Slow go on arena efforts in Sacramento

Remember all the urgency among Sacramento city officials to keep the Kings from moving to Anaheim? Well, urgency has transitioned to lethargy. There's no financing in place for a new arena, and the NBA has set a March 1 relocation deadline. From the OC Register:

The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday night voted 7-2 in favor of exploring the concept of privatizing city-owned parking to raise money for the arena project. A city-commissioned report estimates that privatizing (or monetizing) parking in a 50-year lease with a private operator could bring in from $170 million to $245 million, thereby providing the lion's share of financing for the proposed $406 million arena. But that, too, is a slow process that could take months to finalize. And yet the Sacramento Bee reports that city officials want to finalize "a financing term sheet -- detailing the various public and private contributions toward the (arena) project - by mid-February." Want to? "Have to" is a more accurate statement considering the March 1 deadline.

NBA commissioner David Stern will meet Friday with Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson and AEG honcho Tim Leiweke, who has shown an interest in operating a new arena. Register columnist Randy Youngman wonders whether AEG's interest has anything to do preventing the Kings from moving to Anaheim.

[AEG] owns Staples Center as well as a percentage of the Lakers. The Lakers' new TV contract with Time Warner Cable (reportedly $5 billion over 25 years beginning in 2012-13) also has a provision that reduces its value 10 percent annually if a third NBA team is in the market.