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Sacramento Kings Purchase Majority Ownership Stake in Sacramento River Cats

Susan Savage will continue to serve as a strategic business advisor and member of the ownership group.
By | 52 Comments | Aug 26, 2022

Kimani Okearah

The Sacramento Kings announced today that they finalized a deal to become majority stakeholders in the Sacramento River Cats, Sacramento’s AAA baseball team and affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Damien Barling was the first to report the news:

Damien has been on this story from the beginning, and has previously reported the price tag of the deal is somewhere around $90 million:

Susan Savage, the longtime owner of the River Cats, will remain involved in the ownership group as well.

From the team’s press release, Vivek released the following statement:

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Susan Savage and her family, who made the River Cats into a tremendous community asset with a great brand and tradition,” said Sacramento Kings Owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadivé. “We look forward to building on their inspiring legacy and continuing to provide families with memorable experiences.”

This venture seems unlikely to have any direct impact on the Kings and is more in line with Vivek’s ongoing pattern of investing in downtown real estate and businesses.

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Marty
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August 26, 2022 2:04 pm

He can buy the Republics and have all three minor league teams.

Last edited 1 year ago by Marty Marty
TheGrantNapear
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August 26, 2022 7:56 pm
Reply to  Marty

Brutal 😬

Hippity_Hop_Barbershop
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August 27, 2022 2:08 pm
Reply to  Marty

COTY 😂

Adamsite
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Nostradumbass 14
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August 26, 2022 2:27 pm

I wonder what Vivek’s long term plan is here. Are the Rivercats that profitable or is the property the real target.

andy_sims
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August 26, 2022 3:16 pm
Reply to  Adamsite

Always buy land. As they say, god ain’t making any more of it.

I can’t see a downside to the owner of a franchise, which had previously nearly relocated, becoming more invested in the city where his flagship resides.

I hope he makes a shitload of dough from investing in the community.

Putthegundown
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August 28, 2022 12:08 am
Reply to  andy_sims

Never mind the fan base and franchise he has destroyed. Good Lord man….

Hozr
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September 1, 2022 4:48 pm
Reply to  andy_sims

As they say, god ain’t making any more of it.

Not true. Hawaii , for example, gains several acres of new land on a regular basis.

TheGrantNapear
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August 26, 2022 7:57 pm
Reply to  Adamsite

Real estate, location location location.
He may be a moron as it pertains to building an NBA team, but he’s a shrewd businessman, got to hand him that.

Adamsite
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Nostradumbass 14
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August 29, 2022 9:54 am
Reply to  TheGrantNapear

What I find interesting about it, is that it was the Kings that purchased the team and stadium, not Vivek. This now falls into the Kings portfolio and likely increase the valuation of the franchise.

Putthegundown
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August 28, 2022 12:06 am
Reply to  Adamsite

Good point but either way it is the work of Satan.

1951
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August 26, 2022 2:28 pm

Cool. No problem with that.

Now, let’s get MLS and Monarchs next!

ArsLegendi
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August 26, 2022 3:42 pm

As long as he’s focused on developing the riverfront and not on the on-field product. Which the Giants wouldn’t let him anywhere near, anyway.

I’d have preferred it if he invested in Republic instead, but… eh. Fine.

Amonk81
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August 26, 2022 6:21 pm
Reply to  ArsLegendi

Did Vivek coach his kids baseball teams?

Watch out for 10 v 11 baseball for the Rivercats.

Amonk81
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August 26, 2022 11:38 pm
Reply to  Amonk81

Ha. 8 v 9 is what I meant

ArcoThunder
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August 27, 2022 7:16 am
Reply to  Amonk81

F’d up your own joke pretty bad there. Hahahaha 🤷‍♂️

Amonk81
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August 27, 2022 11:31 pm
Reply to  ArcoThunder

Ha. Did. It was a real bummer.

Mike120
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August 27, 2022 1:12 pm
Reply to  Amonk81

Just tell everyone you were thinking about soccer when you wrote it.

Amonk81
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August 27, 2022 11:31 pm
Reply to  Mike120

Ha. I did f it up and it WAS because I had soccer on the brain (and perhaps a good amount of THC) —and the mention of Sacramento MLS

ArcoThunder
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August 27, 2022 7:15 am
Reply to  Amonk81

🤔

AnybodyButBagley
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August 26, 2022 5:14 pm

This is not good.

ArcoThunder
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August 27, 2022 7:29 am

Why? What’s your reasoning for that opinion.

I think it’s great.

#1.) the owner of the Kings who saved the team from leaving is even more invested in developing the are and community. Meaning the kings aren’t going anywhere if the idea is for him/Vivek to profit on all of his sacramento city investments.

#2.) Vivek is not an asshole, he’s just not experienced (dare I say wasn’t experienced) enough at being a manager of a professional basketball team and got in his own way several times. Is he learning a better way to operate the sacramento Kings moving forward in this regard? Maybe?!? It kind of appears that way but it’s still way to early to say for sure.

#3.) the narrative or thought or speculation that Vivek and the kings are strapped for cash and or hemorrhaging money is completely dispelled from this proof of purchase that we can all see with our own eyes. Financially the kings ownership group appear to be doing just fine. After seeing this you could argue that they are doing very very excellent.

#4.) the River Cats and that stadium could use some new money/renovations/additions/beautifying/rebranding/etcetera so this purchase from a new ownership group will likely bring a fair amount of that in the near future.

Marty
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August 27, 2022 7:58 am
Reply to  ArcoThunder

Now if we can just get America to care about baseball again

rockbottom
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August 27, 2022 3:52 pm
Reply to  ArcoThunder

A lot of evidence that he is an a-hole . Just find any employee that trusts your confidence .

Yakshi
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August 26, 2022 7:06 pm

I’m stunned that nobody has asked yet if anyone on the River Cats can play small forward.

JackassCentral916
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August 27, 2022 2:37 pm
Reply to  Yakshi

Literally laughed out loud at that one. Funniest thing I’ve seen in a couple days.

Klam
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August 27, 2022 8:45 pm
Reply to  Yakshi

Lol, good one.

Hozr
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September 1, 2022 4:51 pm
Reply to  Yakshi

Can anybody on the Kings play short stop?

TheGrantNapear
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August 26, 2022 7:59 pm

Reports surfacing that Anjali World will be named the new manager of the River Rats.

ArcoThunder
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August 27, 2022 7:37 am
Reply to  TheGrantNapear

This actually makes sense and is something I would prefer.

think about it…. If Anjali is being groomed to eventually be the heir apparent to Vivek this would be a great way to get her feet wet and learn the industry. I’d prefer this to the position she is in now personally. She’s going to be helping run the kings big at some point in the future. It’s inevitable, get used to it. At least it sure looks that way which really isn’t that big of a deal. I’m all for her gaining experience now so that when that day comes she’s prepared and can be similarly capable to someone like Jeannie Buss and what took place in LA.

Sacto_J
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August 27, 2022 10:53 am
Reply to  TheGrantNapear

There it is, I knew I wasn’t going to be disappointed that someone was going to take a shot at Anjali on this one. A little surprised that THEgrantnapear was the one to grab that low hanging fruit. Or maybe not so much.

TheGrantNapear
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August 27, 2022 7:33 pm
Reply to  Sacto_J

Relax. We’re all just joking around here. Plenty of ‘shots’ taken at Vivek in this comment thread, I guess you don’t have an issue with that, I wonder why.

murraytant
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August 27, 2022 4:22 pm
Reply to  TheGrantNapear

IMO, she is better fitted to front office in baseball than player development in Basketball.

coolhandluke
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August 26, 2022 11:18 pm

This is good news for Sacramento considering that Vivek will be partnering with Susan Savage.

UpgradedToQuestionable
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August 27, 2022 1:09 am

Should the Oakland Athletics move East and become the Las Vegas A’s must, or typically do, clubs move their Triple A team to be closer to the new location?

rockbottom
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August 27, 2022 6:30 am

River cats are a Giants affiliate .

ArcoThunder
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August 27, 2022 7:38 am
Reply to  rockbottom

Which sucks

UpgradedToQuestionable
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August 27, 2022 10:41 am
Reply to  ArcoThunder

D’oh!
I didn’t realize. Silly me. I should have known that.

Hey – separate but related question – If the Oakland franchise has an AAA team but they are the A’s does that make them an AAAA team?

And with the help of Google I see that the Las Vegas Aviators are that franchise’s team.

Hey – when’s Kings PreSeason starting date?

Kingsguru21
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August 27, 2022 2:34 pm

Technically the LV Aviators are the A’s AAA affiliate. The Aviators, like RC’s, are owned by a separate entity outside of the MLB club and the affiliate agreement allows the MLB club to promote and demote players of their choosing. They also provide the managers, coaches and the like for these teams as well. The affiliates themselves own the club, are responsible for promotions and ticket sales, and the RC’s have generally done better when they are successful on the field.

Since 2015, when they became the affiliate of the god forsaken no good San Francisco Giants (I’m an A’s fan, not a Doyers fan), they have dropped in attendance and prospects coming through. The Giants just simply don’t use their minor league system the way many other organizations do. That said, there’s also an affiliation fee that likely was more than what the Savages were making with better attendance and a lower affiliate fee from the A’s. That’s why they switched.

At times since they’ve moved to West Sac, the RC’s have been the most valuable minor league club in all of the minor leagues. Remember, they don’t have to pay players or coaches, they are only responsible for the business aspect of the operation.

That’s how you get to a 90 million sale price of a AAA team. 15 years ago, I don’t even think there was a minor league team that would have gone for 30 million. Welcome to the new era, I suppose.

Last edited 1 year ago by Kingsguru21
4on5
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August 27, 2022 6:23 am

Kings obtained much of 800 K Street in the downtown arena deal. That property remains fenced off holes in the ground. Sacramento would have been better served if the Kings followed through on their promises from many years ago, than the Kangz mismanaging and screwing up the tickets prices of another team.

ArcoThunder
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August 27, 2022 7:40 am
Reply to  4on5

What was the promise from 800 K street? I don’t remember. Are they still owners of that? Any knowledge as to why it still has yet to be developed?

Sacto_J
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August 27, 2022 10:55 am
Reply to  4on5

Who’s to say they’re not still developing… whatever it is they plan on developing there?
All kinds of things can hold up construction for downtown building plans.

TheGrantNapear
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August 27, 2022 7:36 pm
Reply to  4on5

The development of downtown is on-going so I’m sure they still have plans for that location. Everything is in slow mode I believe due to the effects of the pandemic. I work in downtown/midtown and it’s still dead during the day. Not sure when the new normal will settle in as far as office workers in downtown/midtown. Truly sad for the long standing businesses there.

Putthegundown
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August 28, 2022 12:04 am

So this moron owner has destroyed the kings since he purchased them, but yet he is allowed to destroy the Sacramento River Cats. If this shit isn’t typical political bs in this state, I have no idea what is.

Kingsguru21
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August 28, 2022 9:57 am
Reply to  Putthegundown

Vivek won’t have control over the baseball operations, just the business operations.

andy_sims
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August 29, 2022 9:39 am
Reply to  Kingsguru21

Don’t throw verifiable facts at someone having a shitfit.

Kingsguru21
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August 29, 2022 10:50 am
Reply to  andy_sims

I only know this because I’ve learned a little about MiLB from much more knowledgeable A’s fans over the years.

I actually think the FTGs payed the affiliate fee to get the A’s out of Sac more than they care about their AAA team.

ArsLegendi
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August 30, 2022 10:08 am
Reply to  Kingsguru21

hahahaha

I thought I heard all of the Salty A’s Fan Conspiracy Theories, but that’s a new one. Nice. 🙂 Honestly, I’m surprised that one never made its way to me, considering how many years they yelled at anybody who would listen about the affiliate switch.

Kingsguru21
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August 30, 2022 5:18 pm
Reply to  ArsLegendi

I’m not the first to say it. For all I know the Savages made more with the FTGs than they did the A’s. But I never paid much attention to the RC’s and now they are affiliated with the Giants I pay them no mind whatsoever.

I know an A’s fan who goes to their games to root for the A’s affiliate, the Las Vegas Aviators these days, and that’s the only time he’ll go.

I’ve only been there once when they were an A’s affiliate so I’m not a big loss to the bottom line either way. But the only time I’ll go in the future is when the A’s affiliate is in town. I think next year I might try to go a game or two when the Aviators are in town.

Want2win
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August 30, 2022 3:59 am

I stopped supporting the River Cats when they changed affiliation and became the minor-league team for the Giants. I view this as good news because that means they’ll become crummy, therefore the Giants will become worse

ArsLegendi
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August 30, 2022 10:10 am

Well, if anything, this seems to have resurrected the Sacramento tradition of A’s Fans Being Weird About the River Cats, so that’s fun.

Last edited 1 year ago by ArsLegendi
jlandweh
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August 30, 2022 1:21 pm

Conspiracy Theory here…

Obviously this is a good investment in both real estate and the community. Vivek may be a terrible basketball manager, but he is a smart businessman. What if this is a long play by Vivek? If the A’s were to move (maybe to Vegas) and MLB wants to expand…could Vivek make a push for Sacramento to become a MLB franchise?

Would Sacramento be able to support a MLB team?

It would be incredible if we look up in 10 years and Sacramento has a MLB team and a new ballpark right on the river.

Kingsguru21
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August 30, 2022 5:17 pm
Reply to  jlandweh

Sutter Health Park can’t be expanded into a MLB park. The most logical place to build a MLB capable park is….. where Arco II is. And that’s being turned into a hospital.

I don’t think there’s a ready made MLB site that isn’t where Arco II is. Or was. I could be wrong there, though.

Last edited 1 year ago by Kingsguru21

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