:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66072705/169413589.jpg.0.jpg)
Seven years ago, January 9th, 2013, Daina Falk tweeted (and then deleted) her infamous tweet.
“So I hear that the Seattle Kings is officially a done deal! The Maloofs finally sold the ailing Sacramento team. #NBA.”
Adrian Wojnarowski then followed up.
The Maloofs are finalizing an agreement to sell the Sacramento Kings to the Hansen-Ballmer led Seattle group, sources tell Yahoo! Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 9, 2013
Kings fans endured a harrowing five and a half month saga before the Kings were sold to Vivek Ranadivé’s ownership group. Thinking back I can hardly believe it was less than 6 months, it felt much longer.
The Kings now have a state of the art downtown arena and will be in Sacramento for decades to come. We’ve endured plenty of new difficulties as fans of this team since then, but none as monumental as the fight to save the Kings. The Kings wouldn’t be here today without the support from the new owners, the support of David Stern, and the support of local politicians, but the support of those parties was always dependent on the fans. Kings fans made it politically viable for local officials to support the team. Kings fans showed the league that Sacramento was as passionate as ever. Kings fans showed potential investors that this was a worthwhile venture. And it all started 7 years ago today.
Happy anniversary, Kings fans.
Here we stayed.