Image Credit: Michael Tipton (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The NBA's Sacramento Kings will be debuting at the brand new Golden 1 Center on October 10th, 2016, when they host Maccabi Haifa B.C., a professional basketball team for Israel. Both Sacramento residents and the Kings organization have been longing for a new arena for the Sacramento Kings for quite some time. From 1988 to 2016, the Kings played their home games at ARCO Arena which later changed it's name to Power Balance Pavilion and then Sleep Train Arena. Arco Arena, however, was located in the suburb of Natomas which wasn't a location that could bolster attendance for home games.
Before the Maloof family sold the Sacramento Kings to entrepreneur Vivek Ranadive in 2013, there was a ton of uncertainty as to whether or not the Kings would stay in Sacramento. A group of investors led by Seattle native Chris R. Hansen was primed to bring the Kings to Seattle to become the reincarnation of the Supersonics. However, other NBA owners rejected the Kings relocation deal to Seattle in an overwhelming vote of 22-8. Anaheim, California and Virginia Beach, Virginia were also being courted as relocation cities for the Kings. The Kings would have had a world class arena awaiting them at the Honda Center in Anaheim, home of the NHL's Anaheim Ducks. The Maloof Family were the first to propose the idea for a brand new arena at the Sacramento Railyards before backing out of the deal in 2012.
The Golden 1 Center will have a capacity of 17,500 seats for Kings home games and 19,000 seats for other events. The estimated construction costs will run in the neighborhood of $500 million. The city of Sacramento will contribute more than half of the stadium's construction costs generated via the sale of bonds and various revenues generated from parking. The Sacramento Kings ownership group will contribute slightly less but their contributions will be in excess of $200 million. The arena will feature 13,500 nearby parking spaces which will be more than double the parking space that Sleep Train Arena offered.
The Golden 1 Center will also be a LEED Gold-certified arena. It's features will include an 84 foot wide Panasonic jumbo screen at center court which is seven times larger than the jumbo screen at Sleep Train Arena. The Golden 1 Center will also utilize renewable energy via a solar powered rooftop and two 150X60 foot hanger doors that will serve as the main entrances.
The arena's naming rights were purchased by Golden 1 Credit Union, a banking franchise that only operates in the state of California. The terms of the deal were for 20 years and $120 million or $6 million per season. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson was one of the most instrumental figures in not only helping the arena get erected but also in keeping the Kings in Sacramento. Mayor Johnson himself was a former NBA player that played many years with the Phoenix Suns so he understood what was at stake with the quest for a new arena. In 2014, Johnson founded "Sacramento First" which focused on the impact that a new arena would have on area businesses and economic development. His efforts paid off big time.
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