It's a beautiful day.

The NBA Board of Governors rejected the proposed relocation of the Sacramento Kings to Seattle by a substantial 22 to 8 margin. Afterwards, NBA Commissioner David Stern and his deputy Adam Silver answered questions regarding the decision.

After the press conference, the Sacramento media caught up with George Maloof. Maloof said that he "respected the decision" and that they will not consider legal action. He called the process "fair" and said "If it has to turn out this way, it's fine". He claimed his loyalty to Chris Hansen was because he stepped up first, and that the family wanted to sell to a local group but "nobody stepped up". Maloof also confirmed that any deal with Chris Hansen is over at this point. He added that there was "no pressure to sell" and that he would take the next day or two to speak with his brothers. He also said that he had spoken with the Ranadivé group.

This is wonderful news, and while it's not completely over until the team is officially sold, it's still worthy of celebration.

We will update this post with the Sacramento Group/Mayor Johnson's reaction when it occurs.

UPDATE 4:45 PM:

We have reaction from the Sacramento group as well as news that another investor has joined the group, Raj Bhathal. Bhathal led an unsuccessful attempt to buy the New Orleans Hornets in 2012 and our very own Tom Ziller wrote about him. Vivek says Bhathal will "spearhead our international aspirations". He also said "even on our way here, we had calls from people who wanted to be a part of this"

The Mayor was joined by Vivek Ranadivé and Mark Friedman for his press conference. Both the Mayor and Ranadivé confirmed that the Sacramento group had put 100% of the purchase price in escrow. In Ranadivé's words "They asked us to put 100% in escrow yesterday, so we put 100% in escrow yesterday". Ranadivé also seemed very confident that an agreement could be reached with the Maloof family, and he along with the Mayor were very complimentary towards the Hansen-Ballmer group. Friedman talked a little bit about the new arena and how it could be "truly transformational for our community". Also on the arena front, the Mayor says owners asked if Sacramento could deliver. In response, the Mayor says "We had great answers that they felt good about".

UPDATE 5:50 PM:

There was some confusion regarding a statement made by David Stern that Sacramento had put $240 million in escrow when it was believed $341 million was needed in escrow. Ryan Lillis offers the clarification on Twitter: