http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=6225619
Kings to become Anaheim Royals?
ESPNLosAngeles.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Sacramento Kings have taken yet another step toward a potential move to Southern California.
With
the Kings exploring a move to Anaheim, a Sacramento attorney
representing the team's owners filed for at least four federal trademark
registrations this month.
Among the names filed for according to
the United States Patent and Trademark Office's website were: Anaheim
Royals, Anaheim Royals of Southern California, Orange County Royals and
Los Angeles Royals. The filing was made March 3 by attorney Scott Hervey
on behalf of the Crickets Corp., a Nevada-based company.
Hervey
has worked for Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof in previous sports
business dealings, including the Maloof Money Cup skateboarding
competition in Orange County. A message left at Hervey's office seeking
comment was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Joe Maloof
declined to comment about the trademark filing, and a message left with
an NBA spokesman also was not immediately returned. The franchise was
previously called the Royals in Rochester, N.Y., and Cincinnati.
The
NBA has already granted the Kings an extension until April 18 to file
an application for relocation next season. Teams usually have until
March 1 to apply for a move for the following season.
The Kings
will have the opportunity to discuss their options at the NBA Board of
Governors meetings April 14-15. Sacramento's season finale is April 13
at home against the rival Los Angeles Lakers.
Sacramento
has refused for years to build a publicly financed facility, which the
Maloofs argue is crucial for the franchise's long-term financial
viability. Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson,
a former NBA player, met with the Maloofs last month and said he
believed the "likelihood of them leaving is probably greater than them
staying, but it's not a done deal."
Johnson also said Sacramento will work to build a new arena for an NBA franchise "with or without the Kings."
The
trademark move is the latest in a series of developments that could
potentially see the Kings relocate to Anaheim as early as the 2011-12
season.
Joe Maloof has acknowledged that "many cities" besides
Anaheim have expressed interest in serving as the Kings' new home. But
sources close to the situation say that, with no NBA-ready arena for the
Kings to move into in the Maloofs' home base of Las Vegas, Anaheim
holds the greatest appeal to the Kings.
The Kings have been trying
for nearly a decade to replace outdated Arco Arena (soon to be renamed
Power Balance Pavilion) with a new revenue-generating building that
would ensure they stay in a market that was once known as the home of
one of the NBA's most fervent fan bases. That was before Sacramento's
slide down the Western Conference standings, which finds the Kings
heading for their fifth straight season out of the playoffs at 14-43
after a run that took them to the brink of the NBA Finals in a
seven-game series with the Lakers in 2002.
Johnson has said
cash-strapped Sacramento will continue to try to secure the funding for a
new sports arena with or without the Kings, having chosen a developer
(ICON venture group of Denver) to spend 90 days exploring the avenues
for financing the complex.
In 2006, Sacramento voters turned down a
measure that would have increased sales tax to fund a new arena. The
NBA then took an active role in trying to help the Kings and the city
find another solution after that vote, but commissioner David Stern made
it clear at All-Star Weekend that the league was no longer investing
any time or money in trying to keep the team in Sacramento.
"All
I'll say is that we and they have tried very hard over the years to see
whether a new building could be built," Stern said. "And with the
collapse of the last attempt -- which took a few years and several
million dollars on behalf of the league -- I said we are not going to
spend any more time on that. That is for the Maloofs and the people of
Sacramento."
Anaheim has been searching for an NBA team to share the Honda Center with the NHL's Anaheim Ducks
since the building was introduced in 1993 as the Arrowhead Pond. The
Clippers flirted with a move there before owner Donald Sterling chose to
join the Lakers at Staples Center in 1999. The Honda Center has been
well-maintained over the years and houses 83 luxury suites, compared to
just 30 at Arco Arena.
Orange County also has a larger, wealthier
population than Sacramento and its surrounding areas, with greater
potential for corporate partnerships and higher ticket prices. The
proximity to Los Angeles, furthermore, could theoretically help the
Kings recruit players.
The Maloofs first have to come to terms on a
loan and lease arrangement with Ducks billionaire owner Henry Samueli,
whose management runs the city-owned Honda Center, before they can even
take their plan to the league's owners for a vote.
The Seattle SuperSonics were the NBA's last team to move, reinventing themselves as the Oklahoma City Thunder
in 2008 and leaving behind another of the NBA's most loyal fan bases
when a deal with the city of Seattle to build a new arena could not be
struck.
The NBA's Board of Governors has the right to attach a
relocation fee to any franchise move it approves, but such fees are
distributed evenly among the league's other teams and wouldn't be paid
directly to the Lakers and Clippers in the event of the Kings moving to
Anaheim. One league source, furthermore, reiterated that such relocation
fees are "discretionary," echoing Frank, who in January said that such a
fee is not mandatory.
簡言之, Kings 的老闆 Maloof 兄弟委託律師去註冊 Anaheim Royals - 安納罕 皇家隊
Sacramento Kings 的前身:
Rochester Royals
1945–57
Cincinnati Royals
1957–72
Kansas City-Omaha Kings
1972–75
Kansas City Kings
1975–85
Sacramento Kings
1985–2011
加上 David Stern 對媒體確認, Kings 的確有在跟 Anaheim 最大場館 Honda Center 討論相關事宜.
由此可以看出, Sacramento Kings 的確有遷徙至 Anaheim, 並且改回名字 Royals.