"You've got Burkle?"

That's what Burkle was. He saved us from the immediate threat of Anaheim. And time was all we needed. Anaheim is now an afterthought.

Next, Burkle helped lend immediate legitimacy to Sacramento's most recent ownership group. According to various reports, Vivek was involved from the start, but Burkle and Mastrov lent the group a public face until Vivek was ready to go public as the lead investor.

And now Burkle is going to be a central figure in the development around a new arena. A central figure in revitalizing a key part of Sacramento.

Burkle will no longer be directly involved, and his contributions may soon be overshadowed by others, so before we move on I want to thank Ron Burkle. Thank you for stepping up and believing in Sacramento when the rest of the world was looking at Anaheim.

Thanks for believing in us.