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.

NHL Accepting Expansion Applications, Kansas City Absent from Discussion

The day is finally here!

Today, Gary Bettman announced the NHL will be accepting applications for expansion franchises from interested markets and ownership groups. I thought I wouldn't see this day for a long time, mostly because Gary Bettman pretty much said this day wasn't coming any time soon.

No matter - this is exciting news! Kansas City can finally get one more crack at having an NHL team! The Sprint Center can finally have that permanent sports tenant we were promised!

Oh, AEG isn't interested in pursuing a professional sports team for the Sprint Center?

... And Kansas City isn't even in the discussion?

Psh... Fine. That expansion fee is stupid huge, anyway.

Welp, maybe when the Phoenix Arizona Coyotes inevitably have no home to play in we will have another cha- HAHAHA YEAH RIGHT.

Kansas City Scouts Footage Proves KC Actually Had an NHL Team

Above is a great video posted to YouTube about a year and a half ago of some great Kansas City Scouts footage.  User "JC70" cuts together video from the Scouts playing their first home game against the Chicago Blackhawks, and a mid-season matchup in their final season agains the Minnesota North Stars.  Great job, JC70, and I wish there were more of these videos online.

Some thoughts:

0:29 – Scouts get a great chance, shoot wide, the puck slides around the boards and turns into a Chicago Blackhawks breakaway. I feel like many Kansas City sports teams have something similar happen all too often...

1:02 – The Scouts scored!  And its the first goal at Kemper Arena!  How neat.  Many of these early videos appear to be from the Scouts first home game at Kemper Arena.  The Scouts started the season on an eight game road trip while the construction of Kemper was completed.  They came into the home opener 0-7-1, and would lose the home opener 4-3.

1:21 – bro loses his stick, picks it up, passes across the crease, and it goes in off of Scouts goalie

2:25 – Scouts out here playing defense, son.

3:40 – Scouts out here lookin' like fools, refusing to play defense.

4:30 – Seriously, where is the defense?

4:56 – The Edmonton Oilers must have used the Scouts as the model of how to play defense.

5:20 – Pierre Jarry was a Scouts killer!  One can only assume he would have had a Hall of Fame career if the Scouts stayed in the league.  Alas, his NHL career ended in 1978, after eight seasons.

Much of the footage of the last video was taken from a Minnesota North Stars home game against the Scouts in 1975-76.  The North Stars went 6-0 against the Scouts that year, and this game was from the 1/28/76 game the North Stars won 9-3.

h/t JC70

A Day With the Cup

So, if you follow my Twitter feed (hint hint), or at the least have stumbled upon this site in any fashion, you know I am a fan of the Los Angeles Kings.  If you have followed hockey at all in the past month, you know the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup, and are the champions of the National Hockey League.  As noted earlier, that's pretty cool, and your favorite team in a sport winning a championship is something everyone should experience.  I'd recommend it.

At the risk of getting weepy to, presumably, Kansas City hockey fans on a Kansas City hockey blog about a team in Los Angeles, seeing the pictures of the Kings parade and rally make me long for a similar parade and rally to attend in my own backyard.  You, oh wise and wistful Kansas City sports fan, will say, "but the Royals had a parade in '85," and, "just wait, the Chiefs/Royals will be holding a rally soon enough!"  And that's all fine and good, especially since any success from these teams would be small payback for years and years of crushing disappointment.  Winning a championship and giving us a reason to celebrate something, anything, is the least they can do.

No NHL for Seattle, No NHL for Kansas City but All the Lies You Can Handle!

A few weeks ago, reports said the NHL was seriously looking into Seattle as a viable option for a new NHL franchise.

How serious were they?!

So serious, it seems, that commissioner/overlord Gary Bettman and Bill Daly brought a possible future owner along with them.

So serious, the NHL wanted Seattle to go ahead with the construction of the arena under the auspices of an NHL franchise being the main tenant.

So serious, umm, the Florida Panther fired a bunch of employees (oh, wait, that's a different story.  More on this later).

Blues vs. Stars - Kansas City's Brief Date with the NHL in 2014

Have you heard the news? It was reported a couple of days ago that the St. Louis Blues will face the Dallas Stars in a pre-season exhibition at the Sprint Center on Sept. 27, 2014.

While the Blues and Stars aren't exactly my cup of tea, I'm thrilled about the NHL making a return to Kansas City. My guess is it won't match the record attendance from the last exhibition game back in 2011, but that's fine by me. There were only a few hundred people, including Flubber and I, at the Kings/Islanders fight on ice skates game in 2009 and it was a great time. Of course now that we know record attendance isn't going to bring an NHL team this way, we can all kind of sit back and wait to be entertained rather than speculating in the coming months whether or not the city will show the league that there is a market here.

Tickets are on sale now using the presale code ICE. Presale ends and normal sale begins Friday (02/14) at 10am. I don't know what the difference is, but there you go. Makes for a great Valentine's Day gift! Right?

Links:

NHL preseason hockey returns to Kansas City — Dallas Stars v. St. Louis Blues September 27

Blues, Stars to play NHL preseason game at the Sprint Center

St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars Face-Off on Sept. 27

A List of Team Names to Prepare for the NHL's Expansion

It was reported by TSN's Bob McKenzie that the NHL might be willing – and getting closer – to taking a chance on putting an expansion franchise in Las Vegas.  How fun.  This, of course, arouses the since dormant talk about placing another team in Seattle or Quebec City – two cities that will have NHL ready arenas in the next few years – in order to bring the number of NHL teams to the nice even number of 32.  But, as the report also suggests, the NHL may not be content with 32 teams.  This includes placing a franchise in any of those cities, plus a second franchise in the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton, Saskatoon, Prince Edward Island, etc.

Well, we here at LCOB have read the report and we know what this means: It's a forgone conclusion that Kansas City will be getting an NHL expansion franchise within the next year.  It's the only logical conclusion.

Seeing as this is a 100% guarantee, as these expansion stories have been in the past and will continue to be in the future, we have come up with a list of the top 5 possible team names and jersey designs for the next great Kansas City sports franchise.  Follow the jump to enjoy (and dream!!!)…

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.

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.”

A Lockout Poem, by Flubber McGee-Neruda

"Leaning Into the Crack of Dawn"

Leaning into the butt crack of dawn I cast my sad nets
towards your oceanic eyes.

There in the highest blaze my solitude lengthens and flames,
its arms turning like a drowning man's.

I send out red signals across your absent eyes
that move like the sea near a lighthouse.

You keep only darkness, my distant Scot Beckenbaugh
from your regard sometimes the coast of dread emerges.

Leaning into the Sunday morning I fling my sad nets
to that sea that beats on your marine eyes.

The birds of night peck at the first stars
that flash like my soul when I love you.

The night gallops on its shadowy mare
shedding blue tassels over the land.

Gary Bettman is a dick isn't he

I bet you called him a dick to his face.

I love you Scot Beckenbaugh.  Thanks.

My Announcer Could Beat Up Your Announcer

Bob Miller, Stanley Cup Champion

In case you need a delightful hockey tale about the "good ol' days" in your life right now, here you have it (link below).

Bob Miller, the play-by-play announcer of the Los Angeles Kings' since 1973, wrote a story a few weeks ago over at the LA Kings Insider site about a trip the Kings made to face the Scouts at Kemper Arena.  It's a delightful tale of the Scouts losing, but also has everything you want in a story about Kansas City: people throwing crap on a playing surface, lazy security guards, imposing jerks, and empty threats.

Anyway, it's a good story, if for no other reason because there are few people out there with a Scouts story.  By the way, both the Kings and Scouts played in something called the NHL, which I'm told is a former North American pro hockey league.

LA Kings Insider – There Used to be an Arena - Kemper Arena

Something Called the NHL Cancels Entire Preseason

Sprint Center remains empty...

ICE BREAKER TOURNAMENT OCTOBER 12-13 AT THE SPRINT CENTER!!!! COLLEGE HOCKEY DOESN'T LOCKOUT!

Seattle Still Not Getting An NHL Team, Media Hangs On To Every Word Willy Wonka Says

lol labor disputes
Via ABC News, AP Photo/ The Seattle Times,  John Lok

Insert something thoughtful about the Oilers-to-Seattle mess currently in the news here. 

It's all already been said.  It was said way before it was even officially said.  Oilers to Seattle: not going to happen.  Any team, at this present moment, and over the course of the next two years, to Seattle: not going to happen.  Very few people in the media understand this, apparently, or just need something to write about.  PucKChaser gets it.  I'm sure a good chunk of you Kansas Citians out there get it.

Why is this so hard to understand?

Glendale Episode MMLXVII: A New Hope

The City of Glendale extended the arena management agreement with the NHL from now until infinity.  Have you ever been to the fourth dimension?  The city of Glendale has.  And it made an agreement with the NHL there too, so don't you try taking their arena away.

The Phoenix Coyotes exist within the Matrix.  Remember, always take the red pill.

ICYMI: Tickets Selling For Preseason Game Despite Lockout Worries, McGannon Hopeful for KC-Friendly CBA

What was the deal with the bow?

An article early last week in the Kansas City Business Journal took a look into ticket sales for October's preseason game at the Sprint Center.  And, hey, sales are good despite the looming storm clouds of a lockout.  Sooo, bully for that!

Of course, NHL21's own Paul McGannon was interviewed on the issue, and the most surprising thing about that is NHL21 still apparently exists despite not really still existing.  You may remember early this summer the formation of KCIce, spearheaded by McGannon and former KC Blade Ken Morrow, McGannon's foray into youth ice sports and ice rink management.  Perhaps NHL21 still does exist, it's just McGannon with a plaque above his bathroom door (or whatever) that says NHL21.  Anyway, he had something to say about the new CBA, and let me tell you, he's siding with the players on this one:

“We’re hopeful that the new collective bargaining agreement will be Kansas City-friendly, meaning we’d like to see some revenue sharing in there, like baseball and football, that would help a city like ours flourish in the NHL,” McGannon said.

Kansas City friendly?  Well, that depends on the owner.  David Glass takes the MLB's shared revenue and does with it what he pleases.  And Clark Hunt benefits as much as any other NFL owner in the league, but, again, that money does not have to go towards team salaries or stadium repairs, etc.  Obviously.

But, to be fair to the situation, McGannon is referring to the desire of the players and poorer owners to have revenue sharing – along with the current hard salary cap.  This, in turn, would disperse a portion of all league revenues to every team, instead of allowing the rich to get richer.  Sure, this would be great for a small market like Kansas City...if there were a team.  What McGannon is implying is that he hopes to see an NHL team in KC over the course of (let's say) the next six to eight years – the likely duration of a CBA.  And why shouldn't he?  As little influence as he may have over NHL ownership in Kansas City (which should be pretty obvious by now), he, like us all, expected to have a team shortly after the construction of the Sprint Center.

Is a team in the next six years realistic?  Well, the Coyotes are in an odd position with Greg Jamison right now as he keeps gaining and losing possible investors.  Plus, there is no guarantee that things will go smoothly with new ownership in Glendale.  A franchise like New Jersey is financially struggling.  Florida is always in a bad place because they are Florida.  There is always talk of expansion, but there's just as much talk of contraction.  Anything is possible, but it's not like McGannon is doing much to help the situation.  So, really, he's just like the rest of us.  Hopeful.  For now, let's just hope we have a preseason game to go to this season and just go from there.

So don't be afraid to buy tickets, because you will get a refund anyway.

Stop Asking Henrik Lundqvist Frivolous Questions

The other day the New York Rangers twitter folks did a Twitter Tuesday question and answer thingy with All-Star goalie Henrik Lundqvist.  Basically, you tweet a question to the @thenyrangers account with the hashtag #askhank and Henrik makes a video responding to your question.  Simple enough, right?

Nope.  People had to go ask outdated questions about nothing.  Good job, people!  As you can see in the photo above, someone asked Hank his favorite Blink 182 song.  Yep, that Blink 182.  It doesn't really matter if he listens to Blink 182 before games or whatever the hell he does concerning Blink 182 because, seriously, that's the best question you have?

Anyway, I have no idea what he responded because the accompanying video was deleted for reasons undetermined.  Oh well.  Let's all just assume it was some popular song like All the Small Things (because he's a pro athlete...what else would it be?), or something obscure to show his zany hipster side.  Really, who cares.  Let this be a lesson that you should never rely on people to do anything.  That's exactly what this teaches us.

And that's the point, because, in contrast, the Sprint Center's official twitter account (@sprintcenter) went out of its way to ask Hank – the guy who will probably-maybe-hopefully-okay-definitely-not be playing an exhibition game in this city in October, and coming here for the first time in his life – if he has ever had world famous KC style barbecue.  Alas, Hank and the Rangers shrugged off this pressing question for some crap about a '90s punk rock band – who is fine in their own right, don't get me wrong.  Good show, Rangers.  That's strike one.  First to three loses out on my affection for that one cool night in October (psst...that's supposed to make you sad and beg for my forgiveness because you wouldn't like the Internet when it's angry...).

Page-by-Page Breakdown of the NHL's 76,000 Page Financial Report

Via Kevin Westgarth on Twitter @KWesty19

If you haven't heard, the NHL turned over a 76,000(!) page financial report to the NHLPA earlier this week. It's easy to speculate what actually went into the report, but then again, the NHLPA's Donald Fehr said this is just part of the financial information the players' association requested. It is the hope that with this information, the NHLPA will be able to form a counter-proposal to the NHL's proposal early in July.

Well, lucky for you, I called around, and asked nicely, and did some things I'm not proud of, and I have obtained a copy of that report. You can see the page-by-page breakdown after the jump. Are you ready? Prepare to set your mind to blown.