For years, Sacramento Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof were seen as the dashing princes of the city.

They were the fun-loving bachelors who brought Las Vegas sizzle to a state government town and its disconnected suburbs. They were the fan-friendly hosts who led thunderous, unifying cheers as their Kings – in one glorious stretch – became both winners and wildly entertaining.

And now? The Maloofs, pondering a franchise move to Anaheim, are silent. The Kings are losing. Embattled and frustrated over failed attempts to build a new Sacramento arena, the Maloofs have found themselves depicted as princes of petulance, team owners who are anything but team players.

"I think they, like all team owners and fabulously wealthy people, long to be loved," said communications consultant Doug Elmets, who worked with the Maloofs in a 2006 campaign to publicly finance a downtown arena. "And they despise being scorned. Unfortunately, in this community, they have experienced both."

There are two very different narratives for how the brothers' love affair with Sacramento soured, leaving the city scrambling for still another plan to build an arena to keep the Kings in town as the Maloofs shop elsewhere.

One version is the Maloofs turned people off by demanding taxpayers fund an arena – over which they would have absolute authority – as they washed down burgers with a $6,000 bottle of Bordeaux in their infamous Carl's Jr. commercial.

Another is that the Maloofs were stymied by politicians and bureaucrats unprepared for prime time in building a glistening, modern sports facility to replace the antiquated former Arco Arena.

"I'm guessing that they're very, very frustrated," said Bob Cook, a minority owner of the Kings who expresses empathy for the Maloofs as he strongly opposes a move to Anaheim. "They're used to getting things done and unfortunately this arena situation has been moving with the pace of a snail. I don't blame them. But it would be devastating to Sacramento, absolutely devastating financially and emotionally," should the Maloofs move the team.

Schism in arena vote

Critics say the Maloofs are part of a hugely successful business family that built a lavish Las Vegas hotel, casino and condominium resort, partied with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears and yet never embraced a partnership role in redeveloping Sacramento after buying the team in 1999.

David Townsend, a veteran political consultant and now ex-Kings season-ticket holder, faults the Maloofs for undermining a downtown arena plan that could have invigorated the capital with street life and new construction, including restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

Instead, Townsend saw the Maloofs demanding thousands of parking spaces and total control of any arena and surrounding development.

"I think they have demonstrated to this community that they're not willing to get in and roll up their sleeves to make it happen," Townsend said. He said the Maloofs' relationship with Sacramento has deteriorated "from an incredibly wild, fun first few years into a really bad marriage."

It peaked with Joe and Gavin Maloof high-fiving Chris Webber and Vlade Divac from their courtside seats as their pass-happy basketball team captured civic adulation – and the nation's fancy – with the NBA's best record in 2002.

It began to crack in 2006, when Joe Maloof appeared at a news conference packed with elected officials and civic leaders to celebrate a ballot drive to publicly fund a new arena as the centerpiece of redeveloping Sacramento's historic railyard.

Elmets handed Maloof a script. He was supposed to say the railyard was an ideal location for an arena and the venture was a tremendous opportunity for Sacramento. Instead, Maloof said he wasn't sure an arena would work there.

"I turned ashen as did everyone else in the campaign," Elmets said.

Voters later rejected arena tax Measures Q and R by wide margins. By then, Elmets said, the owners had all but walked away from the campaign, offering only "tepid financial support and minimal moral support."

In later efforts to build an arena, Elmets faults "indecisive" Sacramento politicians who "weren't willing to meet the minimum standards of the NBA to keep a basketball team in this community" for failing the Maloofs.

But, while the Kings earned renown for unselfish play, Elmets said the Maloofs took a hit as they came off heavy-handed in their arena demands. "What they promoted on the court was not what they advocated on the street, and that is team play or teamwork," he said.

Flashy presence in Vegas

That isn't the Maloofs' image in Las Vegas, where brother George Maloof runs the Palms Casino Resort, its Playboy Club, music recording studio and luxury villas. The Maloof family invested $250 million to build the hotel in 2001 and another $300 million in expanding the resort.

"You walk into that casino and it's always buzzing," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, a fan of the Maloofs. "It's a great young people's place." Goodman, who is trying to lure an NBA team to Las Vegas, said he hasn't talked to the Maloofs about relocating and has no plans to do so.

Goodman says Joe and Gavin Maloof "are charming guys as far as I'm concerned. Every time I'm with them, they're always aces."

But as they have partied at their Vegas resort, the Maloofs have fought hard for concessions in Sacramento.

Townsend represented former Sheriff Lou Blanas and developers including Angelo K. Tsakopoulos in a private push to rezone property for development in North Natomas in exchange for financing for a new arena. He blamed its failure on a collapse of the development partnership, but was amazed by the brothers' demands in negotiations.

"They wanted a $40 million to $50 million parking garage so that you could drive right up and park at your (arena) box," Townsend said. "They were being somewhat excessive in their demands for what the arena should have."

Throughout multiple arena sagas, the Maloofs' supporters say, the brothers remained ever-present in town as the Kings supported over 140 community groups. Meanwhile, Maloof Sports & Entertainment said it spent "several million dollars" over 11 years on consultants, lawyers, engineers, architects and studies for a Sacramento arena.

Most recently, NBA Commissioner David Stern joined the negotiations as the city sought a complicated land swap to move the State Fair to the current Kings arena site and redevelop the Cal Expo site to pay for a new arena downtown.

The talks took place as a searing national recession hit hard in the cities where the Maloofs did business. In Las Vegas, Stations Casinos Inc. reported in 2009 that its investment in the Maloofs' Palm Casino had plummeted in value by 87 percent. Sources said casino revenue dropped by nearly one-fifth.

In Sacramento, the value of the Kings franchise fell to $293 million in 2010 from a peak of $385 million just three years earlier, according to a Forbes magazine analysis.

Things go south

Then, in September, the Cal Expo board rejected moving the State Fair to the Kings' Natomas site. The NBA announced it was quitting any continued role in Sacramento arena negotiations.

For the Maloofs, "the economy was in a tank, Las Vegas was a mess and Sacramento kept saying, 'We don't love you,' " said Barbara O'Connor, director emeritus of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University, Sacramento.

The latest affront may have come Feb. 9 when the Sacramento City Council selected downtown developer David Taylor and the ICON Venue Group, builders of Denver's Pepsi Center and the Sprint Center in Kansas City, to conduct a three-month feasibility study on a Sacramento area.

Kings minority partner Cook said he preferred to work with another local developer, Gerry Kamilos, in still trying to get a deal to develop Cal Expo – without the land swap – to pay for an arena.

"They (the City Council) jumped off a horse with money in the saddlebags for someone who said 'I'll look at it for 90 days and then say what I think,' " Cook fumed. "If I was the Maloofs, I would say to myself or my brother, 'I've had enough. Here we go again.' "

So the Maloofs explore a deal with Anaheim. A move would bring the Kings to a vast Los Angeles media market, where sister Adrienne Maloof-Nassif stars on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." But the Kings would have to compete with the hugely popular Los Angeles Lakers, at least five other professional sports franchises and two major college programs.

The Maloofs will no longer talk publicly about any arena proposals.

O'Connor said silence is now their best strategy.

"I think they're holding on by their fingernails in multiple places," she said. "And they're finally listening to counsel who are saying, 'Shut up until we have a plan.' "

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