The rally was organized to celebrate last week's news that the Kings would be playing in Sacramento for another season.
One of the fans celebrating at the rally was Marvin Dean, who calls the Kings staying in Sacramento a "win-win" situation.
"It can only be positive,"
Dean said. "The people enjoy their team. The city is
going to keep the team here. And the team is going to get an
expanded facility, so how can you go wrong with that?"
It's still unclear if the Kings will get a new arena. A
development team created by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson will
unveil a financing plan later this month.
Sacramento Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, along with
several former players, were among the speakers stirring up
hometown pride at a rally in Cesar Chavez Plaza.
The fans and the business community are the reasons we
stayed in Sacramento," Joe Maloof told the crowd.
Former players Bobby Jackson, Scot Pollard, and Doug
Christie were at last night's rally. Christie said
he never played in a louder city.
"Maybe Utah during the Playoffs," Christie said.
"But nowhere else was even close during the regular
season."
The rally comes in the middle of a drive by the Kings
organization to ramp up ticket sales after a late start this
season.
Chris Vaughn is a Kings fan from Folsom who was at the
rally. He says he and his dad have been waiting to buy their
season tickets.
"It's been up in the air," Vaughn said. "Now we'll
probably start looking online and get to see where we're at.
I plan on being at at least 15 games this year."
The Kings organization has hired at least 30 additional
employees to handle an onslaught of season ticket sales during the
past few days.
