Sacramento mulls green cards for arena investors

SACRAMENTO, California—This won’t be music to the ears of businessman Manny V. Pangilinan.
Last I heard, the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, reportedly coveted for takeover and complete control by the Filipino telecom tycoon, is still NOT FOR SALE.
“If you’re the buyer, you seek out the owners,” says R. E. Graswich, spokesman for Sacramento Mayor and ex-NBA great Kevin Johnson.
The team owners in this case are the Maloofs, who continue to announce publicly that they’d stick—like barnacle to a ship—to their beloved  Kings.
In other words, MVP’s cadre of drumbeaters could milk dry his alleged desire to own the Kings for publicity or whatever purpose, but the bottom line is, the present owners have not posted and will not post a “For Sale” sign.
But if you have less ambitious dreams than Pangilinan, there’s an opportunity to be part of the Kings via an investment in a new team arena and get rewarded for it—provided you have the big bucks.
The NBA has given Sacramento until March to come up with a downtown arena financing plan to replace the outdated Power Balance Pavilion in the city’s North Natomas area. Or the league will consider allowing the Kings to move to another city.
Anaheim, the Southern California city that is home to Disneyland, has made bold moves to satisfy the King’s wanderlust.
With this in mind, Think Big Sacramento, a task force established by Mayor Johnson to come up with the plan, presented arena funding options to the City Council for its own vetting recently. The group’s rough proposal calls for a three-way effort pooling user fees with public money and private investments to generate about $400 million without broad tax increases.
Graswich said under Think Big’s lead, a smorgasbord of options are being fleshed out to make the arena a reality.
One idea brought into the open is to draw in foreign investors under a United States government program that offers green cards to those who put money in.
“Our plate is full of possibilities,” the former Sacramento Bee sports columnist told me. A federal program that allows for short-term, low-cost borrowing program involving foreign capitalists is one possibility, Graswich added.
The program seeks out wealthy would-be-immigrants to sink in $500,000 to $1 million into US enterprises that generate jobs. It’s been described as a way to obtain a green card for permanent residency in the US “via the red carpet.”
“The green card program has been used successfully in several cities in US,” explains Graswich. “Whether it would work out in Sacramento remains to be seen.”
The Think Big committee recommends paying for a sports and entertainment complex, with the Kings as the main tenant with $94 million to $123 million in public funds, $91 million to $156 million in private funds and $90 million to $121 million from those who would use or benefit from the arena.