With a full slate of NBA action about to get underway, let's first head to the Pacific Division where arena-related news is being made all the way from Oakland to Seattle.
- More financial problems continue to plague to the development of the Sacramento arena, reports Ryan Lillis of The Sacramento Bee. With the Kings refusing to pay any pre-development costs, the Sacramento City Council voted in favor of using $200,000 from the NBA to provide funding for two weeks of worth of initial site work. The Maloof family, the owners of the Kings, contend that they never agreed to provide a monetary contribution toward the pre-development costs of the arena.
- J.Michael Falgoust of USA TODAY wonders if Sacramento is in danger of losing the Kings as a result of the Maloof family's stubbornness toward the pre-development costs associated with the construction of the arena. The NBA will meet with both sides next week with hopes of resolving the issue. Falgoust believes the arena project will lose any chance of being completed if the dispute cannot be settled.
- The Warriors are planning to relocate their D-League affiliate, the Dakota Wizards, to Santa Cruz, California in time for next season, reports Lou Babiarz of the Bismarck Tribune. The move will allow for an hour and a half drive rather than having to fly from Oakland to Bismarck.
- While MLB's Mariners are in favor of basketball returning to Seattle, they are strongly against the construction of an arena near Safeco Field, writes Lynn Thompson of The Seattle Times. The team fears adding another sports franchise to the Sodo neighborhood will bring myriad parking and scheduling issues that may potentially cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars to circumvent.