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Golden 1 Center Could Host Future All-Star Game

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Unsurprisingly, NBA commissioner Adam Silver is already stating that the Golden 1 Center and the Sacramento Kings could host a future NBA All-Star Game

Golden 1 Center has already hosted its first preseason and regular season games. Even before its opening, however, the venue was receiving attention for some of its features relating to environmental sustainability and technology.

Down the road, the NBA would like to bring the All-Star Game to Sacramento. The game would be a solid showcase for both the Golden 1 Center and its surrounding ammenities, which are already factoring into the league’s desire to stage an All-Star contest at the venue. More from the Sacramento Bee:

“My personal view is that all new arenas should have the opportunity to host an All-Star Game,” Silver said. “We are absolutely determined to figure it out.”

The city is “thousands” of hotel rooms short of the inventory needed to host the league’s midseason event, he said, but the Kings are working on solutions to that issue, including exploring if they can dock cruise ships at the Port of Sacramento in West Sacramento to accommodate fans.

The port is about a 10-minute drive from the new arena. It’s connected to San Francisco Bay by the Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel, a 40-mile-long man-made waterway that’s 30 feet deep and 200 feet wide. Freighters use the channel to transport rice and other goods, but it’s unclear if cruise ships could make the journey.

[Kings president Chris] Granger said the team has “indicated to the NBA that we plan to bid on the 2020 All-Star Game.”

“We are currently exploring all of our options, at the port and elsewhere,” he said.

2020 is probably the absolute earliest that Sacramento would host the game. Charlotte was to have hosted the 2017 contest, but the NBA pulled it from the city over North Carolina’s controversial House Bill 2 legislation. At this point, however, Charlotte is the most likely landing spot for the game in 2019.

New Orleans is replacing Charlotte for 2017, while Los Angeles will host the 2018 game at the Staples Center. By 2020, the Golden 1 Center will not be the newest arena in the NBA–the new home of the Milwaukee Bucks will be completed by then, as will renovations to the Utah Jazz’s Vivint Smart Home Arena and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Target Center, and there could also be new venues in palce in Detroit and San Francisco. Certainly that will make the state-of-the-art arena landscape more competitive, but Sacramento is already ahead of those cities and is definitely a logical choice for the game.

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