Arena Issue

A new downtown arena for the Sacramento Kings carries some risk to the city but is likely to give the region a substantial economic boost, according to the latest quarterly forecast from the University of the Pacific.

Thousands of Sacramento Kings fans turned out this evening to celebrate the team's future here. Follow the Long Live the Kings rally, with photos, here in this live blog replay.

Thousands of Kings fans - plus a few former team legends and the core of the franchise's new ownership group - are expected to converge on downtown's Cesar Chavez Plaza Thursday afternoon for a rally celebrating the team's future in Sacramento.

The prospective owners of the Sacramento Kings are buying not only the team but also Downtown Plaza, where they and the city plan to build a new arena.

The lineup is set for Thursday's fan rally to celebrate the Kings' future in Sacramento.

A lesson in humility for his younger workers underscores Vivek Ranadive's competitive drive – a characteristic on display in his bid to buy the Sacramento Kings and partner with the city to build a $448 million downtown sports arena.

The Sacramento Kings, adrift for years and nearly lured away from the city, effectively reopened for business Friday.

The Maloofs' agreement to sell the Kings to a Sacramento investor group was essentially sealed late Wednesday in Dallas, after the Sacramentans agreed to sweeten the pot.

The Maloof era in Sacramento, at times spirited and uplifting, at times dismal, appears to have come to an end.

Sacramento, nearly beaten five months ago, is keeping its Kings after all.

Moments before boarding a plane for today's NBA meeting in Dallas that could decide the fate of the Sacramento Kings, Mayor Kevin Johnson said "we're holding our breath as a city." Sacramento has done all it can, he said, to keep the city's major league sports franchise.

Sacramento Bee columnist Marcos Breton hosted a live chat about David Stern's announcement that the Kings will stay in Sacramento. Replay it here.

The most powerful team owners in the NBA met again Monday to discuss the fate of the Kings, and apparently left unchanged their earlier recommendation to keep the team in Sacramento.

Despite repeatedly dismissing overtures from a Sacramento group eager to buy the Kings, the team's owners have not closed the door on that possibility and were receiving updates from the NBA on the Sacramento group's efforts as recently as this weekend, a source said Sunday.

The fight for the Kings took another wild turn Saturday, with the Maloofs threatening not to sell the team to Sacramento's investor group if the NBA blocks the family's deal with bidders from Seattle.

In a dramatic, late-hour move, the group trying to buy the Sacramento Kings and move them to Seattle announced Friday it is increasing its bid for the franchise a second time - just days before the NBA is scheduled to vote on the team's future.

If this Kings drama comes to a logical conclusion next week, with new owners and the promise of a new arena, and with the team's future secured and rubber-stamped by the NBA board of governors, Sacramentans can heave an immense sigh of relief and start rooting hard for the Indiana Pacers.

Explaining why the NBA's relocation committee recommended against moving the Kings to Seattle, one of the league's most influential owners says Sacramento did everything necessary to keep the team.

Mayor Kevin Johnson is so confident that the Kings are staying put, he's got some advice for the guys trying to buy the team and move it to Seattle: Back off.

Trying to nail down a deal with the Maloof family, the investors bidding to keep the Kings in Sacramento deposited 50 percent of the offering price in an escrow account Friday, a source close to the group said.

If Sacramento builds a new downtown arena for the Kings, how much will the public wind up paying for it? The answer: It depends on who's counting.

A committee of NBA owners declared that the Kings should stay in Sacramento. The man who wants to move the team to Seattle has vowed to keep pressing his case.

The NBA's top two executives defended the relocation committee's recommendation to block the Sacramento Kings' move to Seattle, even as they acknowledged Seattle's strengths as an NBA market.

Buoyed by a dramatic NBA vote this week in Sacramento's favor, Mayor Kevin Johnson said Tuesday the investor group aligned with Sacramento will push to put a finalized sales deal in front of the league's board of governors when it meets at midmonth.

The Sacramento Kings, the woebegone franchise that became the object of one of the least likely bidding wars in sports history, will probably stay put instead of moving to Seattle.

See how news of the NBA committee vote on the Sacramento Kings unfolded on social media on Monday, April 29, 2013.

The painstaking saga of the Sacramento Kings will finally get decided on or around May 13 – almost five months after the team's owners accepted a purchase offer from investors in Seattle.

Sacramento's proposed downtown arena project could get a boost under major environmental legislation unveiled Wednesday by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

New drawings of the proposed Kings arena at Downtown Plaza have emerged.

Like many of us, I'm ready for the Kings story to be resolved – for it to be decided whether the team is staying in Sacramento or moving to Seattle. Make a choice already. We've had it.

NEW YORK – The two competing bids for the Sacramento Kings "are in the same ballpark," NBA Commissioner David Stern said Friday, pushing aside complaints from the Maloofs that the deal they've struck with investors from Seattle is markedly superior to the counteroffer from Sacramento.

NBA Commissioner David Stern, calling the tug-of-war over the Kings one of the most vexing issues in league history, said today that Sacramento and Seattle's dueling bids for the team "are in the same ballpark."

Weighing competing offers for the Sacramento Kings, the Maloofs said Thursday they want to press ahead with the deal they've made with investors from Seattle.

A decision on the Sacramento Kings' future has been pushed back at least two weeks, NBA officials said Wednesday, straining already taut nerves in Sacramento and Seattle. But for the first time, league officials hinted at a potential resolution that could satisfy both cities.

The uncertainty over the future of the Sacramento Kings will linger at least into next week.

Above all else, the Kings are still their team.

Sacramento's message of love for the Kings is heading to Times Square.

The Sacramento Kings won't be a small-market team anymore if Vivek Ranadive has his way.

With the NBA board of governors meeting this week to decide the fate of the Kings, it may seem as if Sacramento and Seattle were vying for the team on equal footing – as if the franchise were a jump ball up for grabs.

The Sacramento contingent seeking to buy the Kings held back Saturday from delivering a counter to an increased bid for the franchise from Seattle, instead portraying the new offer as a move of desperation that is unlikely to sway the NBA's decision on which city will get the franchise.

The Seattle investors trying to buy the Sacramento Kings announced late Friday they have raised their offer for the team.

In another day of chaos and confusion over the Sacramento Kings, a respected sports publication said Thursday that the NBA is asking Sacramento's bidders to compensate Seattle investors if the team stays put.

Learn more about the men who are key to Sacramento's effort to keep the Sacramento Kings and build a new arena downtown: investment billionaire Ron Burkle, 24 Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Vivek Ranadive, Jacobs Family of San Diego, founders of Qualcomm, local developer Mark Friedman, former Facebook executive Chris Kelly, swimsuit maker Raj Bhathal, and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Katrina Garnett and Arjun Gupta.

The Maloof family has given Sacramento an ultimatum: Come up with a solid bid to purchase the Kings by 5 p.m. Friday, or we won't even entertain your overtures.

The team trying to keep the Sacramento Kings in town underwent another roster change Tuesday, as prominent Sacramento developer Mark Friedman signed onto the effort.

At first blush, it seemed like a big setback for Sacramento to lose billionaire Ron Burkle as a potential Kings owner and developer of a downtown arena to block a franchise move to Seattle.

Ten days before the NBA decides whether the Kings stay in Sacramento, a key investor in the effort has been forced into a secondary role.

Assembled hastily in a few weeks, Sacramento's arena financing plan remains a work in progress, with at least one key element yet to be nailed down.

Set aside the talk of billionaire executives and flashy plans to redefine downtowns. The final stretch of the Kings saga will likely come down to which city – Sacramento or Seattle – has the more solid arena plan.

Describing the Sacramento Kings saga as too complicated to settle in a day, NBA Commissioner David Stern said Wednesday that the league needs "a lot more data and information" before it can decide whether the team moves to Seattle or stays put.