AHL — moving to Des Moines

Posted on April 18, 2013 by blogger

The former Houston Aeros are no longer and that the Minnesota Wild are going to move their AHL franchise to Des Moines.

Good for Des Moines. The former ice pigs (or whatever the hell they were called) really suffered from bad ownership. Now, I believe, the Wild will own the franchise and place it in Wells Fargo Arena.

Now that the Mavericks are here, I’m really off my kick to try to get Kansas City top level minor league hockey again. I like the Mavericks games. Sure, the quality of play isn’t nearly as good as the AHL and the players are going to ever appear in an NHL game, but I really like the way the team is run.

Plus, I think in order to get in the league, the Mavs are contractually-bound to the Central Hockey League for at least 10 years. All speculation of a different league for the Independence Events Center is moot.

By the way, for you naysaying, know nothings that say the IEC isn’t big enough for the AHL, you can either be better informed or shut the hell up. The Cedar Park Center, home of the Texas Stars, is EXACTLY the same as the IEC. Heck, the Mavs attendance is only 150 or so fans less than the AHL average..and most of those teams, like Milwaukee and Chicago, play in much bigger arenas.

Good for Des Moines — Omaha for UN-O and USHL, Des Moines for AHL, St. Louis for NHL and Topeka for NAHL — if you can’t find enough hockey within driving distance of KC, then you aren’t looking very hard.

Posted in NHL | Leave a comment

Islanders moving to Brooklyn — how silly were those Islanders to KC rumors now?

Posted on October 24, 2012 by blogger

It was reported this morning that the New York Islanders will move to Brooklyn 2015 and play in the new Barclays Center — also home of the Brooklyn Nets.

Islanders to move to Brooklyn by 2015: source

Have you seen Barclays Center? Wow!

The arena wasn’t really built for hockey, but you have to think Charles Wang can generate considerably more revenue with a small building in Brooklyn than a decrepit, old building farther down the Island.

Barclays arena holds 17,732 seats for Nets basketball, and arena officials have said it could hold about 14,500 seats for hockey. It would be the smallest arena in the league, but the NHL said it doesn’t have a minimum-seating requirement for its arenas.

The NHL’s smallest seating capacity for an NHL team is 15,015 at the MTS Center in Winnipeg, Manitoba, home to the Winnipeg Jets.

Nassau Coliseum seats 16,234, but the Islanders averaged 13,191 fans per game last season, ranking second to last in the NHL.

It’s hard for me to rank which rumors were silliest. The “Islanders to KC” rumors or the “New Orleans Hornets to KC” rumors. The “Hornets to KC” rumors included a local sportstalker suggesting there was a “better than 50% chance” the Hornets would move to KC. Oy.

Now, the Islanders are doing what everyone has said they would probably do — move down the Island to Brooklyn.

Remember how the Islanders played a preseason game in KC in 2009 and local KC journalists were all a twitter.

Remember how in 2011 the KC Star insisted upon perpetuating the rumor that the Islanders COULD move to Kansas City through lazy reporting? For instance, not once was the total amount of cable TV rights fees that the Islanders would have to forfeit with a move outside of the New York Metro even mentioned.

Remember how in 2011 the KC Star even used a tired joke about Rick DiPietro’s injury history completely ignoring the impressive group of young players the Islanders have on their roster?

Remember what this blog had to say about it? You don’t.

Well, far be it from me to deny you the opportunity to re-read my drivel once viewed by 10s of people.

Here is what I said:

You see, to accurately report what a huge longshot the Islanders moving to Kansas City would be, this needs to appear in the mainstream KC media,
“Kansas City has a NHL-ready arena, but an owner, like Charles Wang, wouldn’t control revenue from all events, which many NHL owners require. In addition, as reported in Forbes, the Islanders most lucrative asset is their cable television contract and they would receive significantly less money on a radio/tv/cable deal in Kansas City.”

Of course, no one brought up the meager cable deals an NHL team in Kansas City would draw back when AEG said we could have an NHL or NBA franchise. Pish-posh, details…

FORBES: Brooklyn Islanders May be Closer to Reality

the Islanders inked an extension with Cablevision all the way through the 2030-31 season, for rights fees that escalate from roughly $14 million a year initially to a reported $36 million by the last year of the deal. The contract is the Islanders’ most valuable asset, one they’re unlikely to duplicate in another market.

Somewhere between $14M and $36M per year until 2030-31? Look the Islanders couldn’t get a 10-year cable deal for $15M in this market.

No wonder the Islanders are considering moving to the Atlantic Yards arena in Brooklyn.

  • Brooklyn is still “on the Island”.
  • Brooklyn is still within their lucrative cable TV market.
  • A Brooklyn arena will have easy access to mass transit (I know, Mass transit is a factor completely lost on Kansas Citians…we’re more concerned about how far away the parking garages are…sad)
  • No debt service, capital expenditures or potential property taxes
  • Even though the building only seats 14,000, they will still, most likely, sell more tickets and at a higher price point than they do now at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

    • Islanders average ticket price at NVMC = $51.46 and average attendance of 11,059
    If they raise ticket prices 10% to play in Brooklyn and play to 90% capacity in that building, they still grow their gross by 25%

    Of course, our local media could probably put these Islanders rumors completely to rest by having a contact within AECOM, you know, our local sports architecture firm designing the Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards, who could inform them of future plans for the arena. Nah, that would require real reporting.

    So, here we are. Another franchise that is not moving to KC and an NHL that isn’t even playing.

    Yeah, so, what’s the point? I don’t really know. All I know is that the Mavericks season starts in about 10 days. It’s good hockey. Better than I thought it would be. If you like hockey, go see the Mavericks. Or, go to Topeka and see the Roadrunners.

    Posted in NHL | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

    Does latest NHL CBA Proposal include Expansion — possibly for Kansas City?

    Posted on October 16, 2012 by blogger

    Two years ago, I wrote that I thought Kansas City’s best chance for an NHL team rested on the shoulders of a man most of us in KC can’t stand — Donald Fehr. Yes, Fehr, the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) lawyer who ruined the only chance the Royals had to make the playoffs in the last 20 years.

    I wrote:

    “Let’s just say Donald Fehr represents the NHLPA. And, let’s just say that he provides the only formidable foe that is equal to Bettman’s intelligence, stubbornness and pugnacity.”

    Nailed that one. He has.

    “Now, let’s assume Fehr wins something back for the players. I don’t know what that would be — a higher salary cap, a “softer” cap like that silly, pointless cap they have in the NBA…something.”

    Almost nailed that one, but it’s going even farther. Fehr started threatening to go with a “No Cap” extreme in bargaining. Now, it seems Fehr may be on the verge of creating more jobs.

    And, let’s say that Bettman’s argument against it is, “Yes, some veterans seem to be losing their job as cap casualties. However, I would rather a few veteran players lose their multi-million dollar salaries than have entire franchises fold, which they will if we agree to the NHLPA demands.

    Bettman hasn’t said this, but he’s intimated it.

    The NHLPA wins a few too many concessions because, well, as much as we hate him in KC for what he did in MLB, Fehr is that good. Out of spite, Bettman retaliates by telling Atlanta or Raleigh or Miami or, possibly even Edmonton or Ottawa, “OK, you are free to sell and I don’t care if you relocate because, well, we warned the NHLPA.”

    Funny how I wrote “Atlanta” that titanic crashed already. The NHL’s latest proposal seems to leading toward an agreement that will save the season. The agreement is a 50/50 split of hockey-related revenue and, possibly, a “real” plan to increase revenue to levels the NHL has never seen before.

    How you say?
    This:

    Two years ago, I wrote:

    At THAT point, I believe KC gets back in the game — that is, if there is an owner.

    Unfortunately, I think this ship may have sailed since, there I still no owner is sight. The NHL may be moving toward 32 teams. If there was an owner, we may be in the running…may be. Expansion fees are astronomical. Far higher than just purchasing a franchise for $150M in pocket change.

    While Bettman is in charge, selecting the markets and, seemingly, winning battles with the NHLPA, no franchise is ever going to move to KC or Hamilton or Hartford or Winnipeg or Seattle (I’m leaving out Las Vegas because that rumor is just nonsense)

    What bothers me is that the NHL is trying to dictate what percentage of money the NHLPA gets AND dictating how the league creates the revenue. The NHLPA may be willing to settle for a true 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue. The NHLPA should also get some say in how it’s generated. The HRR is significantly reduced because Gary Bettman has a giant ego and insists on keeping a franchise in that money losing pit in Glendale, AZ.

    Think about this…if the players took 49%, but the 30th NHL franchise was in Markham, ONT instead of Glendale, AZ, wouldn’t the pot of money for the players be larger? Say what you will about sun and golf, but I’m sure many players would rather play in the Greater Toronto Area than in Phoenix.

    I’ll be interested to see what they have in The Hockey News in a couple of weeks. Toronto makes sense. Quebec City…a little less so even though QC seems to have an ownership group in place.

    Posted in NHL | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

    Ice Breaker in KC — Great Games, few fans

    Posted on October 15, 2012 by blogger

    Well, this is a tough one to write.

    I’m really not sure what to say, so I will start with this.

    The NHL and NHLPA are locked in a stalemate. The NCAA hockey at Sprint Center last weekend is about the best hockey you will see in North America. Yes, the AHL has higher quality hockey, but I’m not sure you will find guys playing with the passion we saw last weekend. College hockey is just three hours away in Omaha and it’s not tough to get a ticket since CenturyLink Arena seats about 16K.

    The problem is that you don’t know much about NCAA hockey. Flubber McGee at Lost City of Bettman has your back. He as provided you, the 14 readers of PucKChaser, with Introducing the Unscientific, Arbitrary, Favorite College Hockey Team Deciding Flowchart It’s brilliant. Read it! Every direction provides a good laugh. I loved trying to get to Pat Ferschweiler’s Western Michigan Broncos.

    Now, for the Ice Breaker. Great games. All the games, except UN-O vs. Army were one goal games.

    I really enjoyed Saturday night’s UN-O – Notre Dame game. I think UN-O may actually be a bit better than ND, even though ND has about six players from the US National Development Team. Notre Dame got a couple of fluky goals in the first period and was able to hang on for the win.

    The crowd, well, wasn’t good. You know, college hockey is a tough sell in October in the Midwest. On Friday nights, high school football is huge. On Saturday, KU and MU had home games — home games that got rain delayed, but still home games. Plus, the influx of youth players from the youth tournament in KC didn’t happen. Oh, yes, there were several teams in KC, but they didn’t attend the games. It seems the limited ice time in KC forced the tournament organizers to schedule youth games at the same time as the Ice Breaker games. Another reason why it’s just a shame that the focus hasn’t been on putting more sheets of ice in KC rather than chasing the Quixotic dream that an NHL team will come to KC. It’s a noble dream, but totally unrealistic.

    So, let me get this straight…we have a college hockey tournament at Sprint Center that needed more attendance.
    The game is promoted along with a youth tournament that attracted youth teams from around the Midwest.

    By having these teams in town, it should have boosted attendance.

    So many teams came that games had to be scheduled when the youth players were supposed flooding Sprint Center.

    All the while, a potential sheet of ice in the West Bottoms SAT COMPLETELY DARK. And Kansas City wonders what to do with Kemper. USE IT!!! Put the ice down and schedule a tournament. Heck, put basketball floors down and host youth basketball tournaments! Don’t you think Scott Drew and Greg McDermott and Danny Manning and all the D1 coaches that squeeze into Okun Fieldhouse wouldn’t rather attend AAU games in Kemper?

    Now, does the poor attendance mean Kansas City won’t get a Frozen Four? Well, it depends on whether the people who make these decisions are rational human beings or not. You simply can’t compare the attendance at the Ice Breaker tournament to the potential attendance at the Frozen Four.

    You see, the Frozen Four is held the second week of April. March Madness and KU’s victory in the Final Four will be complete.

    There is hardly any other competition for the entertainment dollar the second week of April because the Royals will be 51/2 games.

    WILL KC still host the Frozen Four? I hope so. CAN KC host the Frozen Four? I think so. But, then again, I thought attendance at the Ice Breaker would be better…

    Posted in College hockey | 4 Comments

    Ice Breaker in Kansas City Preview

    Posted on October 11, 2012 by blogger

    You are a hockey fan in Kansas City.
    You are excited to see four NCAA games at Sprint Center this weekend!
    But, you won’t know anything about the players.
    Never fear, I’m hear to give you MY preview.

    FRIDAY @ 6:05 NOTRE DAME VS MAINE
    FRIDAY @ 9:05 UN-O VS ARMY

    ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS
    Friday 9:05 vs UN-O
    15 players return from last year’s team and represent 13 different states.

    The Black Knights were not good last year 4-23-7.

    Andy Starczewski is their top returning scorer. He lead the team in goals last season with 13 in 34 games.
    Players to watch: #21 Starczewski, #10 Zak Zaremba,#11 Brian Schultz

    UN-O MAVERICKS
    UN-O has players from 11 different states, a couple Canadians and one player from the Czech Republic.
    Two players are from St. Louis: #28 Brian O’Rourke and #13 Dominic Zombo.
    Yes, Dominic Zombo is former Blue Rick Zombo’s son.

    UN-O also has a player from Colleyville, Tx and one from Whittier, CA

    Anthony Stolarz and Brian Cooper were selected in the most recent NHL draft.
    The Mavs have eight drafted players on their roster
    Brent Gwidt – Washington
    Bryce Aneloski – Ottawa
    Josh Archibald – Pittsburgh
    Tanner Lane – Winnipeg
    Nick Seeler – Minnesota

    Famous Alums:
    Dan Ellis
    Greg Zanon
    Bill Thomas
    Scott Parse

    MAINE BLACK BEARS
    Friday at 6:05 vs Notre Dame
    Two NCAA Championships: 1993 and 1999
    Maine has 20 US players and 4 Canadians. US Players are from 9 different states. Maine has the most overseas players as they have two players from Sweden.
    Maine also has a player from Avondale, AZ.

    Two players selected in the most recent draft — Devin Shore by the Dallas Stars and Ben Hutton by the Vancouver Canucks.
    NHLer Bob Corkum an assistant coach

    Famous NHL alums:
    Paul Kariya — Kariya played two seasons at Maine. In 51 games he scored 33 goals, 91 assists for 124 points. Awesome.
    Former Blade Claudio Scremin
    Former Blade Steve Kariya
    Jim Montgomery
    Scott Pellerin
    Patrice Tardif
    John Tortorella (Ohhh, s*&^! I bet he cussed a lot as a college guy).

    NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH
    18 returning letterwinners

    Notre Dame has a ton of players from the USHL — 16 players and that doesn’t count the players who played for the USA National Under 18 team.

    Notre Dame has players from nine different states including a player from Ankeny, IA.
    Irish players Thomas DiPauli and Austin Wuthrich were selected by Washington in the most recent draft.
    Vince Hinostroza was picked by the Blackhawks.
    12 players that were drafted.
    senior Nick Larson (Calgary, fourth round in 2008), junior Jeff Costello (Ottawa, fifth round in 2009), junior Anders Lee (New York Islanders, sixth round in 2009), junior Stephen Johns (Chicago, second round in 2010), junior Bryan Rust (Pittsburgh, third round in 2010), junior Kevin Lind (Anaheim, sixth round in 2010), junior T.J. Tynan (Columbus, third round, 2011), sophomore Robbie Russo (New York Islanders, fourth round, 2011), freshman Steven Fogarty (New York Rangers, third round in 2011) and freshman Mario Lucia (Minnesota, second round, 2011).

    Famous alums:
    Dave Poulin
    Erik Condra
    Brett Lebda
    Former Blades Head Coach Don Jackson
    Riley Sheahan
    Kyle Palmieri

    Have fun this weekend!

    Posted in NCAA | Tagged , | Leave a comment

    Sprint Center turns 5 & KC Star Celebrates 8 years as Sprint Center PR Rep

    Posted on October 10, 2012 by blogger

    The Kansas City Star had a nice article in Sunday’s edition about Sprint Center.

    A popular and financial success, Sprint Center turns five

    It’s a good article that looks back at the history of Sprint Center and the activity at the arena for the last five years — the POSITIVE history. It barely touches on the negatives to the Sprint Center — the fact there never was going to be an anchor tenant and that Cordish was, at one time, furious with AEG. Some 8,000 LB gorilla sat on Cordish and they only make nice-nice now.

    “When there is the right event at the Sprint Center, whether a concert or sporting event, the energy that comes off the arena is tremendous and can be felt throughout the Power & Light District and downtown as a whole,” said Nick Benjamin, executive director.

    “We remain hopeful that we will be able to show off these synergies to the fans of an NHL or NBA team in the near future and continue to believe that downtown Kansas City is a worthy home for additional professional sports franchises.”

    Remain hopeful? Translation “We drowning because we’re not getting nearly the traffic we were promised. Please send help.”

    The Star follows up with an editorial that would make any J-school professor teaching Public Relations proud.
    The Star’s editorial | Sprint Center has been a success story for KC

    The Sprint Center has been a big success even though Kansas City has not landed a major league basketball or hockey franchise.

    Put another way, the still-gleaming arena has helped energize downtown since it opened five years ago largely because it doesn’t host a permanent sports team.

    Oh, you’re f* kidding me?

    Metropolitan area residents have had opportunities to see top concerts featuring all kinds of music — along with the circus and monster truck extravaganzas.

    Opportunity to see concerts. Sure. I loved Pearl Jam, Kiss and a few other events I’ve been to at Sprint Center. It’s a wonderful arena. But, circus’ and Monster truck extravaganzas? I know we have a large contingent of K-State fans in KC, but we’re going to be proud of monster truck extravaganzas.

    Hint to the KC Star Editorial Board — If we had an NHL or NBA team WE’D STILL HAVE THOSE F* EXTRAVAGANZAS!! They’d be at Kemper, numnuts. You know, the mothballed arena the city is still paying for? Just like the circus and monster truck extravaganzas and even Cirque Du Soleil were at Kemper before. This statement makes it sound like this cowtown never had a good event prior to Sprint Center. WE DID, idiots. Cirque, David Bowie, Sprintsteen, REM, U2, Billy Joel & Elton John, NHL preseason games, the FINAL FOUR — I could go on and on about the great shows that I’ve seen in Kansas City’s indoor arena. Did we miss some shows? Sure. But to make the intimation that we didn’t have these shows in the past is absolute deception. Heck, I went to Disney on Ice a few years ago at Kemper after Sprint Center opened and you know what? It was great!! With fewer dates the arena was clean and well run. And, it didn’t take me 20 minutes to get in the door the way it does before a Sprint Center event.

    AEG kept its word by pumping in tens of millions of dollars toward building the arena.

    Yes, but as your own story points out, AEG won’t upgrade the arena’s televisions or seating bowl electronics.

    While the nearby Power & Light District continues to have economic problems, the challenges would be even more severe without the customers delivered by the arena.

    What? The challenges WOULDN’T EVEN EXIST without the arena because the P&L never would have been built.

    Looking ahead, the city needs to keep a close eye on who buys AEG, which is now for sale, and whether the new operator starts cutting corners in booking first-class events at Sprint Center.

    Oh, give me a break. No they don’t. First, it doesn’t matter who buys AEG because the contracts are going to stay the same and the corporation is basically going to be the same. AEG has said they will honor all contracts and, I’m sure, the city would force them to. Second, any one with any sense can figure out a buyer is probably already in place. Wouldn’t you think Leiweke, and perhaps a few other execs at AEG, are part of the new ownership group?

    Seriously, this editorial seems more like a Junior High journalism class project.

    Good gravy. I’m right back where I was eight or so years ago. Writing blog posts about how awful the Star’s coverage is of the arena.

    Would I be happy if the coverage were more negative? Of course not. The incredible disservice in this case is the complete lack of critical thinking involved in this editorial.

    At this point, this semi-anonymous blogger who claims (and has sometimes proven) his knowledge of the NHL and franchise movement in that league, is ever nearer to claiming victory. I said all along that Kansas City was not a candidate for an NHL team — never was, never will be. While our fair city CAN support an NHL (or NBA) team, bringing one here is not only an insurmountable challenge but was never actually part of the arena’s strategy. The Kansas City Star itself is now claiming the arena is a success because it doesn’t have a professional sports franchise (maybe even better off without silly inside football). Sprint Center was not built for an NHL or NBA team. A team CAN play in the building, but it was built because when AEG looked at the US map and the markets they were serving and KC (and many parts of the Midwest) was a huge gaping hole. By having an arena in KC they could fill a hole in their portfolio. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s good business. The completely disingenuous campaign platform that KC would have an NHL or NBA franchise and then perpetuating that campaign until, well, about last year when AEG started distancing itself from it, was wrong. The Star’s lack of foresight to see that was a complete failure. It should have been called out by the Star YEARS AGO. The Star could have done it. The evidence was there. It was rather simple. Just look at the lease agreements of the 30 NHL franchises and anyone could see that NONE of the 30 NHL franchises were moving. The were locked in to their markets — especially since Kansas City has never had an owner (I promised to never mention Boots Del Biaggio in a post again…ooops).

    Now, the Star is fully on board with the “no NHL or NBA team”, just like when it fell hook, line and sinker for the “promise of an NHL or NBA team.”

    Ugh…

    Posted in NHL | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

    Metro Toronto enters the “Arena with no tenant” clique

    Posted on September 28, 2012 by blogger

    The Greater Toronto metro area (GTA), also known as the Golden Horseshoe, has entered the exclusive clique of cities with NHL/NBA-ready arenas and no anchor tenant.

    Kansas City
    Quebec City
    Greater Toronto
    Seattle

    That’s quite a list. If those four cities replaced, say Miami, Nashville, Columbus and Phoenix in the NHL would anyone even think twice about whether the league belonged in those cities?

    The city of Markham, Ont is entering the mix. As PuckDaddy points out, the building is in the preliminary stages of development and Bauer CEO Grant Roustan is behind it.

    Why wouldn’t Toronto have a second team? Toronto is a metro area of eight million people. Both LA NBA teams drew 19,000 per game. The Mets draw 28,000+ while the Yankees draw 43,000+. Both LA baseball teams draw 37,000+. Both Chicago…oh, never mind, the Sox don’t draw.

    Is there any doubt the Toronto Toros (that’s my choice) would sell out every game at a ticket price of, most likely, $100CDN per ticket per game?

    Why does this matter?

    Well, the NHL and NHLPA are locked in a bitter fight over the next collective bargaining agreement. One of the sticking points is that the NHLPA believes the NHL’s revenues will continue to grow — at at least a 7% clip. The NHL dismisses that notion as completely out of touch with the current economic climate.

    Yet, if the GTA attracted an NHL team to play in this $324M facility, the NHL would generate more revenue than if they had a franchise in, say, Miami, FLA. Don’t you think the NHL would generate more revenue if they had an ownership group like Grant Roustan?

    You see, the problem is the NHL isn’t interested in making more money. The NHL leadership is more interested in protecting their exclusive cartel then they are interested in finding ways to generate more revenue.

    The Canadian TV rights are up for bid in 2014. Don’t you think the NHL could command a greater price for those rights if there were two teams in the GTA rather than just the dreaded Maple Loafs?* Throw in a team in Quebec and a team in Seattle (which I would guess would draw some Southern BC fans) and you’ve got a nice bargaining chip in TV rights negotiations.

    All this means that KC, with a great arena but no ownership group interested in bringing a team here, continues to tumble down the list.

    Can we cut our losses and bring in the AHL, please?

    *I’m from Buffalo…can’t stand the Leafs and I’m loving this KCRoyals-like futility they’ve had the last few seasons.

    Posted in Kansas City Blades | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

    Now, NHL Preseason game in KC is officially cancelled

    Posted on September 27, 2012 by blogger

    Today, the NHL officially cancelled all preseason games.

    On September 22, I predicted this would happen with a snarky post that said the game had already been cancelled. Well, it kind of had been cancelled, but official word came out today.

    Really too bad because this year’s game, between the New York Rangers and the Colorado Avalanche, was going to be a good one. There was a possibility that Rick Nash, from off his release from NHL purgatory in Columbus and now the newest member of NYR, would make an appearance at Sprint Center.  Statsny, who played some of his youth hockey in St. Louis and played Junior Hockey for Omaha’s River City Lancers, may have made an appearance, too.

    Now, KC won’t see NHL level hockey this year. Heck, no one in North America may see NHL level hockey this year…

    Posted in NHL | Leave a comment

    Kansas City — City of Leverage

    Posted on September 26, 2012 by blogger

    Seattle has some job creator that is going to build them an arena. Currently, the arena has no anchor tenant.

    Edmonton has hockey team, but their job creator (do they use that term in Canada or is it uniquely American) can’t come to an agreement with the city of Edmonton to build an arena.

    What happens when you have that combination? BOOM — the owner of the hockey team immediately takes a quick vacation to the city with no hockey team. Remember when Mario Lemieux took a quick site-seeing trip to KC to “have a nice dinner”. That was nice of him to support our local tourism bureau. Darryl Katz, you are welcome to come visit Kansas City. I encourage you to go to Oklahoma Joe’s (the one in the gas station). See the Negro League Baseball Museum. Then, perhaps visit Garrozzo’s or La Bodega for dinner. Wrap it up by knocking back a few beers in Waldo. What’s that you say? Shouldn’t you visit a restaurant close to the Sprint Center? Um, that would be no. You can visit one of those National chains in [insert city name here]. I’m giving you a REAL taste of Kansas City. Don’t worry, no one will recognize you.

    You know what is kind of cool — PuckDaddy stole one of my lines (ok, well, not really, but it was close enough for me).

    Oh, and then there’s the notion that the Oilers will never, ever, ever and never move to Seattle. That Seattle is, like Kansas City before it, a City of Leverage.

    Here is what I wrote all those years ago.

     Since the advent of stadium naming rights, some clever, grassroots nicknames have arrived for stadiums and arenas.

    The Can — Pepsi Arena in Denver
    Fort Knox — HSBC Arena in Buffalo
    The Phone Booth — Verizon Center in DC
    The Rock — Prudential Center in Newark

    It’s time we official dub the Sprint Center — The Leverage Center or The Chip (other suggestions are welcome).

    The Edmonton Oilers need a new arena and MAY be looking for a new home and so….oh, never mind.

    By the way, a while back a couple of sports yakkers made predictions that the New Orleans Hornets would relocate to KC because they were up for sale.  How is that 35% or 60% probability that the New Orleans Hornets would move to Kansas City working out? Didn’t they hang up on someone that said the chances were more like less than 5%?

    Posted in NHL | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

    NHL preseason game at Sprint Center cancelled

    Posted on September 22, 2012 by blogger

    How do you know this PucKChaser?

    I don’t.

    But, there is no way this lockout gets resolved in the next three days. The NHL preaseason game at Sprint Center is toast.

    Go to the IceBreaker tournament.

    Posted in NHL | Leave a comment