It looks like the sticking point in the arena negotiations is how much the Maloofs will kick down.

Terri Hardy and Mary Lynne Vellinga from The Sacramento Bee cite sources putting the arena pricetag at $500 million. And unless I'm reading it wrong, the city/county wants the family to pitch in 20-25 percent of the cost – $100-125 million. Not unreasonable.

So what the hell do the Maloofs want to kick in? I honestly thought they'd be ecstatic if the taxpayers kicked in $250 million – under this scenario, it's more like $350-400 million. Was I wrong for assuming the Maloofs would put in half the cost?

It's not clear if the parties are 5 percent apart – the Maloofs say 20 percent ($100 million) and the city/county says 25 percent ($125 million)? Or does the city/county say 20-25 percent and the Maloofs something lower?

Either way, a contribution of less than 50 percent hurts in a big way. I hope those "throw-in" community projects around the county that would also benefit from the tax are really awesome.

Update [2006-7-18 12:10:9 by TZ]: Via e-mail, Terri Hardy confirmed that the 20-25 percent is what the city/county is looking for. The Maloofs, assumedly, are lower than that. Hence, no agreement yet.