After two days of intense private negotiations, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced Friday that there will be no deal between the city and the Maloofs for a new arena. Citing irreconcilable differences, Johnson said all negotiations with the Sacramento Kings team owners are over and no further discussions are planned. Kings spokesman Eric Rose confirmed in an email statement Friday that they could not reach an agreement with the city. “We know this door is closed,” Johnson said at a press conference Friday, “but, as mayor, I’m going to do all I can to keep an NBA team in town.” Here is how the story unfolded Friday morning in the Twittersphere: <[ View the story "Twitter feed from mayor's

Mayor Kevin Johnson said another meeting with the Maloofs is in the works, but stopped short of promising that the arena deal will be revived – or that a new deal will be struck. “Sitting down doesn’t do anybody any harm – but it won’t be dragged out,” Johnson said. “I don’t want anyone to have false hope.” Johnson told media Tuesday at his weekly press conference that the city’s position on the arena deal remains the same, but the city will still explore all options. “In terms of plan B, we continue to do our internal analysis,” Johnson said. “Our goal is to report back (to the City Council) on May 8.” The sticking point in negotiations between the city and the Maloofs is the revenue

Mayor Kevin Johnson and the owners of the Sacramento Kings, the Maloofs, have crossed paths a few times since the handshake deal for a new downtown arena splintered – and both the arena and discussions with the team owners are expected to be key topics at his weekly press conference Tuesday morning. Here's our Twitter coverage of what they mayor had to say: < n The conference occured after tense words were exchanged in the media between Johnson and George Maloof after the tentative agreement for an entertainment and sports complex fell apart last week – but that didn’t stop Johnson from reaching out to the team owners Friday. According to Joaquin McPeek, spokesman for the Mayor’s Office,

There may no longer be an arena deal, but Mayor Kevin Johnson said he isn’t giving up on an entertainment and sports complex for Sacramento – not until the city has considered all options, including building an arena without an anchor tenant. “This is not over, in my opinion,” Johnson said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “It doesn’t do us any good to continue to point fingers and blame. We don’t have the deal we thought we had, so we need to figure out what plan B looks like.” Options to be considered, Johnson said, may include scaling back the original project to cut costs or to build the facility in stages, adding features over time. Building a venue without an anchor tenant i

Despite the battle between the city and Sacramento Kings’ team owners over a new entertainment and sports complex, City Councilman Steve Cohn is adamant that plans for developing the railyards site for an intermodal transit facility will continue uninterrupted. “Yes, there is absolutely an intermodal without the arena,” Cohn said Thursday at a workshop on the project at City Hall. More than 100 people attended the workshop hosted by the city to discuss the site orientation of the proposed arena at the downtown railyards along with current and future transportation facilities at the site. Until the recent arena deal fell apart, the intermodal project at the downtown railyards was slated

Think Big Sacramento Executive Director Chris Lehane said Monday that Friday’s spat with the Maloof family does not spell the end for an arena deal in downtown Sacramento, but that it was a setback that can be overcome. “First of all, we’ve continued to believe that a downtown-based entertainment and sports complex makes tremendous sense for the city and the region for jobs creation and economic development,” Lehane said. “All of that continues to exist, and I think we need to explore alternative ways to move forward.” Lehane said one option would be to follow the model of Kansas City, in which an arena was built without having a professional sports team as a partner. Another way could b

Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork (STOP) announced Monday that they will continue gathering signatures on a petition that would require large public expenses on a project in the downtown railyards such as an arena to be approved by a public vote. “We’re going to get this thing qualified for the ballot,” said spokesman Richard Tolmach. “A lot of people are stepping up and want to help us.” The group began gathering signatures over the weekend, and Tolmach said there are currently about 1,000 signed petitions. To qualify for placement on a ballot, the petition must have about 21,000 signatures. Placement on the November ballot was previously a top priority – and STOP would have needed

City officials had the last word of the day Friday on the failed arena deal between the city and the owners of the Sacramento Kings – and that word was “disappointed.” “We are profoundly disappointed that the entertainment and sports complex project is not moving forward,” City Manager John Shirey said Friday. “We had great hopes, and there was great jubilation just a few weeks ago that a deal had been struck.” Assistant City Manager John Dangberg and City Councilmen Rob Fong and Steve Cohn joined Shirey for an impromptu press conference Friday in response to the sudden failure of a deal between the city, the Maloofs, arena operator AEG and the NBA to build a new arena in Sacramento. “T

Friday’s news that the deal for an entertainment and sports complex is essentially dead isn’t stopping a grassroots effort to ensure large public expenditure on private ventures be vetted through a public vote. Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork (STOP) announced their goal of collecting enough signatures to give the public a vote on the arena financing last month, and they now have the petitions in-hand to start gathering signatures. “We’re still concerned that even if this plan’s dead, there may be another plan that’s either as bad or worse to spend public money on a private venture at (the downtown railyards),” STOP spokesman Richard Tolmach said Friday afternoon. The grassroots org

Mayor Kevin Johnson admitted defeat Friday as the deal to build a new arena and keep the Kings in Sacramento failed despite the “blood, sweat, tears and effort” that Johnson said went into it. “Is the deal as we know it dead? Absolutely,” Johnson said. In what turned out to be the third major press conference in New York Friday regarding the arena deal, Johnson told media that he is baffled by the Kings owners, the Maloofs, and he doesn’t understand how things fell to this point. “We felt we had an agreement (in Orlando), they didn’t feel that we did. That’s a pretty fundamental difference,” Johnson said. “It became very clear by their actions today that they didn’t want to make a deal.

After a year of negotiations, economic reports and financial cartwheels by city officials and Sacramento Kings owners, NBA Commissioner David Stern said it appears the deal for a new Sacramento arena is dead. “I am extremely disappointed on behalf of both the Maloofs and the city of Sacramento,” Stern said at a New York press conference Friday, “but I think there is nothing further to be done.” Stern said the NBA Board of Governors met Thursday with the Sacramento Kings team owners, the Maloofs, and – after hearing a “detailed and thorough” presentation – Stern said the board came to some simple conclusions. “(In Orlando) we had an agreement in principle – a framework, a handshake deal

Here are some tweets taken from the Sacramento area mentioning the words "Maloofs," "Kings," and or "arena" between 6 a.m. Thursday and 1 p.m. Friday. The Sacramento Press used a beta version of iWitness to compile this list of tweets.                "Kings Blog: The Morning After: Kings effort, basketball smarts, lack consistency sacb.ee/HNTi7m" — The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) April 12, 2012   "City Beat: Maloofs respond to criticism of Sacramento business leaders sacb.ee/IbmrFP" — The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) April 12, 2012   "City Beat: City: Maloofs' records request created perception they want arena to fail sacb.ee/IbBjUz" — The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) April 12

Sacramento Kings owners and their attorneys told media Friday that not only was there never a solid deal with the city for a new arena, but – if the mayor isn’t willing to negotiate – there never will be one. “The mayor said he’s not negotiating? Then he killed the deal on his own terms,” team owner George Maloof said at a press conference in New York. “It’s over.” The morning press conference opened with Kings attorney Barry McNeil giving a detailed timeline of events in the “arena saga,” starting with the Maloofs’ initial proposal to move the Kings to Anaheim in 2010. “We want to demonstrate to you that the Kings have exercised their best efforts over the past 12 months to get a new a

Self-described “world-famous” Sacramento bounty hunter Leonard Padilla is making his fifth bid for mayor – and this time he intends to win. Padilla, 72, said Wednesday that the decision to run for mayor has always been an easy one for him to make because running for political office brings a valuable opportunity to candidates. “You have things that you want to say publicly, and the mayor’s race gives you that ability,” Padilla said. “It gets you out there to where you keep up with what’s happening in the city, and you are forced to learn about sewer rates, water rates, garbage and the budget. It forces you into a situation where you have to just learn.” The key difference for Padilla in

Even as the Sacramento Kings’ owners backpedal on a deal struck with the city and arena operator AEG, Mayor Kevin Johnson and the City Council voted 7-2 in favor of spending nearly $13 million on pre-development work associated with the new arena – $200,000 of that advanced from the NBA on behalf of the Maloofs. Less than one month after Johnson returned from Orlando announcing a deal had been struck, the Kings’ owners, the Maloof family, started balking at paying a share of the pre-development costs, which include development of the site plan for the arena and preparing for environmental reviews. In a March 20 letter to the city, the Maloofs expressed doubts about the city’s ability to

The city will be responsible for the majority of the cost of a new entertainment and sports complex, according to the much-anticipated financial term sheet released Thursday – a total of nearly $256 million. The contribution from Anschutz Entertainment Group, the new arena operator, will be $58.75 million, according to the terms of the agreement, and the Sacramento Kings owners, the Maloof family, is bringing in $73.25 million. The term sheet outlines the specifics of who pays for what to get a new arena built downtown and provides a framework for negotiations with potential parking operators – the linchpin in the city’s ability to meet its part of the deal. Representatives of the Think

Tuesday on Insight on Capital Public Radio, I spoke with host David Watts Barton and Think Big Sacramento Executive Director Chris Lehane about the tentative arena deal brokered in Orlando that will keep the Kings in Sacramento. The framework of the agreement was negotiated over the three-day NBA All-Star Weekend during numerous closed-door discussions between Mayor Kevin Johnson, a delegation from Sacramento, Kings’ owners and NBA officials. The exact terms of the deal will be revealed Thursday, but early reports from the mayor’s office indicated it includes an estimated $75 million contribution from Kings’ owners, the Maloof family, and an estimated $60 million from arena operator Ansc

Mayor Kevin Johnson headed back to Sacramento Monday from Orlando with news that an agreement has been reached to keep the Kings in Sacramento. "Today is a new day for Sacramento and a defining moment for our community,” Johnson said in an email statement Monday. The terms of the agreement include an upfront contribution of nearly $75 million from the Kings’ owners, the Maloof family, and an additional $75 million over the life of the deal through ticket surcharges. The exact terms of the agreement are expected to be made public by Thursday – the original deadline set by the NBA to have a deal in place. Johnson, the Maloofs and NBA representatives had been in discussions throughout the

Mayor Kevin Johnson and NBA Commissioner David Stern released a joint statement today outlining an updated timeline for finalizing terms of a new arena deal for Sacramento. According to the release, the city of Sacramento and the NBA are continuing “constructive discussions” on the details of a financing plan for a new entertainment and sports complex. Johnson said at his weekly press conference Tuesday that details of a completed financing term sheet were expected to be available to the public by Thursday, in advance of a Feb. 28 City Council discussion and vote on the plan. Wednesday’s press release, however, offers an adjusted timeline in an effort to “ensure adequate time for public

City Manager John Shirey withdrew a contract Tuesday with two firms that the City Council planned to consider as financial and technical advisers in the search for a potential parking operator lessee, assistant city manager John Dangberg said Wednesday. “We decided it just wasn’t the right direction to go for the process at this time,” Dangberg said. The city hired the firms – Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Walker Parking Consultants – in September to take an inventory of the city’s parking and come up with an evaluation of potential profit from leasing out the assets. Leasing out the city’s parking system is one of a handful of options under consideration for financing a new sports