Playing to Win tour a hit with Kings fans

Thousands of Sacramento Kings fans made their way to Sleep Train Arena last night on March 19 to watch their team earn an exciting 116-101 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Before the game, however, those same fans gathered outside for a greater cause that would help keep their team from moving to Seattle next season.

The Playing to Win Tour van arrived at the arena before starting a meaningful journey across the country with its first stop in Oakland, where the Golden State Warriors play.

Radio host Dave Weiglein, simply known as Carmichael Dave, will take co-host Sean Thomas and a film crew from Franklin Pictures to raise awareness of the effort to keep the Kings from moving to Seattle as well as gain support from around the country.

EP.1 - "It's Time to Play to Win"EP.1 - "It's Time to Play to Win"

Location: Power Balance Pavilion

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Playing to Win is another grassroots effort that has sprung up in Sacramento that is trying to keep the Kings. Others include Here We Stay, Crown Downtown and Here We Buy.

With the Maloofs filing for relocation before selling the team to a Seattle-group, a waiting list for the Seattle SuperSonics' priority ticket wait list has already started. There was also a wait list for the Anaheim Royals when the Kings almost relocated in 2011.

Bay Area investor Mark Mastrov and billionaire and Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle will put in a second bid to buy the team after the first one fell short of the NBA's expectations.

The original Sonics team relocated to Oklahoma City, one of the tour's stops, in 2008 and are now known as the Thunder. Weiglein said the goal will be the same there like it is in every city the tour visits:

I think they'll have a unique understanding about the situation, just in opposite form. We're hoping to get support from every city we go to, regardless of their politics or what they've been through. We hope everybody can understand what we're going through and they'll be on our side.

The tour van also made it's way to Sacramento City Hall, where Sacramento City Council would discuss the Kings as one of its items on the agenda. Weiglein says to save the Kings, it's up to the power players:

The mayor (Kevin Johnson) and City Council — they're the ones who have the power to save this team. We're just doing some cool public relations stuff and trying to change a few minds. The City Council and the Mayor (Kevin Johnson), along with Mr. Mastrov and Burkle, there the ones that'll save this team.

It's a 15,000 mile trip across the United States that passes through Los Angeles and Phoenix all the way to Manhattan and back to Sacramento, but no matter the outcome, it's a worthy cause.

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