No NHL Preseason Game in KC Makes Jack a Dull Boy

As NHL training caps are just around the corner, let us remember that Kansas City doesn't have an NHL exhibition game.  Oh, but there is an NBA exhibition game.  So never mind no big deal.  Except IT IS A BIG DEAL.  The last hockey game at the Sprint Center was the October 13th match last year between Notre Dame and Nebraska-Omaha.  And that's the last one for the foreseeable future.  Why?

#1: The NHL lockout
To a small degree, the lockout can be blamed for Kansas City missing out on a hockey game this year.  KC was set to host the Rangers and Avalanche in a preseason game, but it was canceled due to the lockout.  This disrupted a trend of exhibition games at Sprint Center for the past three of four years at the arena.  But, it's not like the NHL's popularity dwindled due to the lockout.  In fact, NBCSN set ratings records, and local ratings were up in many markets. (though it was nice to say we would never watch the NHL again if the whole season was canceled.  Truth is the NHL knows your viewing habits better than you do).

#2: Sly James doesn't understand hockey
You've seen the quote.  Major James doesn't understand the business of bringing a professional sports team to the Sprint Center.  That's AEG's job.  Who brought the Ice Breaker tournament?  NHL exhibition games?  All AEG.  To Mayor James's credit, he has no clue.  But it's not like he's supposed to have a clue.  He's the figurehead, because who do you talk to at AEG about anything happening at the Sprint Center?

#3: Tim Leiweke doesn't work for AEG anymore
Tim Leiweke – KC's AEG representative, former AEG President and CEO, and everyone's favorite anti-hero – left AEG this year to join Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment where he's made a big splash.  Now Dan Beckerman is in charge, a guy with no ties to an arena in the middle of America nor has to throw disgruntled KC constituents a bone now and then because he lied to them over seven years ago.  Kansas City is an afterthought, and though we get the Miami Heat and Charlotte Name Pendings for an NBA exhibition game, this caters to the local college basketball audience around town more than any hope of an NBA team coming to KC.

So, when is the next hockey game in the Sprint Center?  This reiterates that Kansas City does not appear to be in the running for an anchor tenant anytime soon.  Most importantly, though, how long can Sprint Center maintain it's profitability?  With an anchor tenant, the city, arena management, and team ownership all act as checks on the arena, making sure the facilities stay as up to date as possible.  Instead, it's clear the city defers to AEG on all happenings at this arena.  If the arena is no longer profitable and modern, will AEG look to sell it?  If we look at a recent example, it took the city of Kansas City over ten years after the Kings left for Sacramento to give Kemper a much needed renovation.  As we have seen, professional sports ownership typically requests renovations to arenas or stadiums, or threatens to leave.  This is an extreme example, yes, but how long do we really expect this to be a "Top American Arena" or whatever the hell?

Let's look at last year, KC had the highest visibility of hockey in the city since the days of the Blades last year (Ice Breaker, potential Rangers-Avalanche game, the Mavericks).  Instead, we only have the Mavericks to look forward to this year.  A year ago this time the future looked bright.  This year may be a glimpse into our possible future: the Mavericks, and that's it.

Yes, let's enjoy our world class arena with all of it's fun events, and let's enjoy our Missouri Mavericks and the success they have had in just a few short years.  But, it's okay to be cautiously pessimistic of the future of Kansas City hockey.

So, to paraphrase a statement by mayor Sly James, "What would you rather have, events at the Sprint Center or no events.  What do you think would make more money for the city in the long run?"  Maybe shoehorning one hockey event in Sprint Center this year would not have been such a bad idea, and would give the city one more "event" to boast about.

Calling All Kansas City Billionaires: AEG Up For Sale

AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group), the owner and operator of our own Sprint Center, is for sale.  It's not exactly known what will come from this, or if our good friend Tim Leiweke will be kicked to the curb and forced to be an organ grinder just to make a living, but it will mean a change in the management if all of AEG's properties.

The AP article goes on to say that everything is just fine for LA's futile prospects of courting an NFL franchise, what will this mean for Kansas City.  Will we continue to see an exhibition game each year, or even have tournaments like Ice Breaker or any other hockey events?  Coupled with the NHL lockout, and the real possibility that the Rangers-Avs game will be cancelled, has the Sprint Center peaked too soon, and sealed its fate as a decent concert venue for the next thirty years?  The pessimist in us all wants to say 'yes,' and we wouldn't be wrong.  But – and bear with me here – what if this new company, whoever it is, demands more out of a world class venue like the Sprint Center despite owning and operation showpieces around the globe?  What if Kansas City becomes a testing ground, or the crown jewel of the Midwest?  Maybe they won't lure an NHL or NBA franchise (if anything, the NHL is headed for contraction...hopefully not of all thirty teams...), but bring in more sporting events.  Not even just hockey.  A Frozen Four, a March Madness regional, the Big XII, the SEC, youth events, exhibition games, etc.  They can make it happen.  Please do, whoever you are, for the sake of our city's sports sanity.

Tim Leiweke in the 1980s? Yeah, Tim Leiweke in the 1980s

Did you know that Tim Leiweke – the sports czar (or whatever) of AEG – and his brother Tracey ran the Kansas City Comets indoor soccer team back in the 1980s?  Well, they did.  And here they are in the most 1980s video you will see all year.

AEG, of course, manages the Sprint Center and once ran Kemper Arena (into the ground...literally...almost)

Gary Bettman Reveals the Potential Coyotes Mysterious International Ownership Group

Meanwhile, at NHL Headquarters...

(Charlie Brown teacher voice comes through the phone)

Gary Bettman (on phone): Yes, yes.  I know, Mrs. Scraggs.  And I keep telling you, it just doesn't work like that.  Uh-huh.  Yeah.  Hey, look, I have another call coming in.  How about this, when you can talk to me like an adult, call me back.

(Bettman clicks over to other line)

Bettman: Gary Bettman here, how may I help you?

Mysterious businessman: Hallo!  I am a, err, businessman from Germania, and I am mucho interestante in owning your Phoenix franchise.  Muy muy interestante!

Bettman: Um, okay.  I didn't know we had any international ownership groups interested in purchasing the Coyotes.

Mysterious businessman: Oh oui.  I have always wanted to own an NHL team, ever since I was a little mensch wearing my lederhosen on the frozen pond.

Bettman: Okay, do you have a name, by chance?

Mysterious businessman: All you need to know is that I represent a very importante investment group.

Bettman: And what is the name of your investment group?

Mysterious businessman: Um...its, uh...G....E...A.  Uh...German....Engineering....um...Artichokes...or something.

Bettman: Oookay... well, let's get down to business.  No BS.  What are you willing to offer us to purchase the organization?

Mysterious businessman: Anything you want.  We will do whatever it takes to make the Coyotes the most a la carte team in the league.  A la mode, if you will.

Bettman: You know what, I don't think we will be using your services.  Thanks for the offer, though.

Mysterious businessman: NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!  Achtung, Senor Bettman!  You need someone to own the sporting club, n'est-ce pas?

Bettman: Well, yes...

Mysterious businessman: Yes!  Si!  Da!  You need me!  You will amor me as an NHL owner!

Bettman: (heavy sigh) Mr. Leiweke, I know it's you, so please quit wasting my time.  I have more important things to do.  Plus, I'm meeting Shea Weber for dinner in twenty minutes.

Mysterious businessman: Mr. Leiweke.  Sacrebleu!  I know of no Monsieur Leiweke!

Bettman: Mr. Leiweke, I know it's you, and you already know you cannot own two NHL franchises.  As the owner of the Kings, you are disqualified from the Coyotes...err...sweepstakes.

Tim Leiweke:  Oh, well, haha.  Sorry, Gar-bear.  Just pullin' your leg.  But, for reals, let me own another franchise.

Bettman: No.

Leiweke: Ah man, that's not fair!

Bettman:  I know.

(Bettman hangs up phone)

The NHL Templars Have a Problem, And Only One Man Can Help

Preface:  If you haven't read this post yet, then you are going to have no idea what the hell is going on.  Click the hotlink, read that, then your opinion of how stupid this is will really matter.

NHL Headquarters, Somewhere in Toronto, Last Week

*Knock* *knock*

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NHL Grand Master Gary Bettman: Yes, thou art welcome in mine quarters.

(Steward Bill de Daly enters solar chambers)

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Bill de Daly: Greetings, Master Bettman.  How does this day find you?

Bettman:  Not so well, kind steward.  For thou see, there art cracks in our once impenetrable sallyport.

Daly: Sir, I just came through the sallyport.  Twas nothing....

 Bettman: Silence, thou fool!  I do not mean the literal sallyport, I speak of our plans.  For thee see, the knights of Phoenix will soon be forced from their lodgings by our men, and sent elsewhere.

Daly: Where, my Lord?  I have already quoth they will not move, and I shall not requite thee wishes.  I had four messengers clubbed for fabricating lies.  Those men cannot surely speak truth?

Bettman:  No, but you see, the men of Phoenix WILL move, and do so as quick that sparks will fly from stones after them.  The Quebecers want the refugees in exchange for millions of pounds, their excess of burnished gold, and thousands of hides throughout the whole of the Quebecian kingdom.

Daly:  I misunderstand thee...

Bettman: They art constructing a new Knight’s Hall for the men of Phoenix. We plan to send those men to Quebec, for we can no longer expect decent tax collection from their current estate.  We shalt collect the offering of the Quebecers in exchange.

Daly: I beseech thee, my Lord, this is not right.  The commoners will find out. They will call ye unstable! They will riot!  They will worry for their safety, and see ye head on a pike!

Bettman:  SCOFF!!!  So help me He that sitteth on high, ‘twas not my errand to worry on commoners and their petty bickering!  I placed men in the Spanish stronghold of Miami.  At first all spoke of me as a fool, but now they call me a genius.  I sent men from Ford de Hart and Winnipeg to the southern fiefdoms, and now they hail me as a king!  The commoners do not burden me.  Tis those villages without knights art mine burden.  They continue to build grand halls in hopes of getting their own cavalry, but we do not have the manpower to expand our forces.  Thus, the lords of these villages can cause unrest amongst other lords with men at their disposal.  We need a diversion, something to keep everyone satisfied, while making a move to Quebec.

Daly:  We could trick these marshals, these so-called “owners.”  Then we could steal the knights away to Quebec.

Bettman:  Thou art the wisest in the world, indeed!

Daly:  What art thou most troublesome fiefs, my Lord?

Bettman:  Well, those that cause trouble the most seek to build, or have built, new battlements.

Daly:  Thou art refer to Seattle?

Bettman: Ah, yes, Seattle.  Now that’s a fine burgage.  The moneylender Christopher d’Hansen has a new hall he wishes to place men in, though these men be of great stature.  We need not do much to appease him.  Alert their local propaganda machine, for widespread news of a possible protective force will make him glad.

(Daly sends a letter to KING 5 in Seatte.  Quoth KING 5: “We want the NBA”.)  

Daly:  Who art else?  What of Jim Balsillie d’Ontario?

Bettman:  Ah, yes, a tragic tale, his.  I banished him to the oubliette weeks ago. Too troublesome, was he.  If you remember, a similar plan years ago, to appease the burg of Hamilton? Thee broke our covenant, thee was recreant in doing so.  Thee went too far.  If we are not careful, the same thing will happen in Saskatoon.  Laugh will I at the thought of my knights in Saskatoon...

But, one fief is troublemsome to the stability of my rule.  City de Kansas.

Daly: City de Kansas?  Art thou foolish?  Explain ye reasons.

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Bettman:  Lord Leiweke owns a hall in that realm.  Many fortnights before, we embarked on a night of merrymaking; there is something that Lady Bettman must not know about, something that only Lord Leiweke swears not to tell.  That is why I gifted him the cavalry in City de Angels.  He is a great foe, and I must continue to please him.  I need not say more... summon him AT ONCE!

(Sir de Daly summons Lord Tim Leiweke)

(Time passes)

(Lord Tim Leiweke enters the Great Hall of NHL Headquarters on horseback)

Lord Leiweke:  WWWAAAATTTTTT UUUUPPPPP, bros, joes, and coooo-missioners?!?!?!?!

Bettman:  I summon ye to discuss a matter of deep importance, and I ask of thou and I to enter into a convenant.

Lord Leiweke:  Sure, brah, I can do you a solid.  But, remembs, you have to come out here and shred hardcore with me, dude!  We had a deal when I bought the Kings.

Bettman:  (Sighs) All that ever I promised, that shall I keep with good will.  My truth on it.  Now, Sir Leiweke...

Leiweke:  “Hollywood.”

Bettman:  Nay, I beg thee pardon?

Leiweke:  It’s “Hollywood”, bro.  I’m totes lax with names and shiz.  All of my peeps are down with it.

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Bettman:  Okay, Sir... um, Hollywood.  Do you recall the hall ye constructed in City de Kansas?

Hollywood:  Yeeeaaaa, bro.  Imma just waitin’ for it to be stocked with some cool bros...and brews!  Ha ha you know I be pullin’ yer dangle, my man. But, for reals, when you gonna hook me up with an army?  That’d be off the Richter!

Bettman:  That is why I summoned thee.  The knights of Phoenix may go without homes soon, and I think ye hall in City de Kansas will provide suitable residence for them.  Art thou willing to accept this undertaking, provided it is offered?

Hollywood:  Sure, dude.  I mean, Ol’ Sly Fox ain’t too keen on bringin’ in a bunch of posers, but it’s whateves.  Anything for you, King Betts.

Bettman:  Please refer to me as Grand Master Bettman.

Hollywood:  Word, yo.

Bettman:  Okay, sir.  Now to our covenant.

Hollywood:  Lay it on me.

Bettman:  Relay the message I have told ye.  Tell everyone in the City de Kansas the words of our meeting. 

Hollywood:  That’s it?  Hell, dude, you know me, I’ll let the bros know.  It’s all radical, KB.  You can count on me.

Bettman:  Now, thank you for this above all else, sir knight.  Thou art dismissed.

Hollywood:  Hold on, let me try something before I bounce.

(Recites opening paragraphs of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”)

WHOOAAAA!!!!  Totally righteous, huh?!?!  Just a little somethin’ I picked up from the dudes down at the chapel.  Y’all certainly have a twisted way of talkin’.  Peace OOOUUUTTTTT!!!!!!! 

(Tim “Hollywood” Leiweke leaves)

Daly:  Do ye think thy great words hath fooled him?

Bettman: Of course!  He is but lord in name only, and does not understand our way.  Besides, much of his riches have been made from acrobats and jesters filling his many halls, and not from any fighting force.  He is a wretched man, a mere scullion, but one I must appease. 

(NHL messenger Sir Darren-Dreger d’TSN bursts into the chambers)

Bettman:  Oh look, my loyal messenger.  Light thee down, and profess thy news.

Sir d’TSN: My Lord, I and my fellow messengers hath spread word throughout the kingdom of ye wish to replace the Phoenix knights to the fiefs of Quebec, Seattle, and City de Kansas.  Alas, the new hall in Quebec has caused much distress among the people of the latter two burgs.  Word has spreadt throughout thy kingdom that you favor Quebec, and...

Bettman: Sir Daly!  Go, now, and spread the word to the people that we knowst nothing about this new hall, nor do we care.

Daly:  Yes, my Lord.

(Daly leaves)

Sir d’TSN: Is there anything else thou needs?

Bettman: Yes, have the men ready the trebuchet.  I have a meeting with the NHLPA presently.

HUZZAHHHH!!!!!

An Unexpected Twist in the Struggle for Leadership of the Kansas City School District

(Kansas City School Board office door bursts open)

Mayor Sly James:  Alright, enough wankin’ off! I’m in charge here!

KC School Board Members:  Umm... what?

Mayor James:  You ethics hating curmudgeons have brought enough bad press to this district with your negativity and unwillingness to cooperate.  You’re just as bad as a gun-toting urban teenager dropped off at the Cinemark Palace by his absentee parents to see the new Muppet movie on a Friday night.  You people disgust me, so I’m taking over.

KC School Board Members:  Umm... no.

Mayor James:  What, you don’t think I can make better decisions than this MENSA meeting?  I cleared the riff-raff out of the Plaza.  What have you done lately other than drive a superintendent out of town and cause the district to lose accreditation?

KC School Board Members:  None of what you just said is necessarily true...

Mayor James:  Are you calling me a liar?  No one calls the Sly One a liar!

KC School Board Members:  Mayor James, we would be more than happy to work with you if the opportunity presents itself.

Mayor James:  Oh, so you’re going to play that game, eh?  Well, it looks like you have left me no choice.  If you won’t listen to me, then it’s time to bring in the big guns, the folks who really know how to run things.  Boys get in here!

(window on the opposite side of the room slowly opens and two men slunk into the room)

Mayor James:  Quiver at the sight of management genius Tim Leiweke, and his, uh, his loyal, umm, co-worker?  Umm, oh, how about, “Hockey Hall of Famer” Luc Robitaille!

Tim Leiweke:  WHAT UP BRAHS, AND LADY BRAHS!?!  Speaking of lady bras, I have a trophy case full of those in my Learjet if anyone wants to check ‘em out.  All shapes and sizes.  I don’t discriminate!

KC School Board Members:  What are they doing here?

Tim Leiweke: I’m here to fix your crappy school system and teach you people how to make money.  No one knows how to make money off of strange and questionable business practices than me.  I own the Los Angeles Galaxy!  I make Mark Cuban look like the old lady from Titanic!

Luc Robitaille: From what I understand, that is what Mr. Leiweke intends to do.  Or so I’ve been told.  I can't comment on his Mark Cuban comment, though.

Mayor James:  You listen to these gentlemen.  They know what they are doing.  Mr. Leiweke, please gives us your idea.

Tim Leiweke:  Okay, here we go.  AEG buys all the schools in the district, then we build one massive, all-purpose school downtown.  Then, to make some money, host about sixty events per year.  It’s a great idea, AMIRITE.  I mean, love it, or loooove it?

KC School Board Members:  What would we do with the rest of the schools?

Tim Leiweke:  I don’t know.  Leave them to decay.  What the hell does it matter?  We’re making money aren’t we?

KC School Board Members:  Isn’t that kind of unethical, not to mention pointless?  I mean, we already have the school buildings; we just need to find a way to get on stable footing and provide the local children and their parents with reliable schools and a good education.

Tim Leiweke:  Provide for the local what?

Mayor James:  Mr. Leiweke, I’m not sure that particular model will work for what we are trying to do.

Tim Leiweke:  Okay, okay.  I understand.  You want a viable anchor tenant too.  I hate to tell you that things don’t work like that, but you’re too lame to understand that anyway.  But, because you farmers seem like nice people, here’s another idea.  We turn the schools into prisons...

Mayor James: Oh dear...

Tim Leiweke:  ...so, while you already have about 180 events...

KC School Board Members:  You mean school days?

Tim Leiweke: Sure, “school days.”  Personally, my marketing team would call them an All-Day Education Event presented by Live Nation and Perceptive Software.  It’s just makes better business sense.  But, whatever.  Who am I, except the mastermind behind bringing the NFL back to LA.  KNEEL BEFORE MY ABILITY TO PERSUADE IMBCILIC CITY ADMINISTRATORS!

Mayor James:  (Hesitantly) *cough* Could you please continue, sir...

Tim Leiweke:  So, we host prisoner events in some schools: recreation time, exercise, arts and crafts, etc.  Then we close down several other schools and convert them to prisons to house the prisoners during their “non-event times.”  That should round out the remaining 185-ish days or so that nothing happens at the schools that remain open.  Plus, this will help with your prison overcrowding issue.

Mayor James:  We don’t have overcrowded prisons.  But we do already have dangerously overcrowded schools.

Tim Leiweke:  What kind of city is this?  Where I come from, prison riots happen on the reg due to overcrowding.  Everything about this place is whack.

KC School Board Members:  Excuse me, Mr. Leiweke, but all of our district schools are surrounded by neighborhoods.  Won’t putting prisoners in the schools cause outrage among neighbors and the property values of the surrounding areas to plummet?

Tim Leiweke:  Surrounding areas?  Who cares!  We are talking about the profitability of the schools, not the homes or businesses around it.  Geez, you people have a lot to learn about property management.

KC School Board Members:  Anything to add, Mr. Robitaille?

Luc Robitaille:  Kansas City’s a great place.  Who wouldn’t want to go to school here.  But you have to have someone who is willing to fill the buildings.  Not saying that we will do that, but some local folks have to step up and do what’s right.

Mayor James: What does that even mean?

Tim Leiweke: Man, that old raisin lady mayor was ten times cooler than you, Sly Fox.  You know what, I can really feel the bad vibes in here, and they’re killin’ my buzz.  I’m going to bounce and let ol’ Lucky do damage control.  Peace.

(Leiweke jumps out the window, gets on Learjet, and flies away to undisclosed location where the media can’t find him).

Mayor James: Well that was unexpected.  Mr . Robitaille, can you give us any more insights or ideas?

Luc Robitaille: AEG does not necessarily have all the answers.  Facility ownership is a tricky industry.  You cannot make everyone happy.  But I can assure you Tim Leiweke cares about Kansas City.

Mayor James:  Okay...

Luc Robitaille:  Although, his plans must be kept secret.  Even I do not know what they are, nor can I give any useful comments pertaining to anything. 

Mayor James: Pardon me for asking, but, what do you do again?

Luc Robitaille:  I don’t have enough information to answer that question for you at this time.

Mayor James:  Uh-huh.  Man, I give up.  This did not go as I had planned.  Luc, they’re all yours.

(Mayor James leaves and gets into a limo chauffeured by Mark Funkhouser).

KC School Board Members:  Mr. Robitaille, after reviewing what you and Mr. Leiweke have told us, we do like your ideas, but we have about one-hundred small changes that we would like to see made to them.  Nothing major, just think of it as death by a thousand little cuts.

Luc Robitaille: I don’t want to give you the impression that we will make changes.  That is something that you must do yourselves if you really want to get something done.

KC School Board Members:  You know what, I think it would be best to have the State run the district...

s/t to Big Daddy Drew for inspiration

I Like the NHL, But I Live in Kansas City. Please HELP!

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Have you recently come down with hockey fever for some reason, but you are unsure about which NHL team to cheer for during the upcoming season?!?!  Well, your ol’ friend Dr. Flubber is here with the remedy.  Over the next couple of days (or week or two) I will be listing the top 5, count ‘em FIVE, NHL teams for the locals to follow this season.  Maybe you will find a favorite team and start a long-lasting relationship, and get married to this team and live happily ever after.  Or not.  It is what you make of it.

There are no predictions.  No previews.  Just a simple way for Kansas Citians to get acclimated to some NHL teams that either have some connection to KC, have unstable ownership/low fan support, or other qualities area residents are used to in their sports viewing.  Basically, a team or franchise that could fit well in the city’s sports landscape.

Of course, this may be all for not since the entire area is full of Penguins fans, as evidenced the other night.  Hey, how about cheering for someone other than the Penguins.*  It will make you interesting at parties and junk.**  The first possible choice after the jump!

*The Penguins, obviously, are not one of the teams.

**Cheering for one of these teams will not necessarily make you interesting at parties.

"Ow, my face." 

YOOUUURRRRR Los Angeles Kings!

Why do I put the Kings here?  Because I like the Kings?  Well, yes.  But that isn’t the only reason.  You know the story.  AEG (run by C. Montgomery Leiweke) owns the Sprint Center and the Los Angeles Kings NHL franchise, thus the Kings have played in the last three NHL preseason games in Kansas City.  The Kings are featured as the home team in the exhibition games, and the commercial advertising the Pens game in KC featured all of their best moments in the past year (or something like that).  

KC, for all intents and purpose, is the Kings home away from their Southern Californian home.  Yes, that may be a stretch, but KC is somewhere they can play with the ownership right there watching them and Randy Newman’s “I Love LA” playing after every goal.  So, that’s cool.  But, are they your team?  Find out below.

Village West Best Potential Award:  Player that brings the most to the team

It would seem to be Anze Kopitar, freshly back from injury that kept him out of the playoffs.  Alas, that is the wrong answer.  Mike Richards is correct, coming over from the Flyers in a trade this offseason.  He fits the 2-way player theme that head coach Terry Murray has been mumbling about for his whole tenure in Los Angeles.

Union Station Biggest Burden Award: Player with least upside and carries a big financial burden (editors note: I like Union Station as a symbol for the city, but, yeah, people have lost money on it in the past.)

Dustin Penner, who has a lot to prove after his disappearing act at the end of the season and in the first round of the playoffs last year.  He is a UFA at the end of the year and is already making $4.25MM this year.  Also, Jarret Stoll may not be worth $3.6MM as a third or fourth line center, but, alas, he is an animal in the faceoff circle and in the shootout.

Eric Hosmer/ 2004 2008 2012 Royals Hope Award: Reason for Optimism

After being terrible and having to start a rebuilding process a season after the fateful lockout, the Kings have made the playoffs the past two years.  This year they appear to have most of the pieces in place, and have a lot of veteran skill guys that can work with the still very young core talent players like Kopitar, Richards, Jack Johnson, and Drew Doughty(?).

Katie Horner Scared-Sh!tless Award:  Reason to Worry

No Drew Doughty yet due to contract negotiations.  He plays the most minutes of any and every game, has missed very limited time due to injury, and pilots the powerplay effectively.  All at the ripe old age of 21.  But, with multiple other guys in the pipeline, the Kings are by no means short on talent.

Wait...what....WHAT????  Forget what I just said!  Doughty be back, baby!

If not Doughty, then the usual coaching errors that seem to plague the team as it has attempted to finish the past two seasons (i.e. poor powerplay, unnecessary line juggling, etc. etc. etc.).  Also, veteran guys who are injury prone (Gagne, Williams, Moreau...)

Buck O’Neil Positive Attitude Award:  Reason to cheer them

AEG (thus, Tim Leiweke) owns the Kings, and we hate Tim Leiweke.  But, like him or not, AEG has given Kansas City an exhibition NHL game three of the past four years, and as long as people keep showing up, that’s the best we are going to get for a while.  Also...

1. They have been to KC three times in the last four years.
2. If you are a bandwagon jumper, now is a good time to jump on.  The Kings have many of the right pieces in place that they have been building for the past 4+ years, and they could be a serious contender for the cup this year and in the years to come (this said ignoring my annual f-bomb laced tirades against Terry Murray come February).
3. They fit the whole royalty motif (Chiefs, Royals, Kings (remember the NBA?), etc.)
4. If you don't like the jersey, just wait about five years for a new one.
5. Um...they have quite a few Americans on the team...

Mark Funkhouser Memorial Trophy:  Reason to Hate Them

You hold a personal grudge against AEG and Tim Leiweke or you are an Edmonton Oilers fan for some reason.

Worlds of Fun Ride that Best Describes the Franchise:  Cyclone Sam’s

This team has seldom been the favorite, especially in their recent history.  Only during the Gretzky years were they seen as much of a threat, and even then they only made the Cup Finals once and lost.  The past two seasons they were over-matched by the Canucks and Sharks, respectively, in the playoffs, but played those series hard enough to push them both to six games.  So, like Cyclone Sam’s, which a lot of my friends don’t like but I think is cool, the Kings have a tendency to be overlooked and even disliked for their status as a "non-traditional" market team.  Plus, after that Game 3 loss to the Sharks in the playoffs, my head was spinning so hard it almost popped off in a hurricane of wonderment and awe and anger.

Here we go again!!!

Number of Floating, Disembodied Jack Harry Heads:

Two out of Five

The Kings don’t have a championship to their name (40+ years and counting), so they don’t have any expectations to live up to like the ’70 Chiefs and ’85 Royals, but they have been around long enough to field one of the most starving of fan bases. Like Kansas City’s teams, the Kings have had hope in the past, but always seem to play the underdog.  Unlike Kansas City’s teams, expectation rarely gets the best of them (i.e. 2011 Chiefs, 2004 Royals, to name recent examples).  Playing in the shadow of the Lakers and local collegiate power programs, the Kings are just a part of the shuffle in LA.  But, their ownership group seems to give a crap (as much as you may dislike them).  Jack would probably yell about them as much as he does Sporting KC.  And that’s JACK SMACK!

Next up, another mystery team.  Who will it be?  Stay tuned to find out... 

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

Oh, So This Is Why KC Sports Fans Hate Tim Leiweke...

Much of the fallout from the Islanders' failed arena plan has focused on what happens next (read: where will the Islanders go now)?  The Village Voice in New York tackles this question, citing a 2009 article in KC's Pitch.

From the Voice:

Kansas City has a new arena, but as our K.C. sister publication the Pitch revealed, it's not likely to throw a sweetheart lease deal at a hockey team. That's because AEG, the management company that runs the publicly owned Sprint Center, would have to give up "a very sizable chunk of the arena revenues" to lure an NHL (or NBA) club, K.C. budget director Troy Schulte told the Pitch, making a full year of concerts sound great by comparison.

Despite the age of the article, it is still relevant today.  Why in 2011, when the Sprint Center has established itself as a profitable arena, would AEG offer a Penguins-esque offer circa 2007 to an NHL team.  Then, the arena was just a NEW arena with HOPES of getting a tenant of some sort.  What many sports fans in Kansas City are slowly beginning to realize is that AEG isn't just going to lure a team out of the goodness of their heart anymore.  It's all business, baby!  

Leiweke doesn't owe us anything, but in our eyes he does.  Look at Mellinger's articles.  To his credit, he speaks as a KC sports fan.  He also wants to cover another team (job security), but it's also easy to root for him to expose AEG for its KC lethargy.  I must kind of agree with Chris Suellentrop's poor assessment of Kansas City that even he disagrees with, but KC does have a step-child mentality, a history of striving to be the 'big' city while denying much of what still holds it back from that distinction in the eyes of the rest of the USA (i.e. "Cow Town," even though the city was built from the stockyards out).  We're cultured ("Sophisticated-- God, we're sophisticated!") folks here in the Midwest, but the biggest putdown from outsiders is that we're a bunch of slack jawed farmers...and for some reason we hate to be seen as inferior (ed. note: in my experience farmers are good people, so no putdown here).  So, AEG's want to make the most money in this instance is seen by Kansas Citians as KC being too small of a market (thus, inferior to say...Columbus, Nashville, or St. Louis).  Instead, AEG is just happy to make the money they are making from an arena that maybe, just possibly was not supposed to make this much money off of concerts.  And the bitch of the whole thing; Kansas Citians deep down assumed it wouldn't be this profitable, but they still want a team.  Concerts don't put you on the map (or make you a 'travel destination' which is a term going around a lot these days), sports do.

This doesn't absolve Leiweke for his failed promises and a lack of effort to bring a team, but it certainly explains the city sports fans' growing impatience with anything new to report about an NHL or NBA team looking at the Sprint Center since about 2008.  KC is a good place, maybe not a 'hockey town' (yet), but its downtown business owners should be getting a better story from those that control the entertainment that comes to their district.  No, AEG does not owe them anything, but someone deserves an explanation, dag nabbit.

Jump for the 2009 Pitch article.

Here is the post for the Pitch, lest we all forget (or it gets erased or whatever):

I also mentioned a blog post by Field of Schemes author Neil deMause, who tracks public money being spent for professional sports franchises. In clarifying the $1.8 million in profits that AEG was kicking back to the city, deMause wrote that the money was "operational profit -- in other words, it doesn't count the cost of paying for the building it in the first place."
Understanding the funding for the Sprint Center can be confusing. For a refresher, I called Shani Tate, communications director for the Sprint Center. She walked me through the basics:
The building cost $276 million. AEG put up $54 million in cash. The NABC put up $10 million. The city is financing the rest through taxes on hotel rooms and rental cars. And the city is taking is taking in more from the hotel/rental car tax than expected.
DeMause guessed the city was paying between $10-$15 million a year in arena bond payments, adding "there's almost no way it [the city] will actually turn a profit on building the Sprint Center."
His guess was close.
"We pay an annual debt service projected this year of about $13.8 million," said Troy Schulte, Kansas City's budget director.
Schulte says the hotel and car rental fees have "exceeded projections over the last couple years every year." For example, last year the city projected $8.9 million in arena fees. They actually received $9.3 million. As far as the $1.8 million operating profit, Schulte says that comes after AEG takes its 16 percent cut and then the city and AEG split the money going forward.
"As long as that continues to generate activity like it has been, it'll be profitable for AEG to operate," Shculte says.
Schulte knows that it'll be tougher as the building loses its shine and if the economy doesn't improve. And should AEG finally find an anchor tenant, that sports franchise would take "a very sizable chunk of the arena revenues."
"Obviously an anchor tenant would have an effect as far as pulling down the available revenues because a lot of those revenues would then go to an anchor tenant," Schulte says.
Right now, it's more profitable for the Kansas City and AEG to book concerts. But as the newness wears off, the stability of having 41 guaranteed dates a year will become more and more important.