How’s this for a show and tell at a State of the City speech? Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson last night unveiled the new bidders for the Sacramento Kings, 24 Hour Fitness chain founder Mark Mastrov of Lafayette and Southern California grocery billionaire Ron Burkle. And today the pair submitted their bid to the NBA to buy the Kings and keep them from moving to Seattle. The Maloof brothers, who own the Kings, have accepted a bid from a Seattle investor group, but the NBA, which must sign off, set today as the deadline for a counter-offer.
Mastrov, the lead investor, was in the hunt for the Warriors before the group headed by Joe Lacob and Peter Guber bought the team. The suspense in Sacramento will shift to what kind of proposal he and Burkle present in the coming weeks for a new downtown arena. If an arena deal doesn’t fly, Sacramento can likely kiss the Kings goodbye. Sacramento Bee
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