Mayor reveals plan to keep Kings in Sacramento

With a twist.

Mark Mastrov, founder of 24 Hour Fitness, will submit a bid to buy the team to the NBA on Friday, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said in his State of the City address Thursday night. While Ron Burkle, the billionaire co-owner of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, will instead only lead the effort to build a new downtown arena that he hopes will also lure back a WNBA franchise.

"With all due respect to Seattle, I do hope they get a team someday. But let me be perfectly clear: it is not going to be this team," Johnson said. "Not our team. No way."

The Associated Press and other news outlets have reported since Jan. 22 that Mastrov and Burkle were working on a plan to keep the Kings from relocating to Seattle.

Burkle, who also expressed interested in buying the Kings two years ago, had met with NBA Commissioner David Stern at the league's New York headquarters in January before deciding to back out of the bid. Mastrov was among the final bidders for the Golden State Warriors before Joe Lacob and Peter Guber bought the team for an NBA-record $450 million in 2010, and he's hoping the second time going solo in Northern California is the charm.

Neither Mastrov nor Burkle were present for Johnson's speech. Each released statements through the mayor's office expressing excitement but offered no details about the plan.

"This is about building a winning franchise for a winning community," Mastrov said. "Sacramento has proven time and again to be a great NBA market. As a longtime resident of Northern California with deep ties to Sacramento, I am thrilled to be a part of an effort to do something special for this region."

Burkle added: "I am excited about the economic possibilities for the arena and for downtown Sacramento as a whole. We have an opportunity to transform downtown into a vibrant hub of economic and cultural activity that will create jobs and generate a positive economic impact for years to come."