SACRAMENTO-
As Mayor Kevin Johnson embarks on four more years at the helm, FOX40 asked him about moving forward, moving without the Kings.
“Well, we don’t wanna move on,” the mayor said from his election celebration Tuesday night.
And after the arena deal Johnson worked relentlessly to get, crashed and burned with the Maloofs, there may be renewed hope with what he said.
“If they want to retrofit Arco Arena, Power Balance Arena and now called Sleep Train Arena, then that’s great,” Johnson said. “We want to be their partner.”
“Now we’re not going to put public dollars into it,” the mayor added. “But there’s entitlements and permits, and a host of things that we can do.”
FOX40 caught up with Mayor Johnson at Wednesday night’s Kings game, to make sure we heard him right.
“If they decide to retrofit, I think it’s great. We’ll be good partners, just without public investments.”
That news gave hope to long-time Kings fans.
“I think maybe that would be the best option instead of putting an arena downtown,” fan Rafael Gonzalez said.
“I’m pretty optimistic about it,” added fellow fan Roger Myers. “I con’t see this being the last year that they’re here.”
“Do you think that the Kings would stay in this arena if they fix it up,” FOX40 asked Kings fan Cole Leonardo.
“I think winning cure’s all,” Leonardo said.
The Mayor’s goal is still to build a new arena downtown, but if the Maloofs choose to refurbish, he has always said he will work with them.