The Pitch Calls Out McGannon

So the enthusiasm I displayed in my last post about Paul McGannon’s claim that there are 100 Kansas Citians just waiting to buy an NHL team is a little embarrassing. I didn’t really take it at face value—I think it just made me hope that there could be some rich dudes in KC at least discussing or considering such a thing.

Pitch reporter David Martin picked up on McGannon’s claim, and asked the pertinent question: “Who the hell is McGannon talking about?” He asked McGannon, and McGannon was happy to talk about the Kings-Islanders game coming up. From Martin’s piece:

But what about the company founders and CEOs who seemed (in McGannon’s telling to an out-of-town newspaper) to be chomping at the bit to capture an NHL franchise?

“I don’t know if they’re chomping at the bit,” McGannon says. “They’re waiting for further information on what opportunity would be available at the appropriate time, which we’ve been told is not now.”

There is a lot of passion for the NHL in the civic community, McGannon adds. “But they don’t want to reveal themselves.”

Curious that these enthusiastic hockey supporters want to stay anonymous. Seems if someone was actually interested in helping to bring a team here, they’d be front and center waving money around, don’t you think? Or submitting a bid on the Coyotes?

It’s hard to know what to make of Paul McGannon. I don’t doubt that his heart is in the right place, and that he truly is passionate about bringing a team here. But it seems one of his strategies is to say anything and everything to get attention for KC, truth be damned. My guess is that he’s highly optimistic and a dreamer. And there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that—it might be just what will be necessary if we’re ever to gain an NHL franchise.