Arco Arena is the home of the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. The 442,000 square foot arena opened in 1988. But the owners of the Kings, the Maloof brothers, want a brand new arena, so that they can have more revenue from the team.
And like most businessmen, they’d prefer others pay for it. So through a complex deal (reported here in the Sacramento Bee), the sales tax for Sacramento County would be increased from 7.75% to 8.00% for 15 years to pay for the arena.
But two groups must approve the measure. First, four of the five Supervisors on the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors must approve that the measure go before voters this November. Then, voters must approve the measure; through allocating some of the funds to general usage the measure requires just a majority vote rather than the state-mandated 2/3 vote for most tax measures.
The tax would raise over $1 billion; of that, a little less than half would be used to build a new arena. The Maloofs would pay $4 million in rent for 30 years and contribute $20 million to a capital improvements fund.
But there’s opposition in California to publicly funded sports complexes. Sacramento Assemblyman Dave Jones is rushing home from a vacation to campaign against the project. It will be an interesting battle in Sacramento, with the Maloofs, their radio station (KHTK 1140 AM), and private developers eying the current Arena for redevelopment, versus an unusual combination of taxpayer organizations and liberals who don’t like government funding of arenas.