Oct

17

Sprint Center tenantless, so what?

October 17, 2006 | 8 Comments

Pitch Managing Editor Eric Barton pimped this story to me recently about how the Pittsburgh Penguins owner soundly rejected the idea of moving his NHL team to KC and the new Sprint Center arena. The Penguins were thought to be the most likely NHL or NBA team to relocate here, and this new development means the arena is likely to open without a major league sports team.

The biggest issue for me is why does the local media care so much? All they have done is make Kansas City into the biggest foil in either league. Several teams have used our new arena and hunger for a team as a threat to negotiate for new facilities in their current cities.

Everyone seems to be missing the fact that this arena is being built primarily for the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament, not for an NBA or NHL franchise. Besides, arenas are often more successful without a major league team. A big franchise would get a great deal with little to no rent payment and virtually all revenue from their games. And every game night is another night the city can’t rent the arena to a revenue-producing event like a convention, trade show, concert, etc. Arenas without teams often make money for this reason.

Categories: Downtown, Media, Sports


Comments

8 Comments so far

  1. ChrisM70 on October 17, 2006 10:29 am

    As a fan, I completely agree. I really only care about the Big 12 Tourney and other basketball-related activity, but I do want the new arena to be successful. And, the arena probably can do just as well (if not better) without a major league tenant.

    However, if I can think like an arena owner for a moment (ewww) it’s not necessarily about making the most amount of money (this would be a first, right?) but about long-term security. An NBA or NHL team guarantees a certain amount of dates (example: NBA has about 41 home games) and a certain amount of fans. This also helps attract restaurants and shops to the area because they know that the arena will have people showing up regularly.

    Without a tenant, the ownership has to work harder to scrounge up acts, events, etc. to bring to the arena and make money.

    In other words, a major league tenant is less work and more guaranteed $$$.

  2. Eric Barton on October 17, 2006 10:30 am

    Here’s the reason to care: The arena was sold with the promise of a tenant. The mayor and AEG have continually promised a hockey team or a basketball team (or both) by the time the doors open.

    Would voters have approved this plan if we had been talking about trade shows, conventions and concerts?

  3. AeroSquid on October 17, 2006 1:25 pm

    Both NBA and NHL will fail in KC. Those who do not remember their history are doomed to repeat it.

  4. murph on October 17, 2006 8:22 pm

    The Big 12 tournament lasts at most a week. For every week or day the arena sits empty that’s revenue that’s lost to the management company and the city.

    Given that the city is also expanding Bartle Hall, what sense does it make to have yet another facility available and competing for convention use? There’s always overhead to pay on either Bartle or the Sprint Arena if either one or both sit unused.

  5. BlogKC on October 18, 2006 5:40 am

    Murph, Bartle Hall and the arena don’t compete with each other for conventions. One is an exhibit hall and the other is an arena. You can’t have trade shows in an arena or rallies in an exhibit hall.

    We need both. Conventions often want to use both, especially so they can have an exhibit in Bartle and then gather 20,000 people for speakers in an arena. Not have an arena in the Loop has cost us many big conventions, namely the FFA.

  6. Derek on October 24, 2006 8:33 am

    Yeah, I agree with you, BlogKC.

    I’m still questioning the location of the arena. I have some doubts about whether or not it will work.

    I think it depends on the organization wanting to come to downtown KC for a convention. E.g. a horse show wouldn’t exactly work well in Bartle Hall.

    I think the Big12 will work better in the Arena than in Kemper. Granted Kemper still has its uses. It just gives organizations more choices to consider for their shows/conventions and whatnot.

  7. cm davis on December 3, 2006 4:19 pm

    we want the WNBA! that’s what this pantywaist city deserves.

  8. Danny on March 18, 2007 4:49 pm

    AeroSquid,

    The same comment could have been made about bringing in an MLB expansion team in 1969, after the Kansas City A’s were such a failure and a bad team that moved out of town. But the Royals went on to be pretty succesful for the better part of 20 years after their birth, and have fallen on hard times recently (read: last 15 years) because of poor ownership and management decisions. I still wouldn’t call the Royals a franchise failure.

    Yeah, we’ve done poorly with NBA or NHL teams in the past, but we also haven’t had either for 20+ years. I think it would be worth a shot again.

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