The decision by the owners of the NBA’s Kings to stay in Sacramento for at least another year automatically killed a $75 million bond deal that city of Anaheim had struck with local billionaire Henry Samueli, a city spokesperson said Monday.
In March, with little discussion, the Anaheim City Council unanimously voted to issue $75 million in bonds to three companies, all owned by Samueli.
The city would have received the money from the Samueli firms and then given it to another Samueli company, Anaheim Arena Management, LLC (AAM), which manages the city-owned Honda Center.
But all that went for naught Monday when it became official that the Maloof family, who own the Kings, would not ask the NBA for permission to move to Anaheim for at least another year.
Anaheim public information officer Ruth Ruiz said the Kings had to formally apply to the NBA for permission to move within 180 days of the March 29 Anaheim vote in order for the bonds to go into effect.
“No bonds were issues at all,” she said.
According to the Sacramento Bee, Kings co-owner George Maloof said during an interview in his Las Vegas casino office “we are heading back to Sacramento. It was a tough decision. Ticket holders were reaching out to us, and it was the right thing to do to give it a shot at one more season.”
But Maloof also said the Kings owners are maintaining close contact with Samueli, founder of Irvine-based Broadcom.
“Henry is a stand-up guy,” Maloof told the Bee. “We have a deal with Henry we feel is fair. The NBA had issues with the media (TV contract) component.”