Sports franchises like the Rochester Royals-Cincinnati Royals Kansas City Kings-Sacramento Kings-La La Land Royals dump cities the way Zsa Zsa Gabor went through eight husbands.
They do it for the same reason - love of squeezing the most money they can out of their situation.
At least Zsa Zsa was honest and said she needed to satisfy her love of furs and jewelry.
The Maloof Brothers - and their ilk among pro franchise sports owners - are simply looking to squeeze the most out of their teams. Their loyalty to a city lasts about as long as Zsa Zsa’s did to each of her husbands until she finally landed her final husband, Frederic Prinz von Anhalt in 1986 who became hubby No. 9.
It really isn’t about the arena although the theory goes a state-of-the-art arena with even more seating and luxury boxes up the kazoo would mean a team will make more money. That in turn would allow team owners to pay salaries of millionaire players who deliver winning seasons about as often as the California Legislature delivers a balanced budget on time.
It’s really about the TV market. Sacramento can’t give the Maloof Brothers the kind of dough they want not tobuild a better team but to build a better profit.
I know, I know. It’s about the fans. Every time NBA Commissioner David Stern or any franchise owner expresses such sentiments you keep waiting for them to complete the sentence: “It’s about the fans … and milking them for the most we can.”
Perhaps the Kings are getting the fan support they’re worth. Blame that on the NBA concentration of top tier talent with a few teams and the NBA’s formula for season play designed for money and not the thrill of the sport. Basically the NBA plays for about eight months to eliminate the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Clippers and then starts all over again with playoffs.
The NBA at times resembles a neighborhood protection racket. The NBA kingpins encourage franchise owners to extort money from cities rather than demonstrate they have the ability to both own and house a team on their own.
Fans are the cash cows. They are the ones that buy the tickets, sodas, beer, and hot dogs. They are the ones that buy the products that afford companies the ability to pay for advertising that justifies the high prices TV stations will bid for the rights to broadcast games.
But let’s face it. If the Kings were as hot as the Knicks, they would command better TV contracts not just in Sacramento where it would be marginally better but elsewhere as well. The Kings, Royals or whatever they’re going to be called in Anaheim will not be commanding anywhere near what the Lakers do when it comes to TV rights but they will be getting significantly more than they do in Sacramento.
In other words, the fiefdom overseen by Stern is about maximizing the return of the team owners and not about the sport.
And when it comes to the stadium game, Sacramento of all cities should know how it is played. Back when the master of money squeezing Al Davis went courting for a new place to move his personal ATM known by fans as the Oakland Raiders, the City of Industry put more than $30 million up front while Sacramento qualified for the ballot and passed a hotel room tax increase to help finance the possible NFL franchise move.
Of course, Al was able to milk Oakland - the Detroit of the West - to invest more city funds so he could stay put and make even more money.
The Kings need to go to La-La Land where they can join the Los Angeles Clippers in lethargic mediocrity fed with TV money and a fan base that is about as loyal as former Egyptian President Mubarak’s fans in the Egyptian military.
It’s a perfect match - a Mickey Mouse sports franchise ownership for a Mickey Mouse town.
They do it for the same reason - love of squeezing the most money they can out of their situation.
At least Zsa Zsa was honest and said she needed to satisfy her love of furs and jewelry.
The Maloof Brothers - and their ilk among pro franchise sports owners - are simply looking to squeeze the most out of their teams. Their loyalty to a city lasts about as long as Zsa Zsa’s did to each of her husbands until she finally landed her final husband, Frederic Prinz von Anhalt in 1986 who became hubby No. 9.
It really isn’t about the arena although the theory goes a state-of-the-art arena with even more seating and luxury boxes up the kazoo would mean a team will make more money. That in turn would allow team owners to pay salaries of millionaire players who deliver winning seasons about as often as the California Legislature delivers a balanced budget on time.
It’s really about the TV market. Sacramento can’t give the Maloof Brothers the kind of dough they want not tobuild a better team but to build a better profit.
I know, I know. It’s about the fans. Every time NBA Commissioner David Stern or any franchise owner expresses such sentiments you keep waiting for them to complete the sentence: “It’s about the fans … and milking them for the most we can.”
Perhaps the Kings are getting the fan support they’re worth. Blame that on the NBA concentration of top tier talent with a few teams and the NBA’s formula for season play designed for money and not the thrill of the sport. Basically the NBA plays for about eight months to eliminate the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Clippers and then starts all over again with playoffs.
The NBA at times resembles a neighborhood protection racket. The NBA kingpins encourage franchise owners to extort money from cities rather than demonstrate they have the ability to both own and house a team on their own.
Fans are the cash cows. They are the ones that buy the tickets, sodas, beer, and hot dogs. They are the ones that buy the products that afford companies the ability to pay for advertising that justifies the high prices TV stations will bid for the rights to broadcast games.
But let’s face it. If the Kings were as hot as the Knicks, they would command better TV contracts not just in Sacramento where it would be marginally better but elsewhere as well. The Kings, Royals or whatever they’re going to be called in Anaheim will not be commanding anywhere near what the Lakers do when it comes to TV rights but they will be getting significantly more than they do in Sacramento.
In other words, the fiefdom overseen by Stern is about maximizing the return of the team owners and not about the sport.
And when it comes to the stadium game, Sacramento of all cities should know how it is played. Back when the master of money squeezing Al Davis went courting for a new place to move his personal ATM known by fans as the Oakland Raiders, the City of Industry put more than $30 million up front while Sacramento qualified for the ballot and passed a hotel room tax increase to help finance the possible NFL franchise move.
Of course, Al was able to milk Oakland - the Detroit of the West - to invest more city funds so he could stay put and make even more money.
The Kings need to go to La-La Land where they can join the Los Angeles Clippers in lethargic mediocrity fed with TV money and a fan base that is about as loyal as former Egyptian President Mubarak’s fans in the Egyptian military.
It’s a perfect match - a Mickey Mouse sports franchise ownership for a Mickey Mouse town.
