NBA Team in Downtown Kansas City?
The Kansas City Star speculates that the NBA won’t arrive in Kansas City anytime soon, despite the potential for bringing in spectators and ratings by drafting Kansas Jayhawk players (and–I’ll be generous here–even Missouri Tigers or Kansas State Wildcats). Is Kansas City just a big college town without the mass media market an NBA team requires?
While the grassroots organization NHL21 keeps the pulse alive for hockey, and AEG, which manages the Sprint Center, will bring an NHL exhibition game to the arena in September, there doesn’t seem to be much buzz in Kansas City regarding an NBA franchise.
After all, television ratings for early-round NBA playoff games were lower than two Royals rainouts. AEG, which is charged with bringing pro sports to Kansas City, flirted with two NHL franchises last year but has not made any public overtures to any NBA clubs other than Seattle, when SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett said he might consider Kansas City as an alternative to Oklahoma City…
Ask Brenda Tinnen, general manager and senior vice president for the Sprint Center, whether people would prefer the NBA or NHL, and the answer is always the same when she speaks to civic organizations and schools.
“It’s always 50-50,” said Tinnen. “Is there a buzz about the NBA? When you get to the point of the Stanley Cup finals and the (NBA) Western Conference championship and finals, there is a bit of a buzz. But nowhere near the buzz as when KU went to the Final Four.
“It was fabulous for the Jayhawks to win the Big 12 championship right here in Kansas City and go from that point and win it all. If we had an NBA team or an NHL team that was relevant to Kansas City, there would be a buzz.”
Personally, I think the saturation of the city with local NCAA college alums is a strength, not a weakness, where NBA potential is concern. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Would love to see an NBA team enthroned in the state-of-the-art Sprint Center, which rivals top-flight arenas anywhere.
Meanwhile, Phil Miller of Market Power wonders if the animosity between KU and MU fans would keep them from jointly supporting an NBA team, and whether franchises will use Kansas City as a bargaining chip (i.e., If you don’t give us a sweetheart deal, we’ll move to KC!) Of course, Phil is an MU alum, so nothing he says can be trusted as most of it is probably outright lies.
Ha ha ha.
