National Basketball Association officials laid out a sparkling vision for Cal Expo on Friday with artists' drawings of an imposing basketball arena, fairground Ferris wheels and scores of town houses, shops and restaurants on teeming, pedestrian-packed streets.

The vision, however, is still way short on details on how to make the multibillion-dollar project pencil out, and who would pay what share, they admitted.

The presentation, nearly two years in the making, was good enough, however, to win a thumbs up from the Sacramento Kings, who are desperate for an arena that can make more money.

It also won a quick go-ahead from Cal Expo officials eager to reinvent their faded fairgrounds. "This project far exceeds our wildest expectations of how Cal Expo could be," Cal Expo board member Rex Hime said.

The Cal Expo board authorized its staff Friday to begin a national search for a developer to partner with Cal Expo and the NBA on what would be a massive, 25-year building project, starting with an arena and modern fairgrounds at the eastern edge of the property, where the racetrack now stands.

Several board members balked at the vote, complaining they and the public only saw the plan and its complex financial analysis that afternoon.

"We're so much better than this," member Marko Mlikotin lamented.

Kings officials expressed appreciation in a statement issued by their publicist.

"We are encouraged by the NBA's presentation on the potential for a new arena in Sacramento," the statement read. "We look forward to receiving more details as plans develop.

"We have always been supportive and appreciative of the league's efforts and the process to find a solution that works in Sacramento."

The first phase of the plan calls for tearing down the eastern third of the Cal Expo site, then constructing an arena, hotel, parking garages, some retail, and a huge new Expo Center building that would serve year-round as a meeting hall, and for sports events, car and boat shows, livestock shows and other events, including exhibits during the annual State Fair.

Far more constrained than the current sprawling Cal Expo and fairgrounds, it would contain an open space for a midway and a farm and agriculture center.

Plans for the entire 350-acre project call for offices, housing and retail centers at the west end, to be built in phases through 2036.

The arena and new Expo Center may be completed by 2013, consultants said, but NBA representatives said that timing is uncertain, given the down real estate market.

Also uncertain are details on how to finance the arena. A consultant's report puts the construction costs of the arena and Expo Center at $500million to $600million, but does not list all costs involved in planning, land preparation and entitlements for the arena, nor does it break out any costs for the arena alone. NBA representatives declined to offer any estimate of the arena cost alone.

The NBA said its plan is to seek funds from three sources.

The NBA and Cal Expo will ask a private developer to pay a substantial share.

The Kings ownership has been asked to kick in an undisclosed amount, John Moag, the NBA's point man on the project said.

The third revenue source is expected to be possessory interest taxes, similar to property taxes, that would be generated in increasing amounts over the years on the Cal Expo site as the land values go up.

Moag said on Friday he did not know yet how much money to expect from each of those three sources.

That financing concept may require Cal Expo – which is state-owned – to win legislative approval for designation as a tax increment funding district.

A Cal Expo consultant, Claude Gruen, said it is not certain yet whether the state would do that.

The proposal does not require any new public tax.

NBA representative Moag said the Kings and league learned, the hard way, that Sacramento taxpayers will not foot the bill. Two years ago, a ballot measure for a taxpayer-funded arena failed at the polls.

"That is why this effort is so difficult and will be for some time to come," Moag said. "In some respects, everything you hear today is irrelevant until we hear from the developer, the folks who will write the checks."

Landing that developer appears to be another tough task. Moag said his group has talked with developers who say the plan could work. But he said the economic climate may have to improve before a developer signs on.

The state would retain rights to land on the entire site, although a developer would control the structures.

That arrangement led to a disagreement among consultants Friday over how much the lease deal would be worth over time for a developer during the residential and hotel phases of the project – an issue that could have bearing on whether a developer feels the deal is worthwhile.

Representatives of the New York-based ERA firm, hired by the NBA, said their analysis suggests a developer can collect sufficient rents and other payments.

However, Cal Expo's consultant Gruen said he sees considerably lower values in the deal for a developer and warned that sometimes grand visions can become "a horror show."

He advised Cal Expo officials to move forward cautiously and see what the development community says.

Several Sacramento city and county officials praised the project and urged the Cal Expo board to push it forward.

Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, a non-voting ex-officio member of the Cal Expo board, sharply challenged consultants on what he considered misleading dollar figures in the publicly released project overview. Jones argued the city and county may not receive projected new tax revenues from the project, and it may end up costing them to provide police and fire services.

Call The Bee's Tony Bizjak, (916) 321-1059.