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November 30, 2011
Sacramento can raise $200m for Kings arena by ... hey, look over there!
Sacramento Bee columnist Marcos Breton, who you'll remember from such new-arena-touting columns as this one, weighs in today with a piece on the Kings arena plans that defies easy diagramming, but I'm going to give it a try:
- Selling off the rights to collect parking fees in downtown Sacramento could generate "as much as $200 million, or slightly more" to use towards building a Kings arena, "according to multiple sources familiar with the details."
- The total arena cost would be $387 million, "but it could go higher."
- A private developer (as yet unidentified, but maybe AEG), the Kings, and the NBA would contribute unknown amounts to the project.
- Parking meters make up about a quarter of the $200 million. "Is it legal to use that money for private use?" asks Breton, then doesn't provide an answer.
- The parking fees currently generate about $10 million a year in revenue for the city — conveniently enough, pretty close to $200 million in present value — "money that would have to be replaced somehow" if the parking were sold off to pay for an arena.
- No other cities in the region are going to cough up money for an arena, and sales tax hikes won't be used, because "regionalism is an empty word around here" and Sacramento is "anti-tax."
So, to sum up: Sacramento can raise $200 million towards a Kings arena by selling a revenue stream worth $200 million, but then needs to come up with some money to pay for all the things that that revenue has been paying for until now. I'm pretty sure I've heard this plan somewhere before...
Marcos's column really seemed to be dripping with sarcasm to me. I'd say he can't see a way through on this -- and definitely not by March 1.
According to other news reports up here, the Dec 13 deadline is already, well, dead.
www.kcra.com/mostpopular/29881684/detail.html
Dec 13 is in 13 days, and they've only "exchanged emails" with the Maloofs? To me, that makes it look as though the Maloofs don't really intend to stay. I'd say they're just going through the motions, but it appears that they're not even doing that.
So the answer to the question, "How interested are the Maloofs in staying?" just might be, "Not very."
Posted by MikeM on November 30, 2011 02:12 PM
Of course, Mr. Breton doesn't ask what this will do to the cost of parking in Downtown Sacramento. Unlike basketball players, office workers will be working in downtown for more than 41 days per year.
Posted by JJO916 on November 30, 2011 07:01 PM
It doesn't seem to me like these pro teams are real businesses that are self-sufficient.
Posted by Roger C. on December 1, 2011 03:56 PM
Professional sports is symptomatic of America's political and economic situation- Socialism for team owners and the politically connected but the up by your bootstraps for everyone else.
Posted by JJO916 on December 1, 2011 05:23 PM
These Royals will stay.
Posted by Saceamento Royals on December 1, 2011 09:12 PM
Article in this Friday's Bee describing a couple parking problems. It sounds like State law will prohibit the privatization of the parking meters, so the up front cash the City hoped to raise will fall short.
I'm glad to see it.
Posted by MikeM on December 2, 2011 03:34 AM