Failed Kings Bidder Funds Group Trying to Block New Sacramento Arena

August 19, 2013

Hedge fund manager Chris Hansen, who tried to buy the Kings and relocate them to the Seattle earlier this year, was revealed to provide funds for an anti-arena effort in Sacramento by California’s Fair Political Practices Commission.

The organisation sued the law firm Loeb & Loeb on Thursday in an attempt to force them to disclose whose $80,000 had been spent to gather signatures that could have derailed the city’s arena effort that is required to keep the Kings.

According to Gary Winuk, chief of the enforcement division for the FPPC, Hansen donated $100,000 to gather the signatures necessary to put the arena to a vote because of the $258 million in public subsidy. If the effort was successful and the arena wasn’t built by the NBA’s required completion timeline, then new owner Vivek Ranadive and his group that bought the team for a league-record $535 million in mid-May would be at risk of losing the team.

“While I’m sure everyone can appreciate how easy it is to get caught up the heat of battle, with the benefit of hindsight, this is clearly a decision I regret,” Hansen said in a news release. “I wish the city of Sacramento and Kings fans the best in their efforts and they have my commitment not to have any involvement in their arena efforts in the future.”

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