Sacramento Bee: Kings arena deal 'officially dead'

A deal between the city of Sacramento and its NBA franchise, the Kings, is "officially dead," The Sacramento Bee reported Friday.

The city and the Maloof family, which owns the Kings, had been talking for two days in hopes of reaching an agreement over how to pay for the facility, but Mayor Kevin Johnson said those were unproductive.

What this might mean for Seattle is unclear. Before talk of the Sacramento arena deal had surfaced earlier this year, the Kings had been widely mentioned as a possible candidate to relocate to Seattle and presumably revive the SuperSonics franchise.

However, The Bee reported that Johnson’s plan was for the city to start looking at ways to build an arena without help from the Kings.

Kings co-owner Gergoe Maloof told The Bee that the team doesn’t plan to relocate, though similar sentiments were expressed by Sonics ownership prior to their moving the team to Oklahoma City.

KIRO