Mayor Johnson: “This has never been about an arena for pro basketball” Say what?

Now that the NBA players union has taken serious steps to sue the league and team owners local officials in Sacramento are scrambling to salvage the momentum they’ve amassed with their “Think Big” campaign. In a total about-face to the direction of the movement that started and the end of last season, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson quickly played down the significance of a prolonged NBA lockout by issuing the following statement to the press:

“I remain hopeful that all parties will come together and reach a solution. From Sacramento’s perspective, our focus is on continuing to move forward on developing an Entertainment and Sports Complex. This has never been about an arena for pro basketball.”

Never? Never-ever?

That’s strange, because on April 1st, 2011, Johnson published a passionate blog post on his teamkj.org website about how proud he was that he convinced NBA officials to let him talk at a New York meeting in the coming weeks. Johnson wrote:

“They will want to know about possibilities of a new arena in Sacramento, and whether after all these years, our community can finally deliver.”

Never? Never-ever-ever?

Then, on May 3rd, Johnson celebrated the news that the owners of the Kings had pushed back their plans to move the team for at least one year with the following statement:

“It should be obvious by now that our victory will be brief without a clear path to a new entertainment and sports complex. The Kings and league have given us until March 1, 2012, to identify financing.”

Never? Never-ever-ever-ever?

In case there is any doubt remaining doubt in your mind that the arena has always been about the Kings first-and-foremost, please just take a glance at the Think Big Sacramento webpage where all the concept drawings for the new arena are prominently on display. Whose logo is that plastered all over the place? Oh, yeah. The Kings, a professional basketball team.

Less we forget, on Think Big Sacramento’s home page, the first sentence will remind you that “Think BIG is a regional initiative launched by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to facilitate construction of a new entertainment and sports complex.”

But it’s never been about pro basketball. Right.

Related posts:

1. Kevin Johnson to run for a second term as Sacramento Mayor
2. Kevin Johnson doesn’t think Sacramento’s Mayor should miss council meetings, unless that Mayor is Kevin Johnson
3. Mayor Johnson absent from 20% of this year’s council meetings