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"Mayor Kevin Johnson has once again delayed identifying the wealthy investors he has been trying to pull together to present a counter-offer for the Sacramento Kings.\"I think we're really close.\u00A0 This is not a negative by any means,\" Johnson told reporters.Johnson has been searching for investors for the team since Jan. 9 when reports first surfaced that a Seattle-based group had reached a deal to purchase the team and relocate it to Seattle by next season.Johnson said he had hoped to make an announcement late last week or this week.He said he was now aiming for later this week or next.\"It just shows that it's taking a little longer,\" said Johnson.Already, two possible investors have made a splash.Ron Burkle, a billionaire co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, recently met with NBA Commissioner David Stern about buying the Kings, according to the league.Mark Mastrov, the founder of the 24 Hour Fitness chain, has also expressed interest and met recently with a group of Sacramento-based investors.Johnson did not confirm any names Tuesday and suggested that the exact makeup of his investor team might still be evolving.\"I will tell you, each day, they're probably isn't a day that goes by that I don't hear from somebody who has the wherewithal to be a major and significant equity investor,\" Johnson said.Johnson said ultimately the city has until March 1 -- which is the NBA's relocation deadline -- to produce a deal.\"It's a complicated transaction,\" Johnson said. \"We want to do our due diligence.\"Johnson said that two downtown sites are being examined for a possible arena, the Downtown Plaza and the railyard location.\"We don't know if the equity investors are going to chose Downtown Plaza or the railyard site,\" said Johnson.\"Frankly, upfront it looks like he's probably having trouble putting all that together,\" said Bob Blymer of the Sacramento Taxpayers Association.Blymer told KCRA 3 his group plans to send a letter to the City Council expressing its concern about public funding for a new arena.Last year's failed proposal for an arena called for the city to contribute about 65 percent of the estimated $390 million cost, through a long-term lease of city parking spaces or borrowing.\"I think the opposition is going to be very large.\u00A0 Again they just haven't surfaced yet because everybody's just kind of waiting to see what's going to happen here,\" said Blymer.During the news conference, Johnson also discussed the right of first refusal, a possible stumbling block to investors in Seattle who already have a binding agreement to buy the Kings from the Maloof family.He also said all parties, including Seattle, are interested in the issue of the Kings minority stake, which is tied up in bankruptcy litigation.Johnson reiterated his optimism, adding that the city might be in better position to keep the team this time around than it was nearly two years ago when the team nearly fled to Anaheim.\"We\u2019re not looking at this as a shot we\u2019re going to miss,\" Johnson said. \"We are not going to lose our team.\"\u00A0"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.kcra.com/article/johnson-again-delays-whales-announcement/6402070>