In the words of Dr. Dre: “Sacramento! Sacramento where you at?”
On Wednesday, NBA owners officially rejected a bid to relocate the Sacramento Kings to Seattle. Late Thursday night/early Friday morning (depending on your time zone) team owners agreed to sell the franchise to a Sacramento based group, sources told ESPN.com.
Software billionaire Vivek Ranadive purchased 65% of the Sacramento NBA team from the Maloof family for $348 million. The Kings’ valuation in the deal is $535 million, an NBA franchise record. So if you’re hoping for a return of the Seattle Supersonics; sorry. You’re just out of luck.
The Sacramento Bee first reported that a deal had been reached earlier tonight.
With the $60 million debt to the city of Sacramento, plus debts owed to the NBA, the Maloofs should net more than $200 million off this transaction. Quoting Dr. Dre again, because really we can never quote him enough: “hella Swiss or mozzarella, pockets swella, getting money like a bank teller.”
The official announcement from both the Sacramento Kings and league is expected sometime Friday.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an author and regular contributor to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, and Walter Football.
Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks)