False Reports Of Sacramento Kings Relocation To Virginia Beach Spreading Like Wildfire

Damn it. I tried to refrain from talking about the rumors of the Sacramento Kings relocating to Virginia Beach – I really did. The legs on the story were so shaky to begin with and they only got shakier as the hours passed by. But, I feel like I have to comment now – not so much on the actual relocation, but how this wildfire continues to grow.

Yesterday afternoon in the Sacramento Bee, Tony Bizjak and Sam Stanton addressed the potential move and mentioned that the Maloof family would not be in Virginia Beach when their city council meets to hear an arena pitch proposal:

"Team officials declined Thursday to respond to a published report in a Virginia paper that the team will join Comcast-Spectacor and Live Nation in pitching an arena proposal to Virginia Beach city officials next week."

See – that’s all fine and dandy. The city council will be hearing an arena pitch. City councils around the country hear those all the time, be it for a professional venue or a smaller minor league structure. Yes, it’s the first step to getting a team and it’s possible that Virginia Beach officials believe they might sway the Kings into a move, but putting the two together as if they’re peanut butter and jelly is wishful thinking. There have been plenty of situations (not only involving the Kings, but other professional franchises) where the said team has been linked to a city to get a venue built, but the two never materialize.

Anyway – back on point…

Today, from Philly.com – we have their reaction to the news that the Maloof family would not be present at any Virginia Beach city council meeting:

"But a Kings representative, speaking on background because he was not authorized to comment, told the Sacramento Bee on Thursday that team officials will not be in Virginia Beach when the announcement is reportedly scheduled to be made."

So we learned from the Sacramento Bee that the Maloof family would not be in Virginia to partake in the city council event in which they’ll hear an arena proposal, but in the Philly.com piece, we’re told the Kings owners wont be in Virginia Beach when the announcement of a move is reportedly scheduled to be made.

Wait – what?

This is how wildfires on the internet spread – one key word missing – one misconstrued perception – one small omission and a story takes off, completely baseless from its original source. That’s not a dig at Philly.com for their work – more of the usual “don’t believe everything you read on the internet”. All it takes is for one semi-large publication to not see the original source and blow it up, resulting in a flood of false news – so in all seriousness, as your Mother told you – don’t believe everything you read.