Lamar Hunt Close to Bringing USHL to Overland Park

About a year ago, the Kansas City Star's Sam Mellinger wrote some tripe about hockey in Kansas City to cover their yearly quota.  And that's fine, because it's not like they write this same article all the time.  "Kansas City loves hockey" but "Kansas City can't support an NHL team" and it doesn't matter anyway because "the Sprint Center is one of the busiest arenas in the world."  There is some #original #content.  You're lucky I didn't put that behind a pay wall, and act like blogs aren't dying the same slow death as online newspapers.

Anyway, here's another annual hockey article, which is different this year because Vahe Gregorian wrote it.  You will note this is important because we are led to believe he gets paid more than Sam Mellinger or Yael T. Abouhalkah.  The title of this blog post actually should read "KC Star Copy/Pastes last year's article," but there is some newsworthy stuff in here.  But, if this article is too much for you to handle, I made a word cloud of it (above).  You can rest assured it hits all of the high points.

Kansas City Still Not Viable for NHL Expansion, But Still Not for Dumb Reasons

Kansas City is too small for hockey? Is that a fat joke?

GUYS!  

THE KANSAS CITY STAR WROTE A STORY ABOUT HOCKEY!!!

I know, it sounds crazy.  But it's true, right there, on Sam Mellinger's blog.  And the story was only released about a week and a half after Gary Bettman's press conference announcing a new round of NHL expansion.  We're making progress here, folks.  Hockey town Kansas City, here we come!

Of course, there are problems with the logic in the article, so your resident "indignant" Kansas City hockey blog snaps into action!  But we will get to that in a moment.

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.

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.”

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:

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.

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.