With the aid of the NBA, the Sacramento Kings will seek to partner with a developer to build an arena and more at the Cal Expo fairgrounds.
With the aid of the NBA, the Sacramento Kings will seek to partner with a developer to build an arena and more at the Cal Expo fairgrounds.
A press conference Friday saw Kings and NBA officials unveil plans for a major renovation of the Cal Expo site, featuring an arena surrounded by housing, a hotel, retail and office space.
Who pays for the 350-acre redevelopment, which includes the $500-million arena, remains to be seen. The Kings have pledged money for the arena, but unclear is exactly what the developer would have to put up. Will the fairgrounds fund the arena based on an increased tax base? Or will the developer pay for the arena?
But the larger issue, of course, is what developer would sink more than a billion dollars into a Sacramento development at a time when the California economy, believe it or not, is in even worse shape than the national economy? With an unemployment rate over 10 percent and stifling budget woes for the state, California is not exactly the golden state at the moment. And while the NBA has had some limited success developing arenas in China with partner AEG, the scope of this project far exceeds anything the NBA has attempted.
So color us skeptical about this arena ever happening. We’d be happy to be proven wrong, but given what needs to happen before the first shovel of dirt is overturned, it’s a long shot.
