Sam Mellinger of the Star has a depressingly realistic look at the chances for KC gaining an NBA or NHL team anytime soon. A couple of lines that stood out to me:
"...Anschutz Entertainment Group is set to lose exclusive negotiating rights on landing a team."
AEG apparently had a three year window with exclusive negotiating rights. But what does that mean - Who else would be negotiating?
And regarding the Penguins:
"Revisionist history says Kansas City was just used as leverage, but decision-makers with the Penguins had begun planning on what the franchise would look like in Kansas City."
Doesn't matter either way, but interesting.
1 comment:
The NHL really just doesn't get it. Yes, Canadiens will watch hockey 365 days a year, but they need scarcity of product in the U.S. The playoffs are awesome but in a horrible slot -- they'd do much better going head-to-head with the NCAA tourney. People want to get outside now, not spend night after night in front of the TV.
Again, scarcity of product. The highest rated game = Winter Classic. The Gold Medal game = near Super Bowl type rating. The World Series can't touch that number. The NHL business plan is broken.
For KC/AEG, pass on the NHL and NBA. The Border War in Independence solidified what I've always known (attendance = 3500). If AEG backs and promotes the Mizzou and KU clubs, they can build an event in KC. It's a low-cost, high revenue deal Sprint Center and college hockey is going to figure prominently in future landscape.
The Big 10 is possibly going to blow-up the college sports scene by snagging a Big 12 team. How did the Big 10 go over the top -- the Big 10 Network. What does the network need? Sports programming. Ice hockey is a one of the few potential revenue-generating sports outside of football and hoops on the college landscape. The Big 12 has a number of solid clubs and they need to move in this area to survive because I believe the Title IX compliance issues will be solved and the Big 10 will start aggressively trying to package up it's hockey programs into their overall plan.
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