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I'm listening to the radio and all these people are stating they can sympathize with the Maloofs and their cost cutting mode. I think it's HOGWASH! Get that poor Maloof crap out of here. I can't understand how they can sit here and say "whoa we can't do this and that." We don't have money. We can't operate....insert your excuse here!

This is your business, and if you can't get it done why do I need to suffer? I support you by listening to the radio, watching your product on TV. I sit in my same chair that probably still has my daughter's spilled ice cream on it. I pay outrageous prices for beer and food. In return I want to be entertained. I'm not asking for a championship. I'm just asking for a competitive game. If you can't provide a product that is worth watching why do I care that you can't run your business? Why as a fan should I care that you can't pay your bills? If you provided a quality service you wouldn't be in this mess. You can't!

Tell me why I should remain a fan? At least in the 80's-90's we were competitive on a certain level. We're getting it handed to us on a nightly basis. It's not acceptable.

Well it's been a long time since I last posted. This is about the most interesting question I've seen asked in at least a year. First off I think you're going to tend to get more, shall we say "pro Maloof" calls because it's Grants show, and anyone with even a single brain cell knows he's a shill, also every show tends to get callers that are more sympathetic towards the hosts position, it doesn't matter who it is.

Now here's the interesting thing to me, when companies like Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac go under the whole country gets up in arms, we start screaming for blood. We as a country laugh and mock their pleas for bailouts. For some reason it's never been the same for the Maloofs, they make every effort to flaunt their obvious wealth in our faces; holding lavish parties, starring in ridiculous burger commercials, and guest spots on television shows and yet they still remain fairly popular. Now I have no problem with people who like making and spending money, god only knows what I would do if I had their kind of resources, but it is extremely irritating to then hear these guys bitch and complain about money issues when the rest of the country is going through so much pain. If their company is having hard times they are the ones to blame, Vito Coreleone isn't standing there holding a gun to their head forcing them to sign bad contracts.

ICMTM wrote:I'm listening to the radio and all these people are stating they can sympathize with the Maloofs and their cost cutting mode. I think it's HOGWASH! Get that poor Maloof crap out of here. I can't understand how they can sit here and say "whoa we can't do this and that." We don't have money. We can't operate....insert your excuse here!

This is your business, and if you can't get it done why do I need to suffer? I support you by listening to the radio, watching your product on TV. I sit in my same chair that probably still has my daughter's spilled ice cream on it. I pay outrageous prices for beer and food. In return I want to be entertained. I'm not asking for a championship. I'm just asking for a competitive game. If you can't provide a product that is worth watching why do I care that you can't run your business? Why as a fan should I care that you can't pay your bills? If you provided a quality service you wouldn't be in this mess. You can't!

Tell me why I should remain a fan? At least in the 80's-90's we were competitive on a certain level. We're getting it handed to us on a nightly basis. It's not acceptable.

Couldn't agree more....if you can't afford the Kings then go SELL THE DAMN team to someone willing to build a CONTENDER. This is garbage.

On one level I am willing to have some sympathy for any business that is feeling the pinch during this economy. But when you see reports that the Maloof's current financial situation may have ties to them potentially losing hundreds of millions to Bernie Madoff in his fraudulent investment scheme, my willingness to sympathize goes out the window. They gambled, they lost...they were dumb. I sympathize for old people or other vulnerable people who get caught up in fraud schemes. I have zero sympathy for alleged business men who willingly hand money to someone committing fraud.

Kings fans should not be made to suffer for their errors...especially when it's likely they squandered hundreds of millions in a fraud scheme at the same time they were begging Sacramento to shell out hundreds of millions to build them a stadium. I say it's time for the NBA to void their franchise rights, take possession of the team and liquidate it to new local investors. The Maloofs have demonstrated to me that they do not have the business acumen necessary to run a successful sports franchise.

There really IS a chance that Chris Paul might come to Sacramento now!

...it would be with the Hornets, but still...

wiltchamberlain wrote:Well it's been a long time since I last posted. This is about the most interesting question I've seen asked in at least a year. First off I think you're going to tend to get more, shall we say "pro Maloof" calls because it's Grants show, and anyone with even a single brain cell knows he's a shill, also every show tends to get callers that are more sympathetic towards the hosts position, it doesn't matter who it is.

Now here's the interesting thing to me, when companies like Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac go under the whole country gets up in arms, we start screaming for blood. We as a country laugh and mock their pleas for bailouts. For some reason it's never been the same for the Maloofs, they make every effort to flaunt their obvious wealth in our faces; holding lavish parties, starring in ridiculous burger commercials, and guest spots on television shows and yet they still remain fairly popular. Now I have no problem with people who like making and spending money, god only knows what I would do if I had their kind of resources, but it is extremely irritating to then hear these guys bitch and complain about money issues when the rest of the country is going through so much pain. If their company is having hard times they are the ones to blame, Vito Coreleone isn't standing there holding a gun to their head forcing them to sign bad contracts.

Now that was a fantastic post..Thanks Wilt

Another quick thing I might like to add, was briefly touched upon by KIE. There is this thought by some; several folks on KHTK, and even some fans that the Maloof brothers are somehow financial/ business geniuses. Realize for a second that they didn't grow up as a couple of cockney lads in early 20th century London, that family had a great deal of money to start out with primarily made by their father and grandfather respectively.
People who are "geniuses" don't tend to do cheeseburger commercials where they're downing expensive booze at a trendy nightclub, while they're at the same time playing the pauper card with city and local government. I always thought geniuses were supposed to be guys like the professor on Gilligan's Island, guys who can build radios out of coconuts, stuff like that. These two are more like Gomer Pyle. Granted they were able to do a lot in the first couple of years, but at the same time one can't help but wonder if they had anything to do with it, if that original success had something to do with Geoff, or maybe if it just plain luck. The point is they went from being a model NBA franchise to a laughingstock in just about four or five years.
Oh well, I guess things will work out OK in the end, at least they did for Gomer.

I'm undetermined on this one.

I read two days ago that the Maloof family lost a huge portion of their money due to the Madoff Ponzi scheme.

I come from a fairly well-off background, and grew up surrounded by a lot of families that were "rich." However, even though someone is "rich" (buys expensive clothes, has the best car, has multiple houses and vacation homes) doesn't actually mean they have a lot of money on hand. I've seen many many families that lived incredibly wealthy and were extremely well off go completely under because of the economy.

I don't think we can automatically assume that the Maloof's have a lot of money. Heath Ledger died with under a million dollars on his name (mortgages, loans, gambles, investments, etc.). When the economy is good, sure it's all fine cause you're getting X amount of money coming in. But when that X amount is no longer coming in, things look completely different. Everything is based off of credit, but when that credit isn't worth anything....well, then you have nothing. (Problem with America right now)

I don't know the situation with the Maloofs, but I'm sure there is at least 1 owner out there that really shouldn't be owning a team but currently is.

My point is the Maloofs acuired this franchise as their own business. They've mismanaged it to the point where the casual fan doesn't want to go to a game anymore. Why should I feel sorry for them as owners?

you should care, but not a lot of teams are making money anyway.

realfung wrote:you should care, but not a lot of teams are making money anyway.

Explain why!

If the Maloofs don't care to run their franchise effectively from an entertainment standpoint as well as from a financial standpoint why should I feel sorry for them? They don't have a "right" to make money, and because they are owners of a franchise doesn't mean they are absolved from the fact that this is a business. "The economy is bad" is not the case here. This is the third year my family has been a season ticket holder, and all three years attendance has been down. We've only been in a recession for one year. The prices are bad, and the food is terrible. The beer selection is horrible. For $81.00 you sit in the upper deck (two tickets). Then you have a choice of bad food, Budweiser (unless you go to the bar or find a specialty brew station), or enter you fried greasy mess here. Don't get me wrong fried and greasy is good, but Carl's Jr, Jack, Mickey D's, and all the other restaurants that are in walking distance of the arena do fried and greasy way better. There is a liquor store on Truxel and Arena (near the stripper store and Mountain Mikes) that you can get your beverage there. You can get whatever. They are only 2nd in booz to bevmo, but I don't think they have much wine. I can hit two pints on the way in of good stuff (double chocolate stout) for the cost of one beer and I can take two home. If the selection weren't so bad INSIDE the arena I would never have looked for an alternative. Anyhow I just see so many other opportunities the Kings as a franchise have missed on so I don't know why I'm supposed to be all boo hoo over it? In this "economy" would you rather spend your $81 on something else or the product the Kings are selling? I think people are choosing to stay away and arent forced to stay away. A guy called in on the radio and he was like "season ticket renewal is coming up, and if I have to pay to see this again I'll wait until the product gets better." I really feel this is a product issue with the Kings. We're that bad.

Until the Maloofs get a hold on the product on the floor it's not going to change.

But it's catch 22.

For the Maloofs, I'm sure that the King's represent some percentage of their funds/investments. Sport Teams in general do not make all that much money for the most part (the majority of the teams). So, I don't think that the Maloofs will be willing to drain funds from other projects just to spend extra money on the King's, simply because even if we are a contending team, the overall net profit won't be that high.

A few years of bad luck and mismanagement, and you get today's product.

The product is bad so the fan's don't go. The owners are getting revenue from the fan's, so they don't spend the extra bucks to make the team better. Team keeps getting worse, and fan's go even less. Owners make less, so they spend even less, and the downward spiral just continues and continues.

Here's what happened. The Maloofs got rid of Bibby a Hall of Famer, they considered the soft Ademan and the advice of a soft Petrie all because the overreacted to the playoff loss when they fired Adelman and wanted to go in the defensive direction despite a roster of vets in an offensively oriented team. They knew they had messed up with Musselman (basically got suckered from him)
and wanted a hype guy to put butts in the saets in Theus, but Petrie didn't want him for the Princeton which was why he signed Moore and Beno as run and gun guys for Theus' system. The one guy they blew it on was Artest but their hands were already tied with Martin/Miller/Shareef/KT core until 2009. KT was needed to break up CWebbs contract, and Shareef was a 18/8 guy who was an all star so was a good gamble but had McGrady knees. They Bibby mistake was obviously their biggest mistake but in my opinion only an overreaction and they are trying to rebuild things according to Geoff the correct way now and will let him pick the coach and personnel calls. I have seen the Mavericks owner overreact not once but twice with point guards in Steve Nash and Devin Harris and are now both All stars.

Remember Geoff also put together the Portland teams Adelman coached with Clyde Drexler perenial playoff teams plus I promise you it was the Maloofs who pushed out Bibby or he woud still be in the playoffs now (like Bibby is doing with a young Alanta team). But Petrie knows they need a PG who is an exciting leader so they will draft one this year and you will see a hugh difference with a winning PG.

What? Bibby's a hall of famer? Aren't most hall of famers all stars, I would think Bibby would of been an all star at least once if he was a hall of famer.

But anyways I do not feel for the Maloofs at all. I don't feel for people that gie into stupid adjustable rate loans and are now losing their house. Losing your job is one thing, that's being a victim of hard times. But the Maloofs have made stupid stupid decisions, same with Geoff. I just don't feel sorry for them at all, in fact I wish they would sell the team to someone else, I am sick of the Magoofs. I keep seeing them do stupid things and then say well I'll be patient and see what happens but it's starting to get ridiculous, the last 3 or 4 years it just gets worse and worse. We have the worst team in the league, our owners are idiots, we haven't had a real coach since Adelman, the team most likely wont be able to sign anyone this offseason to improve the team so I don't really see us getting any better. I have been a true fan since 1985 but I got more important things to do in my life than watch a garbage product. I haven't even watched their last few games and don't really plan on watching many more this year.

Put a good product out on the floor, quit charging $15 for chicken strips and $10 for a beer, plus $10 for parking, and expensive tickets. If they do this and end up losing money then I would feel sort of bad. But when they are not even trying, then why should I care.

deNIEd wrote:I'm undetermined on this one.

I read two days ago that the Maloof family lost a huge portion of their money due to the Madoff Ponzi scheme.

I come from a fairly well-off background, and grew up surrounded by a lot of families that were "rich." However, even though someone is "rich" (buys expensive clothes, has the best car, has multiple houses and vacation homes) doesn't actually mean they have a lot of money on hand. I've seen many many families that lived incredibly wealthy and were extremely well off go completely under because of the economy.

I don't think we can automatically assume that the Maloof's have a lot of money. Heath Ledger died with under a million dollars on his name (mortgages, loans, gambles, investments, etc.). When the economy is good, sure it's all fine cause you're getting X amount of money coming in. But when that X amount is no longer coming in, things look completely different. Everything is based off of credit, but when that credit isn't worth anything....well, then you have nothing. (Problem with America right now)

I don't know the situation with the Maloofs, but I'm sure there is at least 1 owner out there that really shouldn't be owning a team but currently is.

I wouldn't qualify that as 'rich', more like, living beyond your means.

ICMTM wrote:

realfung wrote:you should care, but not a lot of teams are making money anyway.

Explain why!

If the Maloofs don't care to run their franchise effectively from an entertainment standpoint as well as from a financial standpoint why should I feel sorry for them? They don't have a "right" to make money, and because they are owners of a franchise doesn't mean they are absolved from the fact that this is a business. "The economy is bad" is not the case here. This is the third year my family has been a season ticket holder, and all three years attendance has been down. We've only been in a recession for one year. The prices are bad, and the food is terrible. The beer selection is horrible. For $81.00 you sit in the upper deck (two tickets). Then you have a choice of bad food, Budweiser (unless you go to the bar or find a specialty brew station), or enter you fried greasy mess here. Don't get me wrong fried and greasy is good, but Carl's Jr, Jack, Mickey D's, and all the other restaurants that are in walking distance of the arena do fried and greasy way better. There is a liquor store on Truxel and Arena (near the stripper store and Mountain Mikes) that you can get your beverage there. You can get whatever. They are only 2nd in booz to bevmo, but I don't think they have much wine. I can hit two pints on the way in of good stuff (double chocolate stout) for the cost of one beer and I can take two home. If the selection weren't so bad INSIDE the arena I would never have looked for an alternative. Anyhow I just see so many other opportunities the Kings as a franchise have missed on so I don't know why I'm supposed to be all boo hoo over it? In this "economy" would you rather spend your $81 on something else or the product the Kings are selling? I think people are choosing to stay away and arent forced to stay away. A guy called in on the radio and he was like "season ticket renewal is coming up, and if I have to pay to see this again I'll wait until the product gets better." I really feel this is a product issue with the Kings. We're that bad.

Until the Maloofs get a hold on the product on the floor it's not going to change.

Wish this attitude was the attitude of the federal government today. We may well be along are way to an upswing in the economy instead of the forecasting of doom and gloom on the horizon. Fact is, the MARKETS work. NBA is no different. Mismanagement, doesn't deserve 'bailouts' or 'sympathy' they deserve the consequences that only the market can provide. The reality that only fiscal prudence with sound management will save them.

Let's be careful that this doesn't turn into a more general political thread. We all know those never end well around here.

Smills91 wrote:I wouldn't qualify that as 'rich', more like, living beyond your means.

They are "rich", they all have a ton of wealth. However, whatever income they have coming in, they'll spend it to buy a property, buy more stocks, buy a company, but a carwash, etc etc. Cash on hand is very minimal. If they were to sell all of their assets, they'd have millions and millions.

When time's get hard, and the income starts to deteriorate, they are in a pinch, not the same kind of pinch that other families are in, but in a pinch in the sense that they don't want to lose any of their propertiy/ownership, but currently don't have enough cash flow to maintain all of the ownership, therefore they have to cut spending in certain areas.


The Maloofs are "billionaires" but they don't have a billion dollars in the bank. The King's represent 350 million, Palms represents say another 400 million, they have property that add up to X amount, and so forth. When income isn't really coming in, it is hard for them to pay for everything while still owning everything.


I'm not sympathetic towards the Maloofs or think they deserve a bailout or anything, but I do understand their finical situation.

I think its important to consider the question here at hand - do we CARE about the Maloofs losing money. As a Kings fan for the last 12 years, I just can't find sympathy anywhere inside myself for the situation that they have put the franchise in. I can understand trying to save money and that was (unfortunately) the clear goal for the majority of our major trades the last 5 seasons (Webber, Bibby, Miller, even Artest), but it seems to me that these two (J+G Maloof) have been too far wrapped up in "showing off their money" than proving to anyone that they have what it takes to own a professional sports franchise.

The fact of the matter is that, in Sacramento (a small and not vastly wealthy area), a significantly competitive product has to be put on the court for this venue to be economically favorable. I understand it is a process to contention, but I think the Kings have done it totally wrong from a strictly financial perspective. In a city like Sacramento, you can't take this long to rebuild (assuming we have at least 2-3 more years of this) or the city may be waving an NBA team goodbye. And I mean rebuild from the perspective of players on the court as well as the state of Arco Arena and the current arena issue.

I agree with the majority of what has been said in this thread, and its not just about club personnel or attendance at games. I am just finding it hard to believe that the Maloofs even really care about the Kings as a franchise anymore. As an asset, maybe. But it doesn't seem like its an asset that they want to take the time to help blossom. I KNOW that they are going through their fare share of financial woes as we all are right now, but its time for them to sit back and truly decide if they want the Sacramento Kings.

I agree with almost everything you have to say. The only small thing I might disagree about is the team needing to be "significantly competitive" in order for the team to be economically viable. For about 15 years the team was pretty horrible and yet it did ok financially for most of the period. I actually think the small size of Sacramento is an advantage, if they were to move to a place like Vegas, or Anaheim, they'd run the risk of getting lost in the sea of fantastic entertainment. It would be hard for even a good NBA team to compete with the concerts, sports, and shows these cities offer. Even when the Kings were bad in the past there games were the best entertainment available in this area.
However, I do agree with everything else you have to say, especially as far as rebuilding goes. I used to be someone who thought they needed to take their time, but now, with reports in the Bee that they are losing tens of millions of dollars this year, I don't think they can afford to wait. I don't know if this team, in this economic situation can afford a rebuild period longer than maybe 3 years or so.