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The Sacramento Kings will be celebrating in a brand new arena next season.
That doesn't come without a price however, because like other new venues, the Golden 1 Center's construction has been very expensive.
That usually comes at the expense of the taxpayers, and some have already cried this is also a raw deal for everyone but the owners.
The cost of the arena has risen which is not uncommon, but Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and the other owners have stepped in.
Dale Kasler of the Sacbee explains:
Barely a month before opening, the Sacramento Kings continue to pour money into their new downtown arena, bringing the latest estimate of Golden 1 Center’s construction costs to $556.6 million.
The estimate has risen by $21.7 million in just a month, according to a construction consultant’s report submitted to Sacramento city officials late last week. The $556.6 million price represents a more than $79 million increase since the Kings broke ground in October 2014 on what was envisioned as a $477 million project. When the arena was first proposed to city officials in 2013, Kings officials said it would cost $447 million – bringing the total increase in price to around $109 million.
With the city’s subsidy capped at $255 million, all the additional costs are coming out of the pockets of Kings Chairman Vivek Ranadive and the rest of the team’s owners.
There are almost always contingencies when it comes to construction, and in this case large ones. New arenas always stand to benefit owners first before fans, and while it might seem as though Ranadive should be commended, he is really only covering what will benefit himself in the near future.
He's not a billionaire by accident.
