Here's an enterprising notion: let local people have their say
JOE POSNANSKI
Well, Enterprise Rent-A-Car's “Coalition Against Arena Taxes” flew in another expert to bash Kansas City on Tuesday. This particular expert, named Daniel Rascher, Ph.D., flew in all the way from San Francisco with a very special message: He wants everyone to know that “Kansas is not a viable market for an NBA or NHL team.”
Dan probably meant “Kansas City,” although it's possible that adding the word “City” would have cost Enterprise Rent-A-Car a few hundred extra dollars, and the Enterprise people decided, “Oh, what the heck, just leave it off. No one will know the difference.”
The thing is, if all Enterprise Rent-A-Car's “Coalition Against Arena Taxes” wanted was an expert to say that Kansas City is too small, too poor and too backward to support an NBA or NHL team, they did not have to go all the way to San Francisco to get some guy with a nice suit. I know dozens of people right here in town who feel that way. There is one guy who e-mails me every other day to say that Kansas City doesn't need the Royals or Chiefs either — let 'em all leave town.
It would have been cheaper for Enterprise to buy that guy a suit and then, as only they can do, “go pick him up.”
While Enterprise Rent-A-Car's “Coalition Against Arena Taxes,” continues to pay for any crank across America willing to rip Kansas City and all hopes of improving this city, more than 300 local people wrote concerning our question of whether or not Kansas City should try for an NBA or NHL team.
And while the results are hardly scientific, they are pretty interesting.
Before I get into that, though, let me say once more that I believe Kansas City needs a new arena no matter how you feel about the NBA or NHL. We need it to anchor dreams of a better downtown. We need it to bring back the Big 12 tournaments and the NCAA Tournament and great concerts and big conventions. We need it to house a College Basketball Hall of Fame. We need to look ahead. We all know the truth: Kemper Arena is already on life support. The patient can't be saved. Kansas City needs this.
Beyond that, getting back to the topic, this city with a new arena is very much a player for an NBA or NHL team. Dan Rascher, in the comprehensive study that he whipped up in five days, points out that Kansas City has not been a player. For instance, he points out that the last couple of NBA teams that moved did not consider Kansas City (or Kansas), and also this town was not even considered when the NHL expanded.
Of course, if Dan had spent more than 30 seconds in this town before his wrote his report, he might have known the reason for this is because KEMPER ARENA IS A DUMP AND THAT'S WHY WE'RE HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Thanks for coming, Dan. Try the ribs.
OK, now for your thoughts. First of all, here are the results of your votes:
• NHL: 44.44%
• NBA: 33.33%
• Neither: 14.66%
• Arena Football: 3.56%
• No arena: 2.67%
• WNBA: 1.78%
• Both: 1.78%
• Minor-league hockey: .89%
• Various oddball suggestions: .61%
• Dodgeball: .28%.
• Ralph Nader: 0%.
I was a little bit surprised that hockey came out ahead. But it's clear that people who had been to a hockey game loved the experience and would love to have that in Kansas City. Here is some of what you had to say:
“Hockey is a game where players are still called ‘boys' and role models talk about their small towns, childhoods, parents, and communities.” — Phil Holderness.
“I vote NHL. The best ‘live' sporting event I've ever attended.” — Pat McLin.
“Go with proven results. Kansas City has a long history of hockey going back to the old Pla-Mor.” — Jack C. Bondon, Berbiglia Wine and Spirits.
See, he does know Jack. Of course, there's the argument that Kansas City already had an NHL team — the old Kansas City Scouts — and they failed miserably. But my friend and Kansas City native Tom Shatel, now writing fine columns in Omaha, has this to say:
“The Scouts failed in the '70s over lack of marketing. … The Scouts' problem was local. They had a bunch of great guys. But they didn't reach out. And Johnson County was waiting for them. I believe if the Scouts had marketed into an about-to-boom Overland Park, they would have made it.”
And this from Brian G. Fedotin: “I also think there are better rivalries for KC in the NHL: Blackhawks, Blues, Avs, etc. Of course all of these cities but St. Louis has an NBA team, but it would be great to be in a league where KC and St Louis could be in the same division or play regularly in the regular season.”
The NBA supporters point out that this is a basketball town and the NBA's star power would sell in Kansas City. They also point out that since St. Louis has the NHL (along with a feisty rental-car company) we should go the other way:
“I love hockey, but why don't we capitalize on the NBA void that exists in this state.” — Taylor Crouse.
“I think NBA gets the nod given the familiarity, and we have to hope that we get a team like Sac-town who loves their fans and plays hard for them.” — Matt Madden.
“Basketball verses hockey? I choose Show Time, Celtic Pride, Shaq Attack, and the thrill of watching ping-pong-ball-determining-drafts over glorified, Canadian/Russian figure skaters who run into each other, hit each other, and occasionally score. What is there to debate?” – S.S. McBride
Then, to deal with the argument that Kansas City had and lost the NBA Kings, here's Larry Knecht:
“We need to look at why the Kings didn't make it when they were here. First of all, the NBA did not have a salary cap at that time. When Otis Birdsong and Scott Wedman signed with the highest bidders after the 1980-81 season, the Kings' days in KC. were numbered. Secondly, the ownership group was extremely fragmented. With a good owner and the current NBA salary cap, I would hope that the NBA would have a better future in Kansas City the next time around. Bring back the NBA!”
Of course, there are also those who think this town's college basketball love would sink the NBA here.
“College basketball is a hotbed here and people appreciate the ability to play defense and do the basics more than the ability to dunk the ball and just outscore the opponent in the fourth quarter.” — Michael Fessenden.
“I vote for an NHL team because it would not compete with college basketball, which this town is nuts over. I just don't think we could support an NBA team financially when most of the population will be tied up focusing on the college level.” — Anne Waldron.
“This town is about Royals baseball, Kansas, Mizzou, K-State basketball. Give me college or give me death.” — Matt Cloud.
Plenty of people vote for neither NBA or NHL, of course, though it should be said that most of them still want a new arena to help draw the Big 12 tournament, NCAA Tournament and so on.
And then there are those who do not work for Enterprise and still do not want any kind of arena in Kansas City. Many of them make good points. One who writes in calls himself/herself “srch4nrpc” which I finally figured out must mean “Search for inner peace.” I have always been terrible about guessing what license plates mean.
“The days and nights are terrible for most citizens. Cracks in the sidewalks, pot holes in the streets, crumbling houses, hungry people, street lights out, garbage piling up, inadequate cooling and heating for poor people, killings galore of young and old on the streets, inadequate medical care, on and on. What we need is more concern for the wider picture … not a fantasy about how people will feel better about themselves by feeling more major league.”
I understand that point very well, but the truth is that these problems are not going to be solved by voting down an arena that helps Kansas City look to the future. Mayor Kay Barnes also checked in to say this: “We need the arena to be part of a larger economic package. It brings more money, more conventions, more conferences, athletic events, the list goes on. That's how we generate additional sales tax money. That's how we get the money to pay for street replacements, pot holes, and all those other services people talk about. Those things don't pay for themselves.
“There's only two ways to raise money for those things. One is to raise taxes to a level that is unacceptable for most people, and then nobody wants to live here. The other is to create economic development. That's what we're trying to do here.”
Meanwhile, you might ask: What is Enterprise Rent-A-Car's “Coalition Against Arena Taxes” trying to do?
