc Grousbeck, Phoenix's Robert Sarver, Indiana's Herb Simon, Utah's Greg Miller and New York's Jim Dolan.

Stern said the league and committee still wants answers to specific questions from both groups, but was not willing to divulge those issues publicly.

"There's just some ongoing discussions that we have to have with both groups that I'm not prepared to talk to you about now because we want to talk to them first," Stern said. "There are some structural issues, and of course we're most concerned about the critical path of arenas to getting built."

But is clear the league is reasonably satisfied with the proposals from both groups.

"What makes this particularly difficult, as we said to you before, is the Seattle group has done a lot of work. It's well funded. It's got spectacular businessmen who support the community behind it," he said, adding that the Sacramento group, "has a very strong base of economic support as well. And in fact Sacramento itself has stepped up in various ways."

Asked if there anything wrong with the Sacramento bid, Stern replied, "No. It's not as complete as it probably is going to be by the close of business today or tomorrow. There is a down payment. It is binding. We have had assurances of funding support and that has been documented to something in the neighborhood of 80% to our satisfaction."

In one interesting exchange, Stern was asked if he had encouraged the Maloofs to negotiate with Sacramento.

"What we're considering is, I think it's fair to say, a signed agreement by the Sacramento group that proposes to buy the team," Stern said. "It hasn't been countersigned by the Maloofs. But the committee is treating it as an offer and a signed offer and one on which the buying group in Sacramento is prepared to close."

Stern has maintained that expansion is not on the table, but when pressed Friday on expansion, he paused 11 long seconds.

"I don't want to say a complete non-starter. If the question is: Was there any discussion of expansion? The answer is no," he said.

Though the Hansen-Ballmer group has reached a deal to buy 65% of the team from the Maloof family for a league-record valuation of $550 million, the Sacramento bid is "in the same ballpark with respect to the net result to the selling family."