The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday authorized staff to negotiate an arena deal with the prospective whales Kevin Johnson has lured in. The vote was 7-2, with Darrell Fong and Kevin McCarty again voting against progress.

The next item that will come back to the City Council would be a preliminary term sheet, hopefully in April. The city plans to unveil a website with info on the project on Wednesday, which will include studies completed a year ago.

The most interesting item in the discussion came from McCarty, who revealed he had spoken to John Kehriotis, the minority owner of the Kings who is talking about privately funding a purchase and arena deal. He urged the city manager to reach out to Kehriotis. Frankly, it does not seem that KJ or anyone around him want to open that Pandora's box.