The Philippine Online Chronicles

Less than a month ago, there were confirmed reports that the Sacramento Kings franchise of the NBA is being offered to Filipino business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan. Many people in Pangilinan’s inner circle have verified that the 63-year-old businessman is seriously considering buying the franchise, which is being sold for around USD 250 to 350 million.

Pangilinan is no stranger to sports. In fact, he owns at least two teams in the PBA: the Meralco Bolts and the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters. On top of that, he has already invested millions in bankrolling the Smart Gilas-Pilipinas team, which is trying to qualify for next year’s London Olympics.

Just like Danding Cojuangco in the 1980s, Pangilinan is doing the country a favor by investing in sports that would hopefully make the Philippines competitive in the international level.

There’s no doubt that Pangilinan has the resources to invest in almost anything without worrying whether it’s going to earn profit or not. However, if the proposed bid to sell the Kings franchise pushes through, it will surely change the landscape of basketball and business here in the Philippines.

The sad story of the Sacramento Kings

The Kings franchise is being sold because of the same thing that happened to the New Orleans Hornets: dwindling gate attendance.

With the team unable to earn enough money for the past several years, the Maloof family, the Kings’ majority owners, is trying to relocate the franchise to Anaheim. However, former NBA superstar and now Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is doing his best to prevent the team from leaving.

Back in the early 2000s, the Kings had one of the best rosters that stood the chance of dethroning the Los Angeles Lakers dynasty, which was then anchored by a young Shaquille O’Neal.

Though the Kings didn’t have a destructive force like Shaq, the team featured players such as Peja Stojakovic, Vlade Divac, Mike Bibby, and Chris Webber who had the experience, composure, and team chemistry to beat the Lakers.

The Kings had so much success that they managed to reach the playoffs almost every year during their best run. Being playoff contenders, fans came in droves, but once the team started to decline, gate attendance also dwindled.

Today, the Kings have a couple of talented young players such as Demarcus Cousins, Omri Casspi, Tyreke Evans, and Marcus Thornton. In spite of this, it will take years of hard work and a lot of luck to make this core competitive in the future. Maybe they’ll get lucky by trading for a couple of good players, but for sure, it’s going to be a long climb back to the top.

Though some teams are willing to wait for this core to mature, the Maloofs badly need the money right now and that means they want success right away.

The Maloofs’ financial troubles

The Maloofs bought the Kings franchise in 1998 and since then, they had made sure that the team would attain a certain level of success by surrounding Webber with a talented supporting cast.

Right now, the family needs to pay around USD750 million, which they used for the construction and operations of The Palms in Las Vegas. On top of that, the family still has to worry about paying the Sacramento government over 70 million USD, which was incurred in order to continue the operations of the Kings.

To get out of this financial mess, the family proposed building a new arena using taxpayers’ money. However, that proposal was eventually stopped and rebuked by the city of Sacramento.

With apparently no way out, the Maloofs thought of moving the franchise to Anaheim, which has one of the biggest markets in California. Then again, Lakers owner Jerry Buss filed an objection because he thinks that Anaheim is still part of the Lakers’ market.

The risks involved

Despite the media melee, there’s still no certainty if Pangilinan is going to buy the franchise. If he decides to take the plunge however, he might have to deal with the fact that the Kings are losing as much as USD28 million annually.

It’s no secret that in order to earn money, an NBA team should be a playoff contender. That means the core team should be good enough to win enough games in an 82-game regular season and still be able to advance in the post-season.

Right now, the Kings’ current roster simply doesn’t have the capacity to do that. In fact, the team ended this season with a dismal 24-58 record, second to the last in the Western conference.

Back in the day, the Webber-led team coached by Rick Adelman was just one three-point shot away from advancing into the NBA Finals in 2002. Nine years after that amazing run by the Kings, they only managed to reach the playoffs twice.

If Pangilinan wants to rake in the profits right now, he must hire a talented General Manager first and a good coach who knows the ins and outs of NBA. Even then, there’s still no assurance that the Kings can become a playoff contender by next season.

Apart from the annual loss in income, the Maloofs are selling the franchise for a staggering USD250 to 350 million, which is around P12 billion to P18 billion. Now to paint the picture clearly, that’s the entire operational cost of running TV5 for the next three years.

The truth of the matter is: Pangilinan will have to deal with losing millions of dollars every year, without any guarantee that he’ll get the money back. It’s a huge risk and it’s understandable if he’ll back out from the proposal.

Will Pangilinan pull the trigger?

If Pangilinan buys the team, this means that he won’t be there to oversee the operations because he’ll have to run the business while living here in the Philippines.

Considering that he has a very hands-on approach to his business, it will be tough for him to relocate to the United States just to manage one business enterprise.

If there’s a tour de force for Pangilinan to buy the team however, it must be his desire to finally move to the American market and bring some of his business interests over there. Right now, Pangilinan is into telecommunications, energy, construction, finance, media, and food industry. His businesses can expand further by jumping into the biggest economy in the world.

Just in case Pangilinan takes the biggest risk of his business career, it will surely send shockwaves through the entire country. Pangilinan will be the first Asian owner of an NBA team and it might open the door for the first Filipino to play in the biggest basketball stage in the world.

Filipino-American coach Erik Spoelstra has already opened the gates for Filipino talent in the NBA by sending the Miami Heat into this year’s Eastern Conference finals. That said, there’s no question that Filipinos have the talent to succeed in this game on a global level.

Ever since the PBA was established 36 years ago, the Philippines’ love affair with basketball has grown over the years. It’s undeniable that Filipinos love the sport and having an NBA team owned by a Filipino is more than enough to fuel that passion even more.

“Photo of Manny” by Halil Mucaram c/o Wikipedia. Some rights reserved.