Not so long ago Kansas City was promised a professional sports team if voters took on more than $300 million worth of debt to fund the Sprint Center.
As with all things, Kansas City's elected officials, consultants and political elite just straight up LIED to voters and never delivered a team.
This bit of very recent Kansas City history is important to remember given the discussion the Downtown Toy Train Streetcar and big promises about a flood of development and revenue that will follow.
As far as the pro-sports team for Kansas City goes . . . Kansas City Mayor Sly James doesn't see any need to deliver on promises made by former Mayor Kay . . .
Mayor says luring NHL's Coyotes would have been bad business deal for Kansas City
In the meantime, Kansas City's rapidly aging arena is still celebrated because industry rags say that it's #1 (in no particularly relevant category) and the place provides a nice last stop for B-List concert tours that are far out of the price range of most residents.
Related and interesting in as much as it skips over Kansas City since the 80s: Where Are the Champions? An interactive map of every championship in the history of MLB, the NBA, the NHL, and the NFL
but the streetcar is a good deal, right sly?
ReplyDeleteOnly good for B-List tours? Really?
ReplyDeletePerhaps you might try to name one A-Lister who has passed KC by since Sprint has opened? Garth-Check, Sir Paul-check, Katy Perry-Check, Madonna-check, and coming soon...Taylor Swift-Check.
Others more knowledgeable could add a ton more. It seems to me we get almost, if not all the big shows here now. Just sayin.
Garth - Retired
ReplyDeleteSir Paul - Semi-retired
Katy Perry - B-list unless she is showing off her clevage
Madonna - Has been sloot
Get back to work KC your arena already needs to be fixed.
5:28; you are correct, but it doesn't fit with Tony's line about how everything in Kansas City sucks.
ReplyDeleteYou complain about the arena sucking money from the city but then complain more when they try to turn profits with high priced tickets. They don't need to price themselves into every Kansas Citians' budget, they just need to sell out. It sounds like you want someone to build a free arena that gives out free tickets for community theater.
ReplyDeleteAnd before you say everyone in city helped pay for the arena so it should have events for everyone... just don't. We all know the same people paying significant taxes for that building are the one's paying $100 to see Taylor Swift and Madonna.
They even had some old wetback legend there. Maybe TKC forgot about him also.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet if the Phoenix Suns became available.............
ReplyDeleteBring the NHL to KC
ReplyDeleteNOT NBA
Even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut and at least this time Sly got it right. This town cannot support another sports franchise but more importantly the city and county don't need to be subsidizing any more losers. The millions taxpayers are spending on the Chiefs and Royals is enough.
ReplyDeleteWe should just buy the Sacramento Monarchs WNBA franchise. They have been out of service since 2009 and would come cheap. Also in China they pay ladies basketball players like 3x as much as in the U.S. They can have our pigs, but they can't have our ballers (except Starbury)! We could be the Yankees of women's basketball, overpay a bunch of superstars, be fucking champs. Also in case anyone forgot the Monarchs moniker has a pretty sweet history in KC as far as groups discriminated against in sports go. According to the Onion the most valuable WNBA franchise is $4, so we barely have to raise sales taxes to cover it!
ReplyDelete8:01 -- read Sly's last comment comparing the Coyotes to the Pittsburgh Penguins. If a hockey team with a winning tradition (such as the Penguins) showed up and wanted to play in Kansas City, I'm pretty sure the mayor would have fudged the numbers and got them to play here.
ReplyDeleteIn Los Angeles, Clippers, Lakers and Kings games generate an average of $400,000 to $500,000 a night in revenue. Food, parking, concessions, souvenirs. Downsize it for Kansas City -- cut that revenue stream in half -- and you've still got $200,000 a night. At 50 nights (41 regular season games, four or five exhibition games, and three home playoff games), that's $10 million a year.
I was one that championed the building of Sprint Center and held it up as a huge win for the city (still do to a much smaller extent). I was excited about getting a brand new sports team to go see at the new arena.
ReplyDeleteHere we are, years later...no team in sight after being told by those in power that, "if we build it, they will come".
It's great that we have a $276 Million dollar glorified concert hall. But that's not what we were being sold when we were asked to approve the funds.
Now the city is back again asking for more money to build a SHORT streetcar line under the promise, AGAIN, of, "if we build it, they will come".
I love the idea of development as much as the next Kansas Citian. But when is enough enough. Particularly when it comes to asking us, the tax payers, for funds? And what if we spend $100M on a publicly financed streetcar line and "they DON'T come"? What then?