Company Profile
Company Overview
The Sacramento Kings are embarking on a new era for the franchise. New ownership has taken over and the future is incredibly exciting with a new downtown arena on the horizon. The Human Resources Coordinator will be a crucial role in this future success.
Company History
The Kings franchise made its NBA debut in 1948 as the Rochester Royals under the ownership of Les Harrison. Harrison also served as the club’s head coach for the first seven seasons, and in 1951 he guided the Royals to the first and only NBA World Championship title in franchise history. The team was moved to Cincinnati in 1957 where one year later it became a public corporation. In 1966, brothers Max and Jeremy Jacobs purchased the club and maintained ownership through the team’s move to Kansas City in 1972-73.
A group of 10 Kansas City-based businessmen purchased the club in 1973 for an excess of $5 million. The same group held proprietorship through May of 1982 when ownership was restructured so that only three partners remained, Leon Karosen, H. Paul Rosenberg, and Robert J. Margolin. Three months later, three New York-based businessmen joined the Kansas City ownership group.
On June 8, 1983, the Kings were sold to a local business group that is responsible for bringing NBA basketball to the Capitol City, as Joseph Benvenuti, Frank and Gregg Lukenbill, Bob A. Cook, Frank McCormick, and Stephen H. Cippa purchased the Kansas City Kings for approximately $10.5 million. In January of 1985, the group petitioned the NBA Board of Governors for permission to move the franchise to Sacramento. Nine months later, the Kings’ Sacramento-era began as the club played its first-ever contest before a sold out crowd at the temporary Sleep Train Arena site. Over twenty-five NBA seasons later, the club continues to play before large crowds in a Sleep Train Arena building constructed by the Lukenbill-Benvenuti ownership group.