Could the Maloofs move the Kings BACK to Kansas City???
They have a BRAND NEW ARENA WITH NO TENANT.
Sizing up our NBA shot, 5/25/2005
By Randy Covitz, The Kansas City Star
So you're an NBA fan in Kansas City watching the conference finals and wondering whether our town has what it takes for a franchise to succeed once the Sprint Center opens in 2007.
After all, it's been 20 years since the Kings abandoned Kansas City for Sacramento, and in that time, the NBA has mushroomed from a humdrum, 23-team league to a 30-club happening. There is evidence that Kansas City just might have the population base, median family income and television market to support an NBA franchise in a new, downtown arena.
“Kansas City would be the premier open arena in the country, if you're an NBA owner,” said Daniel A. Rascher, president of Sports Economics, a sports consulting firm in San Francisco.
Certainly, Kansas City compares favorably with the profile of similarly sized NBA markets, notably Indianapolis and Charlotte, N.C., which have clubs housed in sparkling, new downtown arenas.
Kansas City's median family income of $68,400 exceeds that of Indianapolis' $63,800 and Charlotte's $61,800, according to the Department of Commerce and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“My one concern is you've got a very entrenched and loved property in the Kansas City Chiefs,” said Dockery Clark, a sports consultant in Atlanta and former sports and sponsorship marketing executive for 11 years at Charlotte-based Bank of America. “If it was the new kid in town with no other competition, then I think it would be easier. But the NFL is an awful strong property to compete with, especially one that has such deep roots and passions as the Kansas City Chiefs.
“There are only so many corporate dollars to go around.”
Indeed, Kansas City's shortcoming as a prospective NBA city is that it lacks the Fortune 500 companies that can buy the expensive, revenue-producing suites in modern arenas. Kansas City has just three Fortune 500 companies - Sprint, Yellow Roadway and H&R Block. Charlotte has nine Fortune 500 companies and Indianapolis has five.
“If you look at it, our pro franchise is the Big 12,” said Bob Sundvold, a former assistant coach at Missouri and Iowa State, former UMKC head coach and current head coach/general manager of the minor-league Kansas City Knights. “Missouri approaches it that way, Kansas approaches it that way. … The question is, how many corporate tickets can you sell in a 20,000-seat arena?
“When the Kings left here for Sacramento, it happened just before Michael Jordan, right before the league took off again. Would the Kings have been able to make it here then? Possibly. Maybe they would have been entrenched enough they would have had a fan base and marketing and corporate support in place, and they would have held on.”
Rascher says there is more than one model for an NBA city. “One model is a large city with lots of corporate headquarters, lots of people,” Rascher said. “Along with that you'll have an NFL and a major-league baseball team.
“Another model for the NBA, which has been successful in Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Portland … is to be the only game in town. The problem with Kansas City is it's trying to be both of those things. You have an extra major team in Kansas City. The Royals, with all those games, take up a lot of fan disposable income.”
Some experts believe an NBA team can capitalize on Kansas City's passion for college basketball just as teams did in Charlotte and Indianapolis.
“The population and demographics are working in Kansas City's favor,” said Don Hinchey, vice president at The Bonham Group, a Denver-based sports and marketing consulting firm. “The interest is there in basketball. Yes, it's been focused on college basketball, but I look upon that as a plus. That interest could be easily transferred to a professional team if it embodies the high level of play, and a top-notch organization.”
Here's a story that Kansas City sports fans can identify with. When the NBA expanded to Charlotte in 1988-89, the Hornets played in the brand-new Charlotte Coliseum. Unfortunately, the facility was not built downtown.
“There's a feeling we should have built the Charlotte Coliseum in the center city back then,” said Tim Newman, executive director of the Charlotte Regional Sports Commission, sounding a refrain heard in Kansas City regarding Kemper Arena's location.
Still, the Hornets, as North Carolina's first major-league sports team, packed the 23,319-seat Coliseum for the first 10 years, including an NBA record 364 consecutive sellouts during 1989-97.
But the community's passion for the franchise soured because of off-court problems that hounded the team, including a sexual-harassment lawsuit against owner George Shinn. Shinn also became disenchanted with Charlotte Coliseum, which had just 12 suites and no club seats, making it outdated shortly after it opened.
When Shinn could not drum up support for the community to build a new downtown arena with the amenities most NBA facilities had, he moved the club to New Orleans in 2002.
The NBA quickly responded by granting Charlotte an expansion team for the 2004-05 season. And after spending their first season in the Coliseum, the Bobcats will play next season in a new $260 million downtown arena designed by sports architecture firm Ellerbe Beckett of Kansas City.
“Charlotte has become such a vital downtown because we put the NFL stadium in the center city, and the decision was made to build the basketball arena there,” Newman said.
The expansion Bobcats averaged just 14,431, ranking 29th in the 30-team NBA, but the new arena is expected to be a drawing card. The arena - which has yet to strike a deal for naming rights - will open with the Rolling Stones on Oct. 21, and U2 will appear in December.
Besides the Bobcats, the new Charlotte arena will be home for the WNBA's Charlotte Sting; the minor-league Charlotte Checkers hockey team; and the next three postseason tournaments of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association - a conference of historically black institutions including Johnson C. Smith in Charlotte. The Atlantic Coast Conference tournament is set for 2008.
Kansas City's new arena will be part of the Big 12 tournament rotation as well as the site for big-name concerts and part of a downtown redevelopment. It could also serve as home to a possible NBA and/or NHL team.
“For us, the arena is more than basketball, and that is the message we have been consistent with,” said Moira Quinn, senior vice president of communications for Charlotte Center City Partners, a development and marketing firm “The arena has triggered 20 new projects in the center city, including seven high-rise condo towers.”
The success of the Indiana Pacers can be traced to not one, but two downtown arenas. Downtown Indianapolis was a desolate place in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the Pacers, one of the flagship franchises of the original American Basketball Association, played its games at the old State Fairgrounds Coliseum.
When the highly popular Indiana boys basketball tournament moved from venerable Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis to the University of Indiana's Assembly Hall in 1971, the city responded by building 17,000-seat Market Square Arena for the state tournament and the Pacers.
The opening of Market Square in 1974 was the first step in what became a 30-year revitalization into a vibrant downtown in which sports venues served as a key component. The high school basketball tournament returned in 1975, the Pacers were absorbed into the NBA in 1976 and the 1980 NCAA men's Final Four was played at Market Square Arena.
“That's when Indianapolis began to establish relationships with the NCAA,” said Bill Benner, a former sports writer and columnist for 30 years at The Indianapolis Star. “They built the RCA Dome and got numerous basketball events, including Final Fours, which was a huge entrée into the relocation of the NCAA headquarters (from Kansas City).”
In 1984, the Baltimore Colts relocated to Indianapolis and have played in the RCA Dome, which will be replaced in the next three years by a new stadium. And in 1999, the Pacers moved into the gold standard of NBA arenas, the retro-looking Conseco Fieldhouse. The $183 million facility, also designed by Ellerbe Beckett, seats 18,345 for basketball and has 69 suites and 2,400 club seats.
Indiana and Purdue's basketball teams have been fixtures at the downtown facilities, playing nonconference games in Indianapolis, just as Kansas plays an annual game at Kemper Arena. Indiana plays Kentucky at the RCA Dome every other year, and in the year the Hoosiers are at Kentucky, they play a game at Conseco.
In Conseco Fieldhouse's first year, the Pacers went to the NBA finals in 2000 and sold out all 41 home games. This year, the Pacers averaged 16,994 fans per game, ranking 17th in the NBA for the second straight year.
“The arena has to be more than just an arena, it has to be part of a strategy that brings in a subsequent number of events beyond basketball that drives traffic downtown, brings people downtown, and really lifts up the entire area,” Benner said. “That is exactly what has happened in Indianapolis. An NBA team could be a tremendous boon to your downtown. You're talking 41 dates.
“The team has to be good at some point. The Pacers couldn't have moved into Conseco Fieldhouse at a better time.”
Kansas City, as the 31st television market in the country, is not the only big city without an NBA team. Others include St. Louis (21st), Pittsburgh (22nd), San Diego (26th) and Cincinnati (32nd).
However, Pittsburgh, San Diego and Cincinnati do not have NBA-quality arenas, and St. Louis may not be able to support an NBA team along with its fanatical support of the Cardinals, NHL Blues and NFL Rams.
Besides its favorable economic conditions, Tim Leiweke, president of Anschutz Entertainment Group - which will operate the Sprint Center - sees great broadcast potential in Kansas City. An NBA (or NHL) team in Kansas City could take advantage of the competition between Time Warner's Metro Sports or Fox Sports Midwest for television rights.
“You have a team that has a huge regional footprint for broadcasts, for season-ticket sales and for a fan base,” Leiweke said. “That's what I like about Kansas City.”
Knights owner Jim Clark, whose league is a licensee of the NBA and who often visits NBA cities and arenas, believes the league can succeed in Kansas City.
“The overall problem you have when you're in a non-NBA city like Kansas City is a lot of people think poorly of the NBA because all they see is what's on TV,” Clark said. “If they get a chance to go to an NBA game, it's a lot of fun. “One thing that is very true of Kansas City is they do like professional sports. The nice thing about basketball is it's the broadest demographic sport. You go to a baseball game or a hockey game or a football game, that crowd is a lot different than who goes to a Knights game. We're black, white, young, old, boys and girls.
“If I had to pick a sport to put in Kansas City, right by Dr. Naismith, I think basketball … if people got the NBA back here, I don't think they'd ever want to lose it again.”
To reach Randy Covitz, sports reporter for The Star, call (816) 234-4796 or send e-mail to rcovitz@kcstar.com.
www.kansascity.com
They have a BRAND NEW ARENA WITH NO TENANT.
Sizing up our NBA shot, 5/25/2005
By Randy Covitz, The Kansas City Star
So you're an NBA fan in Kansas City watching the conference finals and wondering whether our town has what it takes for a franchise to succeed once the Sprint Center opens in 2007.
After all, it's been 20 years since the Kings abandoned Kansas City for Sacramento, and in that time, the NBA has mushroomed from a humdrum, 23-team league to a 30-club happening. There is evidence that Kansas City just might have the population base, median family income and television market to support an NBA franchise in a new, downtown arena.
“Kansas City would be the premier open arena in the country, if you're an NBA owner,” said Daniel A. Rascher, president of Sports Economics, a sports consulting firm in San Francisco.
Certainly, Kansas City compares favorably with the profile of similarly sized NBA markets, notably Indianapolis and Charlotte, N.C., which have clubs housed in sparkling, new downtown arenas.
Kansas City's median family income of $68,400 exceeds that of Indianapolis' $63,800 and Charlotte's $61,800, according to the Department of Commerce and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“My one concern is you've got a very entrenched and loved property in the Kansas City Chiefs,” said Dockery Clark, a sports consultant in Atlanta and former sports and sponsorship marketing executive for 11 years at Charlotte-based Bank of America. “If it was the new kid in town with no other competition, then I think it would be easier. But the NFL is an awful strong property to compete with, especially one that has such deep roots and passions as the Kansas City Chiefs.
“There are only so many corporate dollars to go around.”
Indeed, Kansas City's shortcoming as a prospective NBA city is that it lacks the Fortune 500 companies that can buy the expensive, revenue-producing suites in modern arenas. Kansas City has just three Fortune 500 companies - Sprint, Yellow Roadway and H&R Block. Charlotte has nine Fortune 500 companies and Indianapolis has five.
“If you look at it, our pro franchise is the Big 12,” said Bob Sundvold, a former assistant coach at Missouri and Iowa State, former UMKC head coach and current head coach/general manager of the minor-league Kansas City Knights. “Missouri approaches it that way, Kansas approaches it that way. … The question is, how many corporate tickets can you sell in a 20,000-seat arena?
“When the Kings left here for Sacramento, it happened just before Michael Jordan, right before the league took off again. Would the Kings have been able to make it here then? Possibly. Maybe they would have been entrenched enough they would have had a fan base and marketing and corporate support in place, and they would have held on.”
Rascher says there is more than one model for an NBA city. “One model is a large city with lots of corporate headquarters, lots of people,” Rascher said. “Along with that you'll have an NFL and a major-league baseball team.
“Another model for the NBA, which has been successful in Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Portland … is to be the only game in town. The problem with Kansas City is it's trying to be both of those things. You have an extra major team in Kansas City. The Royals, with all those games, take up a lot of fan disposable income.”
Some experts believe an NBA team can capitalize on Kansas City's passion for college basketball just as teams did in Charlotte and Indianapolis.
“The population and demographics are working in Kansas City's favor,” said Don Hinchey, vice president at The Bonham Group, a Denver-based sports and marketing consulting firm. “The interest is there in basketball. Yes, it's been focused on college basketball, but I look upon that as a plus. That interest could be easily transferred to a professional team if it embodies the high level of play, and a top-notch organization.”
Here's a story that Kansas City sports fans can identify with. When the NBA expanded to Charlotte in 1988-89, the Hornets played in the brand-new Charlotte Coliseum. Unfortunately, the facility was not built downtown.
“There's a feeling we should have built the Charlotte Coliseum in the center city back then,” said Tim Newman, executive director of the Charlotte Regional Sports Commission, sounding a refrain heard in Kansas City regarding Kemper Arena's location.
Still, the Hornets, as North Carolina's first major-league sports team, packed the 23,319-seat Coliseum for the first 10 years, including an NBA record 364 consecutive sellouts during 1989-97.
But the community's passion for the franchise soured because of off-court problems that hounded the team, including a sexual-harassment lawsuit against owner George Shinn. Shinn also became disenchanted with Charlotte Coliseum, which had just 12 suites and no club seats, making it outdated shortly after it opened.
When Shinn could not drum up support for the community to build a new downtown arena with the amenities most NBA facilities had, he moved the club to New Orleans in 2002.
The NBA quickly responded by granting Charlotte an expansion team for the 2004-05 season. And after spending their first season in the Coliseum, the Bobcats will play next season in a new $260 million downtown arena designed by sports architecture firm Ellerbe Beckett of Kansas City.
“Charlotte has become such a vital downtown because we put the NFL stadium in the center city, and the decision was made to build the basketball arena there,” Newman said.
The expansion Bobcats averaged just 14,431, ranking 29th in the 30-team NBA, but the new arena is expected to be a drawing card. The arena - which has yet to strike a deal for naming rights - will open with the Rolling Stones on Oct. 21, and U2 will appear in December.
Besides the Bobcats, the new Charlotte arena will be home for the WNBA's Charlotte Sting; the minor-league Charlotte Checkers hockey team; and the next three postseason tournaments of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association - a conference of historically black institutions including Johnson C. Smith in Charlotte. The Atlantic Coast Conference tournament is set for 2008.
Kansas City's new arena will be part of the Big 12 tournament rotation as well as the site for big-name concerts and part of a downtown redevelopment. It could also serve as home to a possible NBA and/or NHL team.
“For us, the arena is more than basketball, and that is the message we have been consistent with,” said Moira Quinn, senior vice president of communications for Charlotte Center City Partners, a development and marketing firm “The arena has triggered 20 new projects in the center city, including seven high-rise condo towers.”
The success of the Indiana Pacers can be traced to not one, but two downtown arenas. Downtown Indianapolis was a desolate place in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the Pacers, one of the flagship franchises of the original American Basketball Association, played its games at the old State Fairgrounds Coliseum.
When the highly popular Indiana boys basketball tournament moved from venerable Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis to the University of Indiana's Assembly Hall in 1971, the city responded by building 17,000-seat Market Square Arena for the state tournament and the Pacers.
The opening of Market Square in 1974 was the first step in what became a 30-year revitalization into a vibrant downtown in which sports venues served as a key component. The high school basketball tournament returned in 1975, the Pacers were absorbed into the NBA in 1976 and the 1980 NCAA men's Final Four was played at Market Square Arena.
“That's when Indianapolis began to establish relationships with the NCAA,” said Bill Benner, a former sports writer and columnist for 30 years at The Indianapolis Star. “They built the RCA Dome and got numerous basketball events, including Final Fours, which was a huge entrée into the relocation of the NCAA headquarters (from Kansas City).”
In 1984, the Baltimore Colts relocated to Indianapolis and have played in the RCA Dome, which will be replaced in the next three years by a new stadium. And in 1999, the Pacers moved into the gold standard of NBA arenas, the retro-looking Conseco Fieldhouse. The $183 million facility, also designed by Ellerbe Beckett, seats 18,345 for basketball and has 69 suites and 2,400 club seats.
Indiana and Purdue's basketball teams have been fixtures at the downtown facilities, playing nonconference games in Indianapolis, just as Kansas plays an annual game at Kemper Arena. Indiana plays Kentucky at the RCA Dome every other year, and in the year the Hoosiers are at Kentucky, they play a game at Conseco.
In Conseco Fieldhouse's first year, the Pacers went to the NBA finals in 2000 and sold out all 41 home games. This year, the Pacers averaged 16,994 fans per game, ranking 17th in the NBA for the second straight year.
“The arena has to be more than just an arena, it has to be part of a strategy that brings in a subsequent number of events beyond basketball that drives traffic downtown, brings people downtown, and really lifts up the entire area,” Benner said. “That is exactly what has happened in Indianapolis. An NBA team could be a tremendous boon to your downtown. You're talking 41 dates.
“The team has to be good at some point. The Pacers couldn't have moved into Conseco Fieldhouse at a better time.”
Kansas City, as the 31st television market in the country, is not the only big city without an NBA team. Others include St. Louis (21st), Pittsburgh (22nd), San Diego (26th) and Cincinnati (32nd).
However, Pittsburgh, San Diego and Cincinnati do not have NBA-quality arenas, and St. Louis may not be able to support an NBA team along with its fanatical support of the Cardinals, NHL Blues and NFL Rams.
Besides its favorable economic conditions, Tim Leiweke, president of Anschutz Entertainment Group - which will operate the Sprint Center - sees great broadcast potential in Kansas City. An NBA (or NHL) team in Kansas City could take advantage of the competition between Time Warner's Metro Sports or Fox Sports Midwest for television rights.
“You have a team that has a huge regional footprint for broadcasts, for season-ticket sales and for a fan base,” Leiweke said. “That's what I like about Kansas City.”
Knights owner Jim Clark, whose league is a licensee of the NBA and who often visits NBA cities and arenas, believes the league can succeed in Kansas City.
“The overall problem you have when you're in a non-NBA city like Kansas City is a lot of people think poorly of the NBA because all they see is what's on TV,” Clark said. “If they get a chance to go to an NBA game, it's a lot of fun. “One thing that is very true of Kansas City is they do like professional sports. The nice thing about basketball is it's the broadest demographic sport. You go to a baseball game or a hockey game or a football game, that crowd is a lot different than who goes to a Knights game. We're black, white, young, old, boys and girls.
“If I had to pick a sport to put in Kansas City, right by Dr. Naismith, I think basketball … if people got the NBA back here, I don't think they'd ever want to lose it again.”
To reach Randy Covitz, sports reporter for The Star, call (816) 234-4796 or send e-mail to rcovitz@kcstar.com.
www.kansascity.com
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