Maloofs, NBA to meet in New York about pre-development costs | News

SACRAMENTO, CA - A critical meeting in the battle to build a new arena in Sacramento gets underway in New York Wednesday.

Kings owners the Maloofs and the NBA will be at that meeting, but not Sacramento city leaders or the mayor. They'll be discussing who should pay for pre-development costs for a new entertainment and sports complex in Sacramento.

Sources said the dispute over who pays $3.2 million in pre-development fees will need to be sorted out by the NBA and Board of Governors.

On Tuesday, Assem. Roger Dickinson sent a letter to Mayor Kevin Johnson. In it, he expressed concern about the Maloofs' commitment. He sited the Maloofs refusal to pay the pre-development costs and recent questioning of several aspects of the project.

"One cannot help but see the very same pattern of conduct as occurred in 2006 when the Maloofs agreed to a deal and then immediately began to walk away and ultimately undermine it," Dickinson said. "We need the NBA and the Board of the Governors to be very firm with the Maloofs and say this is a deal that has been negotiated. This is a deal that if you want to be the owners of the Kings, you need to live up to. We will not leave Sacramento high and dry."

Sacramento city officials will hold a public workshop for the arena project Thursday night at city hall starting at 530 p.m. They'll present site plans and address parking, the use of public space, among other issues.

By Suzanne Phan, sphan@news10.net