mobes23
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Rhal -- thanks for putting all those tweets together. I don't buy that the NBA really raised any eyebrows about the Hansen and Maloof interaction until this weekend, when the backup deal was announced. Before that, it was pretty much purely a buyer/seller relationship and that had to happen if Hansen wanted to buy the team. At most, maybe the NBA was annoyed that Hansen had the deal locked up so that the Maloofs couldn't negotiate freely with Ranadive, but that's pretty standard business practice and they couldn't have been too surprised.
Once the 20% ownership purchase was announced, I can understand why the NBA got annoyed. The way the facts are coming down, the Maloofs could be set up pretty well for a law suit...even better than the Hansen group and, of course, they wouldn't be worried about burning bridges with the NBA like Hansen and Balmer probably would.
If the NBA forces the Maloofs to sell to Ranadive, the Maloof could point to:
1. Lost profit of $65 million
2. Erratic NBA process that extended timing multiple times to allow Sac to play catch up and also disclosed to Sac that it's offer was inadequate so that Sac could increase
3. Preventing Maloofs from obtaining funding to maintain ownership (aka rejection of the Hansen back up deal)
4. NBA consideration of the Ranadive deal despite Maloof's insistence that it not be considered
Obviously, the back up deal adds another big factor to the list. The list of bad facts is long enough and significant enough that the Maloofs could make some pretty strong claims. Apparently, the Maloofs are subject to an arbritration clause, which could stop them from going straight to court. That said, Seattle sports radio interviewed an attorney yesterday, who seemed to think the Maloofs could beat that arbitration clause. As far as damages that that court might award to the Maloofs, that $65 million is a pretty good starting place and they'd probably try for treble/triple damages by claiming the NBA willfully violated the law. $65 million times three would obviously be pretty painful to the NBA.
All of which is to say, assuming the owners force the sale to Ranadive, they could have a big mess on their hands. I get that they're annoyed at the thought of dealing with the mess, but they created the situation. The rabblerouser in me wouldn't mind seeing it all go south and both Hansen and Maloofs taking on the NBA...it would be interesting to watch. The more sane side would like to see both Sacramento and Seattle end up with a team.
Once the 20% ownership purchase was announced, I can understand why the NBA got annoyed. The way the facts are coming down, the Maloofs could be set up pretty well for a law suit...even better than the Hansen group and, of course, they wouldn't be worried about burning bridges with the NBA like Hansen and Balmer probably would.
If the NBA forces the Maloofs to sell to Ranadive, the Maloof could point to:
1. Lost profit of $65 million
2. Erratic NBA process that extended timing multiple times to allow Sac to play catch up and also disclosed to Sac that it's offer was inadequate so that Sac could increase
3. Preventing Maloofs from obtaining funding to maintain ownership (aka rejection of the Hansen back up deal)
4. NBA consideration of the Ranadive deal despite Maloof's insistence that it not be considered
Obviously, the back up deal adds another big factor to the list. The list of bad facts is long enough and significant enough that the Maloofs could make some pretty strong claims. Apparently, the Maloofs are subject to an arbritration clause, which could stop them from going straight to court. That said, Seattle sports radio interviewed an attorney yesterday, who seemed to think the Maloofs could beat that arbitration clause. As far as damages that that court might award to the Maloofs, that $65 million is a pretty good starting place and they'd probably try for treble/triple damages by claiming the NBA willfully violated the law. $65 million times three would obviously be pretty painful to the NBA.
All of which is to say, assuming the owners force the sale to Ranadive, they could have a big mess on their hands. I get that they're annoyed at the thought of dealing with the mess, but they created the situation. The rabblerouser in me wouldn't mind seeing it all go south and both Hansen and Maloofs taking on the NBA...it would be interesting to watch. The more sane side would like to see both Sacramento and Seattle end up with a team.
