SACRAMENTO, California - NBA supporters in the capitol of California will have a chance to show they deserve a team when relocation committee chairman Clay Bennett visits Sacramento on Thursday and Friday.

The Maloof family, which owns the NBA's Sacramento Kings and vows it will not sell the club, has asked about moving the team to Anaheim, in part because it has been unable to land a deal for a new arena in Sacramento.

But Kevin Johnson, Sacramento's mayor and a former NBA star with the Phoenix Suns, made a pitch to NBA owners vowing $7 million in new commitments for sponsorships, luxury box rentals and ticket sales.

As a result, NBA commissioner David Stern extended the deadline for filing a relocation request to May 2 so the league could conduct a fact-finding mission.

"The fact that we're here and we bought two more weeks, that is a big, big deal," Johnson said Tuesday. "We get a chance to put our best foot forward."

Those trying to keep the Kings in Northern California are pushing city businesses to offer more support for a team that finished 24-58, second-worst in the Western Conference.

In addition, the NBA has said that the Kings' current arena is not suitable as a long-term home for an NBA club and there is concern the city will find a way to build a new venue and provide corporate support needed to keep a team.

"We are squaring off against everybody who thinks Sacramento can't support an NBA team, who thinks all we have are cowbells, loud fans and an old barn for an arena," Johnson wrote on his city website blog.

"And we are squaring off against ourselves, trying to overcome our image as a city that's short on corporate support, lacking Fortune 500 headquarters, unable to command big TV market dollars."

An issue for some Kings fans was the selection of Bennett as chairman of the relocation committee. Bennett bought the Seattle SuperSonics and moved them to Oklahoma City in 2008 when he was unable to make a deal for a new arena.

Johnson, meanwhile, will meet with area political leaders for regional support he deemed critical to keeping the Kings from leaving a city that ranks among the top 20 US media markets with no rival top-level teams and one that has seen the Kings play to sellout seasons 19 times in 26 years.

"A good, solid show of corporate support ... will make a huge impression on the NBA," he said. "Acknowledgement from regional leaders that we must explore options on a public-private partnership for a new events center will also keep Sacramento in the game."