Report: The Sacramento Kings Finalizing Sale To Seattle Investor Chris Hansen
By Mark Knight
The rumors were swirling for the last 24 hours that the Maloofs had sold the Sacramento Kings to billionaire Seattle investor Chris Hansen. He has plans to move the team to the Emerald City if the rumors are true.
Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the rumors are in fact true via twitter.
The Maloofs are finalizing an agreement to sell the Sacramento Kings to the Hansen-Ballmer led Seattle group, sources tell Yahoo! Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 9, 2013
The deal will sell the Kings for approximately $500 million, with the Seattle group seeking relocation to Key Arena for the 2013-'14 season.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 9, 2013
He goes on to tweet that it has not yet been finalized but it is as close to done as it can be. The deal would make it so the team could file for relocation by the March 1st NBA deadline and play as early as next season in Seattle.
Chris Hansen has already gone through great lengths to get a city to Seattle. He has bought the land in the SoDo district near Safeco Field and Century Link where the other major professional teams play. He also has gone through legal measures by getting the building of a new arena and the relocation of a team to Seattle approved by both the City of Seattle and King County.
He now will finalize this deal and get approval from the NBA to bring Seattle back an NBA team. There is rumors that he will also look to take back the “SuperSonic” name and history for this new team. However, the NBA might have something to do with that decision.
For now though, it looks as if the city of Seattle will have an NBA team once again.