Comments on: Sacramento mayor, Maloof brothers meet, talk relocation

By: purdueman

purdueman — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 02:11:32 +0000

Good or bad, the hot trend in the NBA now is to concentrate their stars in major media markets and to heck with the small markets. Sacramento has embraced the Kings for several years now, and it’s the only major sport in the market; the loss of the Kings undoubtedly be a big blow as well as leaving behind the soon to be white elephant Arco Center. **** JOMO, but I agree though with Jerry West in that the NBA has 6-8 too many teams, and the NHL is even more over-expanded. Hockey in places like Atlanta and Phoenix is simply ridiculous, as is the NBA being in Memphis and New Orleans. Now that Jerry Brown is Governor, I don’t see any chance at all for ANY CA State funds to help Sacramento get a new arena, so consider them moved.

By: moolah954

moolah954 — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 01:38:52 +0000

this is horrible 3 teams in the in southern cal and two shouldn’t even be there move one team to Seattle and one to Vegas.. the Lakers are the only relevant team in that city

By: purdueman

purdueman — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:54:30 +0000

According to Hacksaw Hamilton, the Mal-goof Brothers are so far along with their plans to relocate to Anaheim that they have the new team name down to three candidates (as there is already of course one professional team named the LA Kings in the market): 1) The Anaheim Royals; 2) The Anaheim Condors; and 3) The Orange County Crush. Of the three, I like the Orange County crush the best, but orange and white is a terrible color scheme for any professional team (ask the NFL Bucs how it worked out for them long term), and it would make the mostly black roster look like a bunch of Dreamsickles!

By: purdueman

purdueman — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:49:57 +0000

Certainly the television market has to be a consideration (which would give Anaheim far more upside than any of the other markets being discussed), but please don’t compare the Ducks to any NBA team. The NHL shot themselves in the foot with their year long lockout; many (me including), totally lost interest and never went back as you couldn’t tell the players any more without a scorecard after the CBA was signed and the salary cap put in place (i.e., many of the Ducks stars got shipped out). **** There’s also a HUGE difference between NHL fan and NBA fan. The NHL with their self-promoting violence and staged good fights play to the trailer trash, hillbilly and ex-Nascar breed (or should I say “in-bred”), type of moron fan. The NBA on the other hand is all about the “wine shprizer” type crowd. Ever see a gaggle of movie stars at an NHL game? Uh, the answer to that would be no!

By: purdueman

purdueman — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 21:47:28 +0000

The gambling interests in Las Vegas wouldn’t affect the NBA, because NBA players already make such a ridiculous amount of money what possible motivation would any of them have to throw any games for what would amount to chump change compared to what they are already making? The NBA refs shaving points would be the real concern. There’s also a legislative roadblock to ANY teams relocating to Vegas and that’s that no state allows legalized sports book betting when they have even so much as one pro team in the state. In other words, Vegas would have to agree to completely remove the NBA from their betting lines… good luck with that ever happening!

By: purdueman

purdueman — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 21:42:07 +0000

There’s a lot more to it than what your post would indicate:

1) Anaheim – 90% of the luxury boxes are pre-sold already, mostly to corporations and the added cost of the tickets for NBA games would be easily passed along. No other relocation market can make the same claim;
2) Kansas City – Yes, KC has a brand new shiny state of the art arena, but given the slumping economy, are there enough corporations there to sell out 90% of the luxury boxes?;
3) Seattle – Yes, I agree that they deserve a team more than Anaheim does, but Key Arena is even LESS viable than the Arco Arena in Sacramento;
4) Orange County has as many Laker haters (who are also totally indifferent to the Clippers), to easily support a third NBA team. The Lakers don’t draw many season ticket holders from Orange County simply because during the week, you just can’t get there from here on the hopelessly congested freeways (but that gets better as gas prices continue to rise too; even then at best it’s a one hour commute each way);
5) Clippers leaving Buffalo? That was a no-brainer. Clippers leaving San Diego? That too was a no-brainer because their old home court, the dilapadated San Diego Sports Arena, should have been bulldozed 20 years ago and it hasn’t gotten any better since; and
6) Las Vegas – I don’t think that the NBA is nearly as hung up on going there as MLB is, however, at best it would take 2+ years to build a new arena and the Mal-goofs simply don’t have that kind of time or patience.

By: SmackSaw

SmackSaw — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:58:14 +0000

Vegas? Every game would be fixed. “Oh no. gamblers have no interest in sporting events. Yeah, there’s a reason there’s no pro teams in Vegas.

By: SmackSaw

SmackSaw — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:51:50 +0000

No other cities besides Anaheim could get them a better deal? Really? I know TV rights are worth millions and Samueli would loan the 100′s of millions, but, say Kansas City, where they never should’ve left, or Seattle, who never should’ve lost the Sonics, couldn’t also? Com’on Anaheim is in the center of Laker country. If anyone should move there it would be the Griffins…er…Clippers. Who by the way, should never have left San Diego or, for that matter, Buffalo,

By: Kurt Helin

Kurt Helin — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:50:00 +0000

For the record Purdueman I live 20 minutes from the Honda Center, have been to many events there, know OC and the market well. The Ducks attendance dropped dramatically when the team is not good, the Kings can expect the same after two seasons. The building is older and while it has boxes let’s not pretend Honda is state of the art anymore. It’s about the television market.

By: sfgiantsfan84

sfgiantsfan84 — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:55:32 +0000

lets get a new arena built in las vegas and move the kings here… over 2 million people here want/need a pro team…..MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!

By: purdueman

purdueman — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:02:52 +0000

The author must not know Orange County, CA or ever seen an event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA either. The Maloof’s interest in moving to Anaheim has NOTHING to do with the age of the Honda Center (the authors implication being that it is outdated as the Arco Arena in Sacramento). There are two very solid reasons for moving to Anaheim: 1) There’s FAR more money in Orange County, CA than in Sacramento (i.e., if you move them, they will come); and 2) The Honda Center is a very upscale arena that not only has the desired luxury suites, but also has most of those luxury suites sold out every year to mostly corporations in the area. The ONLY potential downside to the Honda Center is that it’s small by current NBA standards (i.e., seats only around 16,500 for basketball and hockey).