Sep

9

Wizards to KCK – real option or bargaining chip?

September 9, 2009 | 11 Comments

This week comes news that the Kansas City Wizards football soccer team has been secretly negotiating for an alternative stadium site at Village West in KCK, in lieu of the planned Three Trails stadium/retail/office development at the old Bannister Mall site.

Everyone thought the Three Trails project was a done deal until the economy tanked and killed the retail and office markets that the deal depended on. So then the team came back and asked for millions in cash advance and for the city to guarantee the bonds with its credit – basically combining the worst parts of the Power & Light District and Citadel Plaza deals.

So now one could wonder if this KCK stadium is the real deal or just a ploy to force KCMO into granting the cash advance and credit guarantee. It seems eerily familiar to the Chiefs’ brief flirtation with a KCK stadium when it looked like Jackson County was hesitating to put a stadium tax renewal on the ballot – which they promptly did after the KCK option surfaced.

Tony’s Kansas City has a round up of coverage from multiple sources.

Categories: Bistate, Real Estate, Sports


Comments

11 Comments so far

  1. ralfonso on September 9, 2009 1:15 pm

    Can’t they play in the Sprint Center?

    /RUNS

  2. Chimpo on September 9, 2009 1:33 pm

    Considering the Wizards have played two years in KCK, you have to assume this options is real. Also, if you’re the Wizards, the Legends complex has to look a lot more appealing to fans wanting to bring their family to the game as opposed to a Three Trails site w/o shopping and offices to take the edge off a suspect location.

  3. john on September 9, 2009 3:10 pm

    Moving to KCK permanently would essentially write off most fans from the Missouri suburbs. I’m a season ticket holder in Blue Springs and have been barely hanging on with the drive to KCK.

    Village West is nice, but it is so far out on one end of the city. If the Wizards build a stadium there, I would probably give up my season tickets. It’s just too far away to get enough use out of season tickets.

  4. southland on September 9, 2009 4:01 pm

    I live in SKC and we can not afford the Wizards. Let them move to KCK. The sooner the better.

  5. Northlander on September 9, 2009 5:15 pm

    Why not move the soccer fields for the kids down to the River Front. At least when out of town teams come to town they could go to the River Market, Power&Light Dist, the Boats,and stay in the Hotels downtown.After all it just sits empty the way it is now.
    Yes the stadium could go to KCK. because the city will never get their money back on that investment.

  6. Thomas on September 9, 2009 7:41 pm

    My guess is that it’s real, because it’s a much better location for the stadium. If it weren’t for Cerner’s previous commitment to south KC, I don’t think there’s any chance the stadium would have even been proposed for the Bannister location. The real question isn’t whether the Wizards will go to KCK, but how much of Cerner will follow.

  7. Mo Rage on September 9, 2009 10:12 pm

    man, I hope this is a bargaining chip (the bastards) and that they really want to stay in MO.

    Mo Rage
    The blog

  8. 10 Sept. News and Blogs you might have missed. « Kansas City Soccer Review on September 11, 2009 6:55 am

    [...] 10 Sept. News and Blogs you might have missed. Wizards to KCK – real option or bargaining chip? [...]

  9. Timmy on September 14, 2009 1:02 pm

    Let ‘em go…”Village West” is the Bannister Mall of the future.

  10. Ryan on September 14, 2009 3:41 pm

    Hahahaha! YESSsss Timmy! Woodlands 2.0

  11. Timmy on September 17, 2009 7:26 am

    Wyndotte County needs all the WT entertainment they can get

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