This Quote Deserves Its Own Place in Hell

“Let me ask you this,” (Sly) James said. “Which would you rather have, the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Phoenix Coyotes? Who do you think would make more money for the city in the long run?”

Perhaps the team that wins.  But, if either moves to Kansas City, it's almost a guarantee they will both lose.

:(


For more on this story, click here.

* * *

Also, this article exists, but isn't worth debating.  It's basically every baseless, basic argument put into one editorial.  HOT TAKES like "there aren’t enough pro basketball or hockey fans in this city to support a team even if we got one" obviously lack objectivity and research, and more importantly turn the discussion away from whether or not the P&L District and the city lose money because the Sprint Center doesn't have an anchor tenant (i.e. 40+ guaranteed events for X amount of years).  

And they say print journalism is dying.

(To Yael's credit, this editorial doesn't appear to have the same amount of research and thought as many of his others.  Perhaps the Star just wanted a familiar voice to chime in on the issue.  Not sure why that would be the case, nor what this article was attempting to prove.)

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/20/4304493/mayor-says-luring-nhls-coyotes.html#storylink=cpy

The Curious Case (and Unending Questions) of Kansas City Hockey

"This man just got through talking about what the f--- he ain't
G-D did...LONG LIVE THE SCOUTS!!!"

More on this to come, obviously – the city of Glendale wants to lease their own city hall!!!, and Bettman has (supposedly) set a date – but you can be sure that the Coyotes won't end up in Kansas City.  Nope.  Not no way, not no how.  Or they could.  Who knows.  Who knows because Mayor Sly James diverts the truth on the whole issue, for some reason.  As definite as he is in his responses, he also leaves a lot of unanswered questions.  He's like a Pandora's box of dubiousness, always seemingly covering for someone or attempting to save face.  All just to convince someone – anyone – the Coyotes should not come to Kansas City.

Let me point out that James isn't necessarily wrong for doing this, nor refusing to bring the Coyotes to KC a bad idea.  It's an idea.  If the city doesn't want to do it – and if there is no ownership in place – then it does not happen.  Ipso facto.

As you may know, James claims Kansas City and the Sprint Center are not in the running to acquire the Coyotes should the NHL finally put the city of Glendale out of its misery and end their long financial nightmare.  Sly James just spoke to the Kansas City Star on the topic, because these interviews have become an annual tradition so why not.


He says in the KC Star June 20th:

“Several months back, even before that, we put out some feelers and talked to some people we trusted who knew what the situation was … the availability, the costs …” James told The Star on Thursday, “and the basic information was (the Coyotes) need a lot of money from the city in one form or the other. They said, it’s not a great deal for you, like you might hope.
“The question was, ‘What would it take?’ The answer was, ‘A whole hell of a lot. It might take you from a (profit) to a negative.’ It wasn’t something recommended to be done.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/20/4304493/mayor-says-luring-nhls-coyotes.html#storylink=cp.

Okay, that's fine, I'll bite.  It's going to be a financial disaster...except maybe not.  The franchise is a financial disaster right now.  By moving, it seemingly avoids being a financial disaster.

It is, and forever will be, a financial disaster for the city of Glendale, who had the owner of their hockey team go bankrupt while running the team – thus sending the organization into bankruptcy.  That left the city to own and operate Jobing.com Arena at all expense to them, because the NHL had to take over the assets of the franchise.  The NHL, in its cunning ways, even had Glendale paying off part of the yearly debt of the franchise.  Over the four year span the organization went through a period of continued financial loss, mostly due to its instability and location within the Phoenix-area, and the city felt the pinch through ticket sales, paying the NHL part of the team's debts, and other lost television and marketing revenue (again, because of the instability – not because there are "no hockey fans in Arizona.").  This has continued for four plus years because no one is able to own the team under the NHL's conditions because they are a) keep the team in Glendale and b) since the team is in Glendale, the city must give that owner a sweetheart deal to keep it there i.e. literally PAY THE OWNER TO RUN THE TEAM IN JOBING.COM ARENA just so the ownership can turn a profit.  Without profit, no one wants to own the team.  Chicken and the egg, except the egg is the city of Glendale leasing out their city hall, taxing out the ass, and diverting what's left of their budget.

The tl:dr to that is the Coyotes (and any potential owner) need a lot of money from the city of Glendale, not necessarily from Kansas City...or Seattle...or Vegas...etc. because those cities don't owe the NHL.

The question here is what money do the Coyotes need from another city?  What is that money doing?  Getting them out of Glendale jail?  Moving costs?  Perhaps I don't understand the deal Kansas City has with AEG for the Sprint Center well enough to ably process what part the city has in owning a franchise.  Yes, it stands to gain or lose financially, but what is the difference between a deal with the Coyotes in 2013 and a deal with the Penguins in 2007?  If memory serves me correctly, AEG was willing to give the Pittsburgh Penguins free rent at Sprint when the team mulled relocation.  That's basically what Glendale has to offer to keep the Coyotes in town – plus several million dollars more, again, just so the team can turn a profit.  Is that what Kansas City would run into, having to eat a share of the rent costs of the arena along with AEG or an AEG approved ownership group?  Really, no one knows, and these "some people" James talked to could be anyone.  They could be your neighbor, your boss, that guy at the grocery store that bought the last bottle of Billy's BBQ sauce.  There is absolutely no reason, though, for these people to go by the nom de guerre of "some people."  Who said it?  Did AEG say that?  Was there a focus group?  With these simple fill-in-the-blanks, Sly, I wouldn't have to blog about how I think you are full of shit, were fed some shit, or a little from Column A and B.  Glendale is losing money on the Coyotes because it's turned into the bad investment for the city, not an owner.  Kansas City does not own the Coyotes, nor would they under the agreement that AEG owns any NBA or NHL franchises at Sprint.  Thus, Sly James, we require more information from you.

That point, for all intents and purpose, is what's at issue.  What does Sly gain from not disclosing these people?  Just tell us who you talked to and what they said.  If your neighbor made up a chart and Power Point presentation that said the city would lose money by acquiring the Coyotes, then fine.  We know the qualified source to direct our questions.

Anyway...

What else...?  Oh yes.

James goes on to say (bold mine):

“We were told, you should continue to look for a team, you’re in a good enough situation, where you have an arena that is working,” James said. “It’s not like we’re desperate or have an arena that is dark and not making money. You don’t have to jump at a deal just because something is out there.”According to Pollstar Magazine’s annual report, Sprint Center was the sixth-busiest arena in the United States in 2012 and No. 22 in the world. Even without an anchor tenant, Sprint Center provided $1.85 million to the city in 2012 through its profit-sharing agreement.

 This is true, and so financially responsible of him.  At issue are the promises made when the Arena opened.  Those promises are seven years and counting.  People get impatient.  And Sprint's not going to be around forever.

Kemper Arena lived to be about thirty before it was absolutely not profitable anymore.  If Kansas City acquires a team TODAY, they could have a lease at Sprint similar to the Chiefs and Royals at the Truman Sports Complex: 25 years (for a frame of reference, Glendale wants a 15-year lease on a nine year old arena).  Of course, any team may not sign that kind of a lease, but who knows how much longer Sprint will be around, or profitable.  The city has to understand people get impatient about a pro sports franchise moving into Sprint because its not "new" anymore.  There are new arenas going up across North America that can attract a franchise – or owner – better than Kansas City can (Seattle, Quebec City, etc.).  Technically before Sprint, Kansas City had an available arena since 1976.  The window closes a little everyday.

But, we're being too nice to Mayor Sly.  Here's where he tells a blatant lie (bold mine, again):

Of course, the other part of the equation to bring a team to Kansas City is identifying ownership. Both the new Phoenix group and prospective Seattle group are from out of the area and if AEG — which operates the Sprint Center — has an ownership group waiting in the wings for Kansas City, it is not saying.
“I’m not aware of a group,” James said. “That was part of the early discussion, whether there was a group that could step up … my understanding was there was not a group.

My mistake.  He might have actually told the lie a year ago around this time:

"I'd say, if anything, we're closer on the hockey front than we are the basketball front.  There's a cohesive hockey interested group."

Later, Sly makes it clear on his Twitter account that "Nothing even close" to a deal exists but then WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?  Anyway, the point is who knows what we can believe.  There has probably never been a "cohesive hockey interested group," and that's fine, because Sly didn't necessarily mislead us, because he totally didn't say that (even though he did).  Again, he's not at fault.  We all are, for assuming that the minds behind downtown revitalization of the mid-2000s had a professional sports team in mind.

Personally, I'd love to have an NHL team in Kansas City.  But, honestly, I could give a shit less if I felt like the mayor or AEG would give us the actual financial risks of why we can't pursue the Coyotes, and quit acting like Sprint Center is some Mecca of entertainment that's evolved past the need to host the competitive gladiator events of the dirty proletariat.  Madison Square Garden and Staples Center are Meccas of entertainment, and they do just fine hosting multiple professional sports teams plus events.  The Sprint Center is a nice arena in the middle of America with a good event booker.  That's it.  But what happens when Sprint Center gets older, and can't support those great musical acts?  What happens when we are back where we started, when those acts bypassed KC to go to Omaha, and St. Louis, and OKC, and Des Moines?  Where is the staying power for Sprint?  Does the downtown revitalization stall in five years when Sprint is twelve years old and not considered "modern" anymore.  Then what?

Oh, and to his credit James does get something unequivocally right in that article: Kansas City does not have a potential hockey ownership group.  At all.  None.  And that's all he really needed to say anyway.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/20/4304493/mayor-says-luring-nhls-coyotes.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/20/4304493/mayor-says-luring-nhls-coyotes.html#storylink=cpy

Mayor says luring NHL’s Coyotes would have been bad business deal for Kansas City

(editor's note: this story originally appeared in the Kansas City Star on June 20th.  It is posted here in its entirety for posterity's sake, because The Star's online articles tend to disappear quickly.  This article is not written by anyone associated with Lost City of Bettman.)

June 20

BY RANDY COVITZ

The Kansas City Star

Whether the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes remain in Arizona or move to Seattle, Mayor Sly James does not regret that Kansas City didn’t do more to attract the club to the Sprint Center.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/20/4304493/mayor-says-luring-nhls-coyotes.html#storylink=cpy

After investigating the possibility of pursuing the Coyotes — who have been losing money while under NHL ownership since 2009 — James was convinced the franchise would have been a bad business deal for Kansas City.

“Several months back, even before that, we put out some feelers and talked to some people we trusted who knew what the situation was … the availability, the costs …” James told The Star on Thursday, “and the basic information was (the Coyotes) need a lot of money from the city in one form or the other. They said, it’s not a great deal for you, like you might hope.

“The question was, ‘What would it take?’ The answer was, ‘A whole hell of a lot. It might take you from a (profit) to a negative.’ It wasn’t something recommended to be done.”

Renaissance Sports Entertainment, a group out of Canada which has been approved to buy the Coyotes from the NHL, is seeking a reported $15 million a year from the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Ariz., to operate the Jobing.com Arena. Glendale has budgeted $6.5 million per year, according to the Arizona Republic, and if the two sides don’t come to an agreement by July 2, the Coyotes could be sold to interests in Seattle, where the team would play at Key Arena until a new facility was built.

Handing over a multi-million dollar subsidy to the new owners is simply too much, said James, considering the Sprint Center is turning a profit each year for the city. According to the mayor’s office, Kansas City has received nearly $8 million in profit-sharing payments in the Sprint Center’s first five years of operation.

“We were told, you should continue to look for a team, you’re in a good enough situation, where you have an arena that is working,” James said. “It’s not like we’re desperate or have an arena that is dark and not making money. You don’t have to jump at a deal just because something is out there.”

According to Pollstar Magazine’s annual report, Sprint Center was the sixth-busiest arena in the United States in 2012 and No. 22 in the world. Even without an anchor tenant, Sprint Center provided $1.85 million to the city in 2012 through its profit-sharing agreement.

Still, the mayor is not giving up on bringing an NHL or NBA franchise to Kansas City.

“Our position is, if there is a good deal out there, that makes sense, then, yeah, let’s take a serious look at it,” James said. “But if it’s going to be something that is more risk than we possibly want to take on, let’s not do that. Right now, we don’t have an offer, there’s nothing out there.”

Of course, the other part of the equation to bring a team to Kansas City is identifying ownership. Both the new Phoenix group and prospective Seattle group are from out of the area and if AEG — which operates the Sprint Center — has an ownership group waiting in the wings for Kansas City, it is not saying.

“I’m not aware of a group,” James said. “That was part of the early discussion, whether there was a group that could step up … my understanding was there was not a group.

“Doesn’t it seem like if we really want to get in the game, we need some people here who have some money who are willing to get in the game?”

Los Angeles-based AEG has undergone a change in leadership in recent months with Dan Beckerman taking over as president and chief executive officer in place of Tim Leiweke, who now runs the company that owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors and Toronto FC.

Repeated attempts to reach Beckerman have been unsuccessful, so it is unknown whether AEG — which owns the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings — has an interest in identifying a buyer for the Coyotes if they fail to reach an agreement with Glendale or Seattle.

“We are continuing to follow the lead of the NHL, so we are unable to comment regarding specifics as it relates to the Phoenix deal,” said Shani Tate, the Sprint Center’s director of communications and marketing.

The NHL Board of Governors is scheduled to meet on June 27 and hoped to approve the sale of the Coyotes. The league has yet to release its 2013-14 schedule, and it reportedly has several versions, depending on where the Coyotes are playing.

Sprint Center does not have an NHL preseason game scheduled for this fall, though Tate said that has nothing to do with the Coyotes’ situation. She did say, however, that if the opportunity were to arise, the facility can work with the NHL on scheduling needs.

“We are always making preparations, whether it relates to scheduling and making sure we are involved in the necessary conversations,” Tate said. “However, it needs to be the most responsible thing and making sure our partners at the city are also involved. We are paying close attention to the situation in Phoenix.”

Kansas City’s reluctance to underwrite the cost of the Coyotes or any NHL or NBA franchise could preclude any franchise from moving to the Sprint Center, because most clubs will demand shares of revenue from suites, concessions, parking, signage, sponsorships and other amenities.

AEG offered the Pittsburgh Penguins a favorable lease before the arena even opened in 2007, only to see the team leverage that deal for a new arena in Pittsburgh. James agrees that most clubs would want a favorable lease as well. But not all situations are the same. There’s only one Sidney Crosby.

“Let me ask you this,” James said. “Which would you rather have, the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Phoenix Coyotes? Who do you think would make more money for the city in the long run?”

Kansas City is Abuzz With Hockey-Related News

A day after the EPIC Kings-Pens overtime game that decided the best hockey team in the history of the world (or something), Kansas City has even more hockey news.  Even the KC Star is getting into the act, after the jump of course:



Randy Covitz sat down with Darth Leiweke (and presumedly KC mayor Slyyyy James).  Just a fun little interview talking about Kansas City hockey fans and the thrill of the crowd and all of that fun stuff...right?  Uh, oh no, no no.  Don't say that...

Via the KC Star's Randy Covitz:

“Kansas City can take its time,” said (Tim) Leiweke, whose company manages the Sprint Center, where an announced crowd of 17,779 saw the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in an overtime shootout.“The key is you can chase a team, but you’re going to end up not making a great deal and maybe being disappointed. Or you can wait and not only try to find the right situation, but economically make the right deal.“We’re not chasing, and I love the mayor’s attitude, which is: ‘Under our terms.’ ”

Oh, that's not good.

“Right now there is not an urgency,” Leiweke said. “This building is doing phenomenal. When we began this process, if we would have known this building could stand on its own two feet and be one of the top five buildings (for concerts and family shows) without an anchor tenant, we would have been going around telling people, ‘If there is an anchor tenant that makes sense, we’ll get it, but we don’t need it.’“We’re fine without one, and we probably make more money without one. And the city makes more money without one. That said, if we can make the right deal and find the right team, I definitely think that’s what we have to do here.”

Uh, well, at least no one will freak out too much about this.  Nothing to see here, right?  Please tell me I'm RIGHT!!!!

Via CBS Sports

Via KC Star's Don't Kill the Mellinger

Via Yahoo! Sports Puck Daddy

Awesome.

Really, should we be too surprised by Timmy "Living a Lie" Leiweke's statements?  This is the same jargon that anyone and everyone close to AEG has said for the past two years.  Of course, it's good to see some members of the media and blogosphere reacting to such statements, but when does that become blown smoke?  The media can only be angry for so long, but, and I'm sorry to say, the best thing they can do is just keep being angry and mad until that one day the NHL comes to KC for some reason or another.  Is any news good news?  In this case as long as people in Kansas City are talking about hockey (even in a pessimistic light), then I will be happy.  It's unfortunate that everything reported by the media about hockey is usually panning Leiweke (although there is a reason), but as long as they feel slighted, then keep up the talk.  It good to keep the discussion going.  

So, the positivity train lasted about two hours after last night's game until Covitz's article came out online.  Good deal...

But, in other positive hockey news, there are a few special games coming to the area that you should know about if you don't already.

Initially reported by pucKChaser, the NCAA's 2012 Ice Breaker Tournament was formally announced yesterday and is coming to KC's Sprint Center October 12-13 2012.  You can learn more here, but the tourney will feature Nebraska-Omaha, Army, Notre Dame, and historical powerhouse Maine.

Also, if you stuck around after the game last night and watched the Mizzou-Kansas club hockey game, or even if you didn't, you get another opportunity on January 20th, 2012 at the Independence Events Center.  I have been to one of these Border WAR games in the past, and they are damn fun to watch.

Comparing the Big XII's and NHL's Impact on Downtown Kansas City

I don't want this to devolve into a discussion on college athletics on a hockey blog, and all of the hearsay and rumors and nonsense that changes almost daily, but I know it will.  So, just bear with me.

Just as a general common sense thing, let's list the top sports revenue things in KC in no particular order:
1. Kansas City Chiefs
2. Kansas City Royals
3. Sporting Kansas City FC Wizards etc. etc.
4. Big XII Conference events
5. NASCAR/racing

One of those things occurs in downtown Kansas City occasionally.  Can you guess which one?

Continue for the answer.



As many of you already know, the Big XII conference is again at a crossroads, with someone holding their hand over the self-destruct button and getting closer to pushing it than last year at this time.  Let's just say, for argument's sake, that the button is pushed this time.  Texas A&M goes to the Southeastern Conference and Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, and Texas Tech bolt for the Pac-12 (or whatever) and leave five 'orphaned' (that's a good word, appropriate word being tossed around) universities in a state of flux.  Let's.  Just.  Assume.

As of now, the media has Oliver Twist (Missouri) and his four brothers (Baylor, Kansas, K-State, and Iowa State) all going to the Big East, or some of them going to the Big East, or some of them going to the Big Ten, or Missouri going to the SEC, or randomly more going to the Pac-##, or joining the Mountain West, etc. etc.  The best scenario for Kansas City, of course, would be for the Big 12 to remain a conference.  But, again, let's assume it won't be a conference by this time next month.

Dating back to the days of the Big 8, Kansas City has been the sports hub of local major college sports.  The dawning of the Texas infused Big 12 in 1996 saw brought a football championship game.  Kansas City and Arrowhead Stadium have the distinction of holding the event the most times (5) in its fifteen year history.  Of course, since the opening of Jerry Jones' Super Intergalactic Fun Time Stadium and Putt-Putt, the game was to be held in Dallas from 2009-2013, almost assuring Kansas City would never see the game again.  Fine.

In 1997, the Big XII men's and women's basketball tournament was brought to Kansas City, where they have been nine times and KC will play host again this year.  First, the men's found a home in Kemper Arena, but moved to the Sprint Center after its completion.  The women's has always been played in Municipal Auditorium, just down the street from the Sprint Center today.  So, everything works out for Kansas City, right?  The football championship can be played where football thrives, while the basketball championship can be held in the home of the College Basketball Hall of Fame.  There in lies the rub.

As Blair Kerkhoff so eloquently put it in his KC Star article, the men's and women's basketball tournaments "have an economic impact of $14 million."  So, what's the problem, you ask?  Well, what conference will make Kansas City home without any historic foothold in the area?

Let's assume some more.

Assume, Missouri and Kansas or any variety of the five remaining schools go to the Big Ten.  The conference is already in new territory with the addition of Nebraska as the farthest west school.  Adding a Missouri and/or Kansas would expand it farther west, but that does not necessarily mean the influence will go that way as well.  With Ohio State and Michigan in the east, the big money conference championships seem to hover in that area.  Indianapolis and Chicago have been the only hosts to the basketball tournament, and Indianapolis will host the first Big Ten football championship.  If any city gets any influence, it would almost assuredly be towards the middle in St. Louis.  No championships for KC.

So, assume Missouri and the rest of the gang end up in the Big East.  The Big East basketball tournament has been held in Madison Square Garden forever, so it will be in KC sometime never.  The newly created football championship needs a home, and maybe the Big East would be willing to give the honors to the other side of the conference.  But, remember, Jerry Jones now does not have a championship game in his stadium, and with the addition of Texas' TCU and Baylor (maybe), Kansas City has an outsiders chance to land that game.

So, the SEC?  The football championship will forever be in the dome in Georgia.  But, the basketball tournament could fit nicely in KC with the addition of Missouri AND Kansas (although not likely).  Though, this tournament also seems to spend a lot of time in Atlanta also.

The newly formed Mountain West-Big XII hybrid conference, with members like Boise State, Nevada, Colorado State and so forth.  The basketball tournament could find a home here.  I originally thought that  attendance numbers would drag, but last year's championship game saw 18500 people, while the third overall game saw almost 15000 for New Mexico and Colorado State (the first two games attendance are missing, though).  This appears to be the best opportunity so far, although the football side of things would seriously take a hit in an inferior conference (sorry Boise State, but it's true).

Sooooo, that brings me to my main reason for writing (no, no, as much as I like to play the NCAA czar and pick fantasy conferences, that is not my point).  The football games are almost irrelevant, because only basketball will find a home downtown and in the Sprint Center.  Go back to the top list.  Taking the information we already know, and crossing off #4, none of those events take place downtown.  Taking away an estimated $14 million from local merchants that ALREADY are not making what they were promised makes the Power and Light District a ghost town on cold nights in March.  That is taking away four days of events and almost ten-plus events (I will be eagerly awaiting what the bracket looks like for this year).  And that does not even include the women's tournament down the street.  Without the forty-one-plus games of an NHL tenant, the forty-one-plus games of an NBA tenant, or the comfort of having nearly twenty-plus local college basketball games in the arena, what happens to the surrounding areas?  We are talking major sports, sports that bring in money.  KC becomes a two sport town with colleges nearby, instead of being able to rely on the old adage of "at least we get a conference championship."

Those days may be running out as the clock ticks on the Big XII.  Once that reality sets in with the media here in Kansas City (and not just wedged into a conference realignment article), they will lash out at AEG, Tim Leiweke, and Kansas City sport and government officials in an uncontrollable race to find a scapegoat.  There is no scapegoat at that point, as the city loses out on precious economic monies to place toward other funds.  Downtown merchants cannot take solace in knowing the once every week or three or four times a month the Sprint Center will have an event that will primarily bring in locals from a 200 mile radius.  At this point, it would be unwise to predict the economic stability of the country as a whole a year from now, but the $14 million dollars for one decently sized basketball tournament exists to remind people how much more business could be brought downtown with at least forty more events (i.e. and NHL or even AHL team, as pucKChaser suggests).

But let's finish on an optimistic tone.

The city will not struggle, either way, as the 2012 MLB All-Star game at Kauffman Stadium looks to make a fair bit of coin, but the city's urban redevelopment project seems to be striving closer and closer to look like post-1980s Kemper Arena and the West Bottoms.  

That's about as optimistic as I get on this topic at this point.  The next post will have more hockey in it, I promise.

Headline pic via

Question: After more than four years of trying, what is Kansas City’s outlook for landing its own NHL team?

"I don't know"
--Luc Robitaille, current president and former player of the Los Angeles Kings.  AEG writes his checks.


Awesome.  Not a very encouraging Q&A by Randy Covitz on the KC Star's site today.  That line pretty much sums it up, although it's obvious Covitz was looking for more of an answer out of Luc.  KC needs an owner, it's hard to move NHL teams (but it's not--/laughing), KC needs to support the arena, yada, yada, yada.  The problem is no one has "stepped up royally" and we should all just deal with it.  It's the same old talk, but I am not sure what Covitz was looking to get out of the president of the Kings.  He knows hockey operations, he is not in on the day-to-day of AEG and Tim Leiweke.  Yes, he was in charge of finding a team for the building back in 2006-07, but he is far removed from any business dealings with KC.  His team is coming for a preseason game because the ownership group and a bunch of other people thought it was a decent idea from a marketing standpoint.  Oh, and it is.  Find a decent sized market with no rooting interest and saturate the market.  This will be the third Kings preseason game in KC.  The St. Louis Blues have played in four, they are closer, they appear on local TV occasionally, but they are by no means the Missouri's team.


Covitz asked decent questions, but he asked them to the wrong guy.  Robitaille can only answer based on trends he has seen around the league and hearsay that may or may not be true about Leiweke's motivation to bring a team to the city.  Take it for what it is; a piece by the media to show they are still looking out for the city's interests.  Also, that Luc cannot truthfully answer these questions even if he did have all of the answers.







But, he said this on the topic of tickets sold for the preseason game, which I do not believe.

"We have over 10,000 tickets sold. … We expect to sell out the game. We expect nothing (less). We expect people to come to the game and make this building alive …”

10,000 tickets?  Really?  It has to be corporate or group seats.

But I can't stay mad at him...

“I don’t think you’re being used. You have the best option. Look at North America. Is there another arena that is better than (the Sprint Center)? A city better than this? You have the best options. It’s really hard to move a team. The (New York) Islanders still have to figure out to do their deal … their lease is up in 2015. If that doesn’t happen, what city will take the burden to build a new arena and take the risks they did here? There’s a reason every concert wants to come here.”

Gasp!  Lucky loves us!  *swoon*


Now watch him hit some dingers!