Even as crowds pack Sacramento City Council chambers tonight for yet another arena discussion and vote, officials say they're planning for what could be a much bigger moment in two weeks.

City staff will ask the council this evening to agree to continue exploring privatization of downtown parking as part of an arena financing plan.

The vote will be key to keeping Mayor Kevin Johnson's arena hopes on track. Council approval tonight, however, would merely be a prelude to a potential make-or-break council vote Feb. 28.

City officials say they hope to come to an agreement in the next two weeks with the NBA, the Kings and other stakeholders on a financing plan. That would allow them to bring the plan to the council for a vote two days before an NBA- imposed deadline for Sacramento to have a funding plan or risk losing the Kings.

Council approval is the step the NBA is looking for to be convinced an arena plan is a reality here. City negotiators have been working with the NBA and others on the financing "term sheet" for weeks, officials said.

That term sheet will include the city's contribution to what city officials say is a $387 million project, as well as contributions from the NBA, the Kings, private arena operator AEG and the facility's development team. Most of the city's contribution would come in the form of leasing downtown parking to a private company, an arrangement officials are hopeful will generate as much as $200 million. The city also could kick in proceeds from sales of city property, including 100 acres the city owns next to Power Balance Pavilion in Natomas.

At the Feb. 28 meeting, city staff also plans to identify a plan for backfilling the $9 million that parking operations currently contribute to the general fund budget.

That end-of-the-month vote, however, is predicated on the city hammering out a deal with the NBA and the Kings. City officials declined to say how close negotiators are to an agreement.

"We're all pulling in the same direction," said Assistant City Manager John Dangberg. "We're working very closely with all the parties here, working through a lot of issues, and everyone at the table is working hard to put a deal together."

If the parties succeed in pulling together the general terms of a deal, myriad specifics would still need to be worked out. Sacramento, for instance, would still need to issue a formal request for bids from parking companies.

The arena planning process is playing out in an environment fraught with fan worry about whether Sacramento could lose the Kings to another city. Seattle is the latest city rumored to be on the prowl.

On Monday, the mayor's Think Big Sacramento group issued a debate challenge to San Francisco businessman Chris Hansen, the man behind a move to buy an NBA team and bring it to Seattle.

In a letter, Jeremiah Jackson of the Think Big Sacramento group wrote: "Keep your hands off our Kings."

Hansen did not respond to a Bee phone call. Jackson of Think Big Sacramento said his group does not know if Hansen has talked with the Kings owners about purchasing the team. Team officials have consistently said the team is not for sale.

In the letter Monday, Jackson asked Hansen to come to Sacramento to "defend the indefensible and explain the inexplicable: your effort to steal our jobs."

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Call The Bee's Ryan Lillis, (916) 321-1085. Read his City Beat blog at sacbee.com/citybeat.