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The Sacramento Kings will attempt to break the Guinness Book of World’s Records mark for arena decibel levels

The Sacramento Kings need a new arena. The unfortunately-named Sleep Train Arena is the NBA’s third-oldest, at 25 years of age, it offers the smallest capacity of any building in the league, and it’s very much lacking in terms of perks that corporations and potential sponsors would like to take advantage of. The arena is so small that it nearly inspired the former Kings owners to sell the franchise to two different groups that would move the team to either Anaheim or Seattle. The former Arco Arena owns a nearly franchise-killing and community-heartbreaking style of small.

It’s also very small and very old in a good way. Because of the size and lack of volume-killing obstacles within its infrastructure, the arena can get ridiculously loud when the mood is up, and the Kings are killing it. Unfortunately for Kings fans, the team has been routinely terrible over the last few seasons, up to and including a disappointing 1-5 start to this season.

In order to draw attention away from that start, and to take advantage of the arena’s acoustics while the new Kings arena is being constructed, the new Kings ownership and front office has designed up a little novelty. They want you to bring the noise in an otherwise forgettable contest between the Kings and the Detroit Pistons. A record-setting level of noise, if you wouldn’t mind. From Sports Out West:

The Sacramento Kings have notified the Guinness Book of World Records that they will attempt to set a new world record for noise in an indoor arena when the team takes on the Detroit Pistons on Nov. 15 on ESPN.

Team president and COO Chris Granger joined Comcast SportsNet’s broadcast of the game against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday and gave further details on what to expect during the nationally televised affair.

“The chatter’s been increasing and increasing and we’ve been paying attention to it,” Granger said. “We’re going to provide our fans with a platform to make the loudest noise in the history of indoor arenas.”

Granger confirmed that the team will have a decibel meter working during Wednesday night’s home contest between the Kings and the Brooklyn Nets, and that he’s encouraging fans to give it a practice run in anticipation of Friday’s nationally televised contest.

Weirdly, Guinness contends that a contest between the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers from December of 2008 boasts the record for the loudest arena decibel count, at 106.

That’s hard to believe, considering some of the NBA Finals contests we’ve been lucky enough to cover, or the playoff hockey games we’ve seen on the tube, but Guinness is Guinness and they’re not to be dismissed. It still seems odd that a boring Milwaukee Bucks squad downing a terrible (Zach Randolph and Baron Davis combined to shoot 4-20 from the field that night) Los Angeles Clippers team by 29, in a mid-December contest, would be the record-holder. Apparently Guinness wasn’t counting such things when the Michael Jordan-era Bulls were playing at Chicago Stadium, the Los Angeles Lakers were battling the Boston Celtics at Boston Garden, or when The Who toured behind ‘Quadrophenia.’

It’s a noble experiment, and certainly an intelligent one in light of the national TV showing – even if it is on basic cable, broadcast over the wee hours to most of America, and on a Friday night. And it’ll certainly distract from the Kings and (also disappointing) Pistons’ play on the court.

The Kings fans and organization have already proven they can move you with their in-game experience. Now they’re attempting to hand you a weekend-long case of tinnitus. Eh, it’ll probably be worth it.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!