The commissioner came with no ideas of his own, but on his first day, met with city officials, private developers, even editorial writers, to gather suggestions for a new arena plan:
 
Whether it’s successful or not, I make no guarantees, but it will not be for want of talking to any group or groups that have something to do with this that might offer us guidance or counsel.
 
Stern says a new arena will need public financing, even though he knows Sacramento County voters last month voted down two measures to publicly fund an arena.
Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo also says she told him in their meeting that public funding would be extremely difficult to achieve.  Despite that disconnect, Fargo was optimistic about Stern’s involvement in arena talks:
 
There’s a lot of discussions yet to take place over the next coupla days and probably the next coupla weeks.  I’m not sure how long they’re going to stay focused on this, but they certainly gave me the impression that this is you know not, just a 2 day trip to Sacramento; that they’re going to be engaged in this for longer.
 
Sterns says the Maloofs, owners of the Kings, asked him to come to Sacramento to negotiate on their behalf.  He says both the NBA and the Maloofs want the Kings to stay in Sacramento.