Sacramento City Council Approves a Deal to Try and Keep Kings

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Sacramento is in a stronger position to convince the NBA to keep the Kings from moving to Seattle with a deal now in place to build an 18,500-seat arena downtown. The Sacramento City Council voted 7-2 Tuesday to approve a deal that contributes $258 million to the $447 million project. The city plans to use money earned from leasing parking garages for events at the arena to help pay the public cost of the new arena on the current site of an aging shopping mall. The other $189 million will come from the California investment group seeking to have the NBA negate a pending sale that would move the team and restore the SuperSonics name. Opponents argued that the city should not be paying to subsidize billionaires. Sacramento Mayor and former NBA all-star Kevin Johnson called it "a good day for Sacramento. We are on track to do something very historic."

Associated Press