Kansas City Hockey: Can They Do It?
The Kansas City Star points out that the Predators' attendance this season is currently averaging below 14,000 per game. An exit clause (triggered last year by similarly low attendance) will release the team from its agreement unless the team averages above 14,000 in paid attendance for the 2007-08 season, at which time the clause can be exercised so that the team is free to leave the city as early as the 2008-09 season.
It seems almost a given that Kansas City will get an NHL team at some point. KC's new state-of-the-art Sprint Center arena, as well as the Anschutz Entertainment Group's (the arena's builders, and owners of the Los Angeles Kings) courting of the league, practically guarantees it. The league could allow the move of a team like the Predators to KC ... or the league could instead expand yet again and award teams to KC and another city, bringing the number of NHL clubs to 32.
While my heart goes out to the loyal Nashville fans, I'd rather see the Preds uproot and head out west than to see the league further dilute its talent pool by adding two more teams. I understand that the expansion fees associated with bringing two new teams into the NHL are a big, dangling carrot to team owners and the league. Additionally, the NHLPA would be salivating at the prospect of creating 46 additional jobs. Still, the league's profile is just starting to recover from the lockout, and introducting two new expansion doormats hardly seems a smart way to promote the game.
But the real question is, regardless of the source of the team: Can Kansas City support an NHL franchise?
The Kansas City Scouts could be seen as a sister club to the Washington Capitals; they both entered the league in the 1974-75 season. But soon after their paths diverged rather significantly. After a few dismal years, both on the ice and in the seats, the Scouts franchise left KC to become the Colorado Rockies; in 1982, the club moved again to become the New Jersey Devils. In the Scouts' final season, ownership made a strong push in the community to sell 8,000 season tickets; they managed barely a quarter of their goal.
But the Kansas City of the 1970s bears little resemblance to the Kansas City of today. The KC metro area now ranks as the 27th-largest in the country -- larger than San Jose or Columbus, and just a few snowed-in romantic nights by the fireplace away from catching metro areas like Portland/Vancouver, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. Its burgeoning population follows a strong upsurge of both urban expansion and cultural growth.
And the Sprint Center itself is a doozy of an arena. Its 18,500 seats and 72 luxury boxes put it near the top of the league as far as amenities and the all-important suite sales. It's a fair sight better for a hockey team than the old Kemper Arena, and the location in the heart of the Downtown district mirrors that of the Capitals' Verizon Center. Merchants have sprung up all around the arena, and the Sprint Center's October debut has already brought a surge of clientelle to the area on event nights.
The Sprint Center is no Meadowlands, stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do but sit in traffic; on the contrary, it's in a vibrant downtown neighborhood that's just begging for a team to call it home. And if the deal offered to the Penguins is any indication, the arena ownership group is willing to offer very friendly terms to whomever they convince to move in as their centerpiece tenant.
Whether that team be the Predators, another team (Atlanta or Florida, anyone?) or even expansion (shudder), Kansas City seems willing and able to welcome hockey with open arms.
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