Months ago Sam Mellinger had a great column about why Sprint Center has no anchor tenant. That column didn’t go into a bunch of silly hyperbole.
All it did is break down the issue into it’s simplest form. From the original column in May.
Except the same major obstacle exists now that did when Leiweke and others campaigned for public funding: no local owner.
He’s written another column with a realistic look at the situation the New Orleans Hornets potential for relocation.
Kansas City’s chances of landing a major pro sports team for the Sprint Center remain very, very low.
This holds true even today, with the NBA’s Hornets being taken over by the league, rumors swirling of them relocating, and our city near the top of the list for new locations.
Very, very low, huh? Like less than 65%, less than 50%…seems like Mellinger thinks so.
Mellinger: Chances of NBA team at Sprint Center are not good
Actually, there are people who study such things for a living who will tell you the Sprint Center would make less money because a new pro team would require prime dates and a sweetheart lease.
Hmm. Seems I had that in point #3 yesterday.
Mellinger also brings up the emotional reasons why the NBA won’t move the team. I think that’s fine. But, as we all know, these things are about $$ and the NBA BOG aren’t going to move the team themselves when they can do what they did to Clay Bennett. “Yeah, Clay, you can move the team, we’ll need $30M dollars”.
Also, it means that AEG is on the clock to work the connections we heard so much about when voters approved funding for the $276 million Sprint Center.
You know what else AEG is on the clock for? Getting LA back into the NFL. Which do you think is their priority?
I had a link on this blog to the original column, but because of the Star’s antiquated way of killing their own links, I can’t show it to you. (If I can access the old links from ESPN or the Sporting News or other media outlets, why can’t I access old links from the Star)
Lack of local owner the problem — KC Star
The one problem I had with the column is that it didn’t fault AEG for the flirtation with Boots Del Biaggio. While I agree that Boots legal troubles were not AEG’s fault, I do fault them for not properly vetting Del Biaggio and getting into bed with such a fraud.
We’ll see where this one goes? It may tumble into Kansas City’s favor…but not any time soon.
