On March 29th, the city council of Anaheim unanimously approved $75 million in bonds that would go towards enticing the Sacramento Kings to come to Anaheim. $25 million of the bonds would go towards upgrades to the Honda Center and $50 million would be going directly to the Maloofs to help with relocation costs. The bonds were backed by Henry Samueli, owner of the Anaheim Ducks and main tenant of the Honda Center.
A couple days later a committee formed to gather signatures from registered voters in Anaheim in order to block the issuance of the bonds without a vote. Approximately 7,040 signatures would need to be gathered within 60 days, and if they did, the bonds would go up for a vote in June 2012 (barring a special election, which would come at extra cost).
Today, Rob Stutzman (leader of the signature campaign) reported to KHTK’s Mark Kreidler that the group had gathered more than the needed amount (at about 11,000) and were looking for even more as assurance. Stutzman also sent a letter to the NBA explaining exactly what this meant, that the bonds could not be issued until put to a public vote.
Although Samueli could opt to instead finance the loan himself directly instead of through city bonds to save time, this is yet another obstacle in the path of a relocation to Anaheim.