NEW YORK -- There was a full-scale boardroom battle for the future of the Sacramento Kings in a Manhattan hotel on Wednesday involving dueling billionaires, politics and real estate.

It included a push from the Kings' current ownership to move the team to Seattle and a pitch by a Sacramento group led by mayor Kevin Johnson that he believes is compelling enough to thwart the move.

A month after saying the Sacramento group needed to improve its offer, NBA commissioner David Stern said the monetary offers from the groups "is not one of the issues."

But the league might have to delay its planned owner vote on a matter that was scheduled for April 19 so it can sort through construction schedules, lawsuits and other issues that will truly separate the bids.

With the offers now apparently so tight, the city that can promise to get a new arena open fastest might end up with the edge.

"We've never had a situation like this," Stern said. "There's a lot at stake here."

Franchise relocation has been a relatively constant part of NBA business over the decades. The Kings franchise itself has called five different cities home since starting in 1948. But this situation is unique because the two cities fighting for the Kings now both have assembled compelling bids that include new, deep-pocketed ownership and competing arena deals with support of taxpayers and local governments.

In a league that has made generating cash and getting publicly funded new buildings a long-standing priority, it appears to be a win-win situation. But there's going to be a loser and a fan base without a team. Stern reiterated Wednesday there are no plans for expansion at this time.

The two sides made their pitches to a small group of owners and team representatives that make up the finance and relocation committees. That group will make a recommendation to the league's full Board of Governors on April 18 and 19. It was hoped this would be settled at that meeting, but now it's not clear when a final vote will be taken.

The Seattle group is led by investor Chris Hansen and Microsoft billionaire Steve Ballmer. They started this process rolling in January when they signed a deal to buy 65 percent of the Kings from the financially troubled Maloof family for $340 million and immediately put in a bid to relocate the team.