ORLANDO, Fla. - After seven hours of closed-door negotiations Sunday, there's still work to be done on crafting a funding plan for a new downtown sports arena.
Sacramento city officials, the National Basketball Association and the owners of the Sacramento Kings will continue talks this morning after huddling until 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel inside Disney World.
A weary Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson emerged at the end of the night to say that the process had moved forward - but that the sides had not reached a deal.
"From the city's standpoint, we know what we can do," the mayor said. "The NBA and the Maloofs know what they can do. There's a little bit of a gap in between and we're going to talk about those issues (today). I just don't think it's a gap that's insurmountable."
NBA Commissioner David Stern said the sides "made some progress" on Sunday and that "it is a good thing we're talking again (Monday)."
Johnson would not discuss what is separating the city and the Maloofs.
Kings co-owner George Maloof said, "We've still got lots of issues."
"It's been productive but there are some big issues," he said. "There are issues that we've got to figure out. We'll figure it out (Monday). If we don't, we don't, and we'll figure out what to do next. There's just some fundamental things we've got to
figure out."
Asked if the sides were close to a deal, team co-owner Joe Maloof said, "I can't really answer that."
The NBA has given the city until Thursday to come up with a plan, or risk losing the Kings.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.