Mayor Kevin Johnson Believes In His Bid For The Kings

Kings fan holds up photo of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson in hopes of keeping team in Sacramento.

Photo courtesy of Yahoo

By Logan Murdock, Sports In the Bay Contributor
Sacramento, CA

On Wednesday, the Sacramento Kings owners gave the local ownership groups a Friday deadline to come up with a "back-up" offer to keep the team in the city. The local group, brought together by Mayor and former NBA player Kevin Johnson are led by heavyweight investors Mark Mastrov, owner of 24 Hour Fitness and Vivek Ranadivé, CEO of TIBCO Software. Johnson was on hand at the Kings-Hornets game and did not seem worried. "I feel very comfortable with how strong our bid is and how competitive it will be."

Johnson also stated that the Maloof Family, who currently own the Kings, already knows the bid. "They know the number, trust me," Johnson said. This is part of an ongoing saga between the Maloof Family and the City of Sacramento.

In January, The Maloofs agreed to a deal with Seattle businessman Chris Hanson. When the deal was done Johnson quickly gathered a group of investors to keep the team in Sacramento. On April 3rd, Johnson and his group of investors traveled to New York to present their bid to NBA Commissioner David Stern. The NBA expects to come up with a decision by April 18th.

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