DEVELOPING: Chris Hansen Comments, Not Giving Up...

((HT: Sonicsarena.com))

The morning after for some gives them the chance to bask in the glow of what happened the night before- and for others, it gives them the chance to do the walk of shame...

Chris Hansen, the man who wants to spearhead the return of basketball (and other sports) to Seattle came out with this statement last night after the NBA Relocation Committee recommended the SacKings stay the SacKings...

While we are disappointed with the relocation committee’s recommendation, we just wanted to let you all know that we remain fully committed to seeing this transaction through. As you are all well aware, we have a binding transaction to purchase the Kings for what would be a record price for an NBA franchise, have one of the best ownership groups ever assembled to purchase a professional sports team in the US, have clearly demonstrated that we have a much more solid Arena plan, have offered a much higher price than the yet to be finalized Sacramento Group, and have placed all of the funds to close the transaction into escrow. As such, we plan to unequivocally state our case for both relocation and our plan to move forward with the transaction to the league and owners at the upcoming Board of Governor’s Meeting in Mid-May.

When we started this process everyone thought it was impossible. While this represents yet another obstacle to achieving our goal, I just wanted to reassure all of you that we have numerous options at our disposal and have absolutely no plans to give up. Impossible is nothing but a state of mind.

Reaction in SacTown was what was expected:

"It is not over yet," Mayor KJ told everyone in Sacramento last night. "I feel like we have won a round in the playoffs. … There is still work to be done. We do not want to dance in the end zone."

Commissioner David Stern told NBA TV at the Hawks-Pacers game last night that he was surprised the vote was unanimous, but also said, "They decided as strong as the Seattle bid was, and it was very strong, there's some benefit that should be given to a city that has supported us for so long and has stepped up to contribute to build a new building as well."

Here's KIRO-TV's coverage:


The board will convene during the week of May 13th to vote on whether the team should move.
The Seattle group needs 23 of 30 owners' votes to get control of the team. The league could respond then, or more likely, they'll delay the decision even further.