The city of Sacramento recently released a list of companies interested in purchasing a collection of city-owned parking garages that would provide a substantial upfront payment to help fund a new downtown entertainment and sports complex.
The list, shown below, is a mixture of national and local parking companies and financial institutions.
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board
Xerox Corporation
InterPark LLC
Guggenheim Securities, LLC
Sacramento Forward, LLC
Gates Group Capital Partners
LAZ Parking/CIM Group
The Carlyle Group
CMB Export LLC
Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, Inc.
Bainbridge ZKS
Revitalizing Sacramento LLC
Capital City Parking Group
I recently spoke to Chris Lehane, executive director of the Think Big Sacramento coalition, about the status of the arena financing plan. The Sacramento City Council is expected to vote on whether or not to move forward with the parking lease at their Feb. 14 meeting.
Jimmer Fredette made his return to the beehive state when the Sacramento Kings played the Utah Jazz Saturday. The result was a loss, but the homecoming atmosphere was special for the Kings rookie, who spent four years in Provo playing for BYU. Cowbell Kingdom’s James Ham spoke to Jimmer one-on-one about the experience and his new documentary film about his life following practice yesterday. We bring that conversation to you in this week’s Cowbell Kingdom Podcast.
Highlights
Jimmer says he wasn’t surprised by the mixed reaction he received from the Salt Lake City crowd. “The University of Utah is right there. And that’s our huge rival, so I’ve heard it all. I’ve heard boos and I’ve heard cheers in that building, so you know, it’s nothing different.”
On his documentary: ” It’s fun for me to see when they pieced it all together. Some good home videos on there that even I didn’t see before got onto the film that my mom has had.”
On his recent individual success: “I knew it was going to be a learning curve in the beginning. But, (I’m) starting to figure it out, starting to figure out when (I can) get my shot off, where I can shoot it, all these things – and the shots are going in. And I have confidence in my ability to shoot and so does the coaching staff and the players. They get me the ball in good situations to score and that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
With the March 1st relocation deadline quickly approaching, the conversation regarding a new Sacramento entertainment and sports complex is about to ramp up in coming weeks. KFBK reporter and CK contributor Rob McAllister joins us to break down the latest in the arena project.
While the figure is still being negotiated, representatives with the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau appear to be ready to write a yearly check.
“Six figures at the very least, more likely seven figures,” said Mike Testa, the Senior Vice President of Convention Sales & Business Development.
Based on a 30 year span, which is typically the life of an arena, that could mean between $20-million and $30-million of the estimated $400-million cost of the proposed downtown sports and entertainment complex.
“There are no commitments as far as amounts but we are working through the (Convention and Visitors Bureau),” Sacramento Marriott General Manager, Doug Warren said.
Before arriving in Sacramento, Keith Smart spent eight seasons in the bay area with the Golden State Warriors. Rusty Simmons covers the Warriors for the San Francisco Chronicle and joins us on this week’s Cowbell Kingdom Podcast to shed some light on the personality of the Kings head coach.
Highlights
On Smart’s energy. Is the Kings head coach always enthusiastic – even when times get tough? “He is. He was that was way as an assistant coach and then last year as head coach. You know the Warriors had their struggles, they were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs pretty early on, but the team kept playing hard and I think that is because of Keith Smart, because he was still working hard – and they followed their leader.”
On Smart’s transition from assistant to head coach and how he handled and developed Monta Ellis: “For so long, he had been a friend and a confidant and then he had to be the guy who assigned his minutes and told him he had to practice and told him he had to show up to shoot-around. He made the transition better than I thought he would. And I think because Coach Smart had been so good to Monta for so many years, there was never really a problem. He played hard for him. He did what he said. He’s not a natural leader – Monta – but he tried to do that because that’s what coach was asking him to do.”
Comparisons have been made between Jimmer Fredette and Warriors guard Stephen Curry. Does Smart’s experience coaching Curry make him the right guy for Jimmer? “Coach Smart was a combo guard in college who was asked to try to be a point guard in the NBA. He knows what that like to try to make that adjustment. And Stephen Curry says today that he’s a better player because of Coach Smart. They had their ups and downs; Coach Smart would yank him when he made turnovers (and) there might be some growing pains with Jimmer, but I think Coach Smart is the right guy to work with him and to figure out what he can be in the league.”
“Small Market, Big Heart” is a documentary detailing the 27-year history (and counting) of the Sacramento Kings. It’s also about the capital region’s battle to establish identity through its only major pro sports franchise. The film is directed by Tobin Halsey and produced by Blake Ellington and Cowbell Kingdom’s own James Ham. It premieres tonight at the Crest Theater in Downtown Sacramento.
A conversation with the filmmakers in this week’s Cowbell Kingdom podcast.
Highlights
Ham on how the story is told: “When we decided to do this, we wanted to look at it from four different approaches. We wanted to tell the story from the media’s eye. We wanted to tell the story through the politician’s eye. We wanted to tell the story through the team’s eye. And lastly, through the fan’s eye.”
Ellington on why the film is an extension of the fan’s voice: ”After they decided to stay, we needed to have a direction as far as what we wanted to do, having a voice going forward. And the documentary itself, I think is going to come out at a time when the community’s voice still needs to be heard. And this is really going to demonstrate…how important professional sports and entertainment is to this region.”
Trying to beat the March 1st relocation deadline, the filmmakers produced this film in a condensed time frame. It was a challenge, says Halsey. ”When we started talking about it, we knew that it was going to be intense. That, especially at the finish, there would be very little sleep. We didn’t have a crew of people to work with – a large crew of people. We had lots of people that helped, but we didn’t have a full production crew. We had to do all this stuff on an abbreviated time frame, but you know, some of the best stuff is done like this.”
James Ham and I break down the latest in this developing story with Sports Illustrated’s Sam Amick on this week’s Cowbell Kingdom Podcast.
Highlights
Amick says Kings President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie is meeting with Cousins and his agent John Greig before the team heads out on its two-game road trip. Greig is based out of Seattle and flew down from Washington to address the situation first-hand.
In addition to Westphal, Amick spoke to Petrie and Gavin Maloof to gain a wide-ranging perspective from the Kings side on the story. He believes they back Westphal’s decision to go public.
Any chance the Kings explore trade scenarios involving Cousins? Amick doesn’t think so. But he added that other NBA teams will continue to closely monitor Cousins’ status with the team throughout the season.
Before the Sacramento Kings took to the court to battle the Chicago Bulls Thursday night, I caught up with rookie Jimmer Fredette in the Kings locker room. It’s not often you find Jimmer without a media crowd, so I was glad to get a little one-on-one time with the former BYU star. Jimmer is off to a perfectly fine start as a rookie, topping his career high in points-scored in each game played. While Jimmer is known for his shooting prowess, he has been a pleasant surprise as both a distributor and defender.
CK: You’re going against Derrick Rose tonight. What’s it like to face off against a young guy who has really taken off – a league MVP?
Jimmer: I’ve met Derrick before. He’s a really good guy, he’s a very hard worker and obviously a great player in this league – an MVP. He can do some things that people can’t do in this league. He’s just so fast and quick and he can shoot the ball. He has good vision, he’s a tough guard. It’s exciting for me to get to play against him and for our whole team to be able to play against this team to kind of measure ourselves, see how we’re doing this year because they’re one of the top teams. They made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year and they’re looking to do the same this year. It’s a good test for us and I’m really looking forward to playing him and their whole team.
Chuck Hayes and the Sacramento Kings are breathing a sigh of relief after additional tests on his heart came back negative. As a result, Hayes has agreed to terms with the Kings again, after the team voided his contract on Monday. Dr. Steven Nissen is the head of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic and led the team that evaluated the Kings big man. He joins us for a conversation in this week’s Cowbell Kingdom Podcast.
Highlights
Will this condition at all slow down the Kings power forward/center on the court? “It’s really quite extraordinary what a professional world-class athlete can do. I mean, he practically broke the treadmill. He just kept right on walking as we went faster and steeper. And his physical capacity is outstanding, as you would expect for a professional athlete, and we just don’t think there’s any reason to be concerned about his heart. I think everybody in the sports area is concerned because of stories of Pistol Pete Maravich and the story of Reggie Lewis in Boston, and so there’s a certain cautionary approach that’s taken and that’s the right thing to do.”
Dr. Nissen also hesitated to even call Hayes’ condition an abnormality. “There’s something that you need to understand and that is that athletes do have hearts that are a little bit different. They’re bigger, they’re a bit thicker, they’re very powerful hearts. They appear on these scans somewhat different than the hearts of those of us that are your average kind of weekend athlete.”
Contrary to what some may have speculated, Hayes’ agent was not involved in seeking the Cleveland Clinic’s follow-up evaluation. “No, his agent wasn’t involved. He was referred to me by Dr. Reginald Low, who is the chief of cardiovascular medicine at UC Davis. He happens to be an old friend of mine and a very fine physician. He wanted a second opinion and we were happy to offer it.”
The Sacramento Kings have been extremely busy this off-season. Not only have they added seven new players, all of whom will most likely make the opening day roster. But they also swapped out three of their assistant coaches. New players and new coaches are nothing new in the NBA, but that’s a lot of movement for one team in a lockout-shortened off-season.
During media day, the Cowbell Kingdom team had the opportunity to introduce ourselves to new assistant Keith Smart. Smart spent last season as the head coach for the Golden State Warriors, helping the team improve ten games over the previous season’s total. Ten games weren’t enough for the Warriors’ new ownership, and the Sacramento Kings were able to swoop in and land one of the league’s best upcoming coaches to help fill out their staff.
CK: Coming from the Warriors, what would you say is the biggest difference between the team you coached last season and the Kings’ roster this season?
Coach Smart: They (the Kings) are young, they have scorers and they can play a fast pace game, but then they have players that are big. With the Warriors, we never had big guys that rebound. Here, we have speed and a pace that can be played and big guys that can rebound and eventually become good defenders. So that’s where the two kind of separate themselves until now, where the Warriors are starting to get bigger players.
This team is a unique team because they have guys who are really, really good rebounders that can crash the glass and they have a guy who will eventually develop into being a good low post guy. That’s why it’s exciting. They have to develop the chemistry now. Young players all want to showcase themselves to the NBA and to the fans. So if you have seven of them like that, everyone kind of goes their own way. We have to start tying them now to come back together to see what’s more important. Your success determines the team’s success. The team succeeds, everybody succeeds, and you have to get that across to them.
