Sacramento Asks For Kings Repayment Promise In Writing
- Letter To Kings
- Letter To NBA
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) -- City officials are asking the Sacramento Kings and the NBA for written guarantees that the team's owners will repay the tens of millions of dollars still owed to the city.
Separate letters to both the league and the Maloofs referenced George Maloof's statements to media outlets Tuesday that dismissed any concerns over the $77 million the team still owes to the city.
In a statement to CBS13, Maloof called the controversy a "non-issue," adding to CBS13 that "[w]hatever the future holds to ensure the long-term viability of the team, the City of Sacramento will be paid in full."
The Sacramento Bee reported Maloof stating "we have no intention of leaving that town without paying our debt."
Sacramento city officials asked the team owners to explain how they plan to repay the debt and establish an escrow account. The letters cite parts of the financial agreement between the Kings and Sacramento that requires the team's owners to keep the Kings in the city "if the City Obligation is not satisfied."
"The Relocation Assurance Agreements and the bond transaction as a whole all prevent the Kings from relocating until the Kings pay the bonds and the IRMA [Interest Rate Management Agreement] in full," city officials stated.
The letters ask the NBA to make full repayment a condition for relocating the Kings and warned that the "City will have no choice but to consider taking all of its options to ensure that the Kings satisfy their financial obligations."
