Post by wagner3 on May 20, 2010 15:25:13 GMT -5
Lack of local investors would make it difficult for KC to get an NBA or NHL team
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
Oklahoma City Thunder chairman Clay Bennett brought an NBA franchise to his hometown in 2008, but that story is unlikely to play here because Kansas City’s richest families aren’t buying into sports.
George Brett has the kind of life where he sometimes chooses between 18 holes in Hawaii or swimming with the dolphins. He usually takes the golf because he’s already done the dolphins and, you know, that can get a little old.
He has a friend who sometimes e-mails pictures from Lakers games with friendly taunts attached, like, just thought you’d like to see where I am, except this is not a game you win against Brett. He’s in Italy now and sent that friend a picture from Florence, Michelangelo’s statue of David up close. Touché.
This is all a way of reminding you that it’s good to be George Brett, because his world is like that On Demand button on your cable remote — save his desire for Kansas City to land an NHL or NBA team.
“No one stepped up in the past,” he says. “So for someone to step forward in the future, that means there’s gotta be someone new in town. And I don’t know anybody new in town with the deep pockets to do that.”
Brett is more than an observer here. He’s a potential participant, saying publicly for the first time that his family was contacted about joining a potential ownership group for an NHL team in Kansas City.
But he tried this once before, and a failed attempt at buying the Royals means he’s appropriately skeptical of a local group ever surfacing. He knows better than anybody why these little talks never produce anything substantial.
This all comes up during another week filled with reports about one team being in trouble, another team looking to move, and the natural progression to, Hey look! There’s the new team for the Sprint Center!
The future of the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes continues to swish back and forth in a negotiation that could move the team to Canada or keep it in Arizona if the city of Glendale can help meet payroll. The NBA’s Pacers are asking Indianapolis to help with operating expenses, or else all options are on the table.
In all, more than a half-dozen NHL or NBA franchises may be up for sale or looking to move, and these are the times that bring to mind the burning confidence of AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke’s in landing a team for the Sprint Center.
Except the same major obstacle exists now that did when Leiweke and others campaigned for public funding: no local owner.
Kansas City is bigger and has a better arena than Oklahoma City, for instance, but the Thunder plays five hours south of here because Clay Bennett is a rich Oklahoman who bought an NBA team and moved it.
Who’s our Clay Bennett?
“No, just not interested,” says Bill Hall, president of the Hall Family Foundation. “We have never looked at sports teams.”
This is how it is with all of Kansas City’s super-rich families. This is how it’s always been, part of why the Chiefs and Royals operate under out-of-town ownership.
Hall says the foundation’s interests are in “the overall health of Kansas City” and that the family “doesn’t see sports franchises as part of that strategy or vision.”
The Blochs, Stowers and Wards have traditionally operated in much the same way. Julia Irene Kauffman serves on the Royals’ board of directors, but has never indicated a desire to get into ownership.
None of this is meant as criticism. These families give to Kansas City in many other ways. The most obvious is the nearing completion of the $400 million Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, funded generously by the Kauffman family.
That’s great for the local arts scene, but a zero for Kansas City’s chances at an NHL or NBA team.
What it means is that any movement will need to come from an existing or purchasing owner wanting to relocate. The NHL’s Los Angeles Kings could be an emerging possibility, and are owned by AEG.
But even then, our hopes are reliant on something like an out-of-town savior, with presumably no vested interest in Kansas City.
Brett says he and his family will continue to listen to potential investors, but there’s a reason nothing’s come of it yet.
“To get a franchise here,” Brett says, “really, that would be extremely difficult.”
He talks for a few more minutes before excusing himself to get back to his vacation. He’s in Italy, you remember, waiting on the dinner being prepared for him. Yes, George Brett can make many things happen in this world.
But he needs help with this one
Read more: www.kansascity.com/2010/05/19/1957890_kcs-dilemma-lack-of-local-investors.html?storylink=omni_popular#ixzz0oVEkezZE
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
Oklahoma City Thunder chairman Clay Bennett brought an NBA franchise to his hometown in 2008, but that story is unlikely to play here because Kansas City’s richest families aren’t buying into sports.
George Brett has the kind of life where he sometimes chooses between 18 holes in Hawaii or swimming with the dolphins. He usually takes the golf because he’s already done the dolphins and, you know, that can get a little old.
He has a friend who sometimes e-mails pictures from Lakers games with friendly taunts attached, like, just thought you’d like to see where I am, except this is not a game you win against Brett. He’s in Italy now and sent that friend a picture from Florence, Michelangelo’s statue of David up close. Touché.
This is all a way of reminding you that it’s good to be George Brett, because his world is like that On Demand button on your cable remote — save his desire for Kansas City to land an NHL or NBA team.
“No one stepped up in the past,” he says. “So for someone to step forward in the future, that means there’s gotta be someone new in town. And I don’t know anybody new in town with the deep pockets to do that.”
Brett is more than an observer here. He’s a potential participant, saying publicly for the first time that his family was contacted about joining a potential ownership group for an NHL team in Kansas City.
But he tried this once before, and a failed attempt at buying the Royals means he’s appropriately skeptical of a local group ever surfacing. He knows better than anybody why these little talks never produce anything substantial.
This all comes up during another week filled with reports about one team being in trouble, another team looking to move, and the natural progression to, Hey look! There’s the new team for the Sprint Center!
The future of the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes continues to swish back and forth in a negotiation that could move the team to Canada or keep it in Arizona if the city of Glendale can help meet payroll. The NBA’s Pacers are asking Indianapolis to help with operating expenses, or else all options are on the table.
In all, more than a half-dozen NHL or NBA franchises may be up for sale or looking to move, and these are the times that bring to mind the burning confidence of AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke’s in landing a team for the Sprint Center.
Except the same major obstacle exists now that did when Leiweke and others campaigned for public funding: no local owner.
Kansas City is bigger and has a better arena than Oklahoma City, for instance, but the Thunder plays five hours south of here because Clay Bennett is a rich Oklahoman who bought an NBA team and moved it.
Who’s our Clay Bennett?
“No, just not interested,” says Bill Hall, president of the Hall Family Foundation. “We have never looked at sports teams.”
This is how it is with all of Kansas City’s super-rich families. This is how it’s always been, part of why the Chiefs and Royals operate under out-of-town ownership.
Hall says the foundation’s interests are in “the overall health of Kansas City” and that the family “doesn’t see sports franchises as part of that strategy or vision.”
The Blochs, Stowers and Wards have traditionally operated in much the same way. Julia Irene Kauffman serves on the Royals’ board of directors, but has never indicated a desire to get into ownership.
None of this is meant as criticism. These families give to Kansas City in many other ways. The most obvious is the nearing completion of the $400 million Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, funded generously by the Kauffman family.
That’s great for the local arts scene, but a zero for Kansas City’s chances at an NHL or NBA team.
What it means is that any movement will need to come from an existing or purchasing owner wanting to relocate. The NHL’s Los Angeles Kings could be an emerging possibility, and are owned by AEG.
But even then, our hopes are reliant on something like an out-of-town savior, with presumably no vested interest in Kansas City.
Brett says he and his family will continue to listen to potential investors, but there’s a reason nothing’s come of it yet.
“To get a franchise here,” Brett says, “really, that would be extremely difficult.”
He talks for a few more minutes before excusing himself to get back to his vacation. He’s in Italy, you remember, waiting on the dinner being prepared for him. Yes, George Brett can make many things happen in this world.
But he needs help with this one
Read more: www.kansascity.com/2010/05/19/1957890_kcs-dilemma-lack-of-local-investors.html?storylink=omni_popular#ixzz0oVEkezZE