One reason why NHL to KC has an easier path than ever... and why one hurdle remains
It was some 20 years ago that Paul McGannon turned a wish into a hopeful movement, buoyed by a childlike wonderment and equaled by its childlike straightforwardness: Get an NHL team to Kansas City.
The crusade itself (NHL21) is no longer in its infancy, instead well into adulthood, and we are having the same conversation: How possible is it?
On Wednesday morning, after the Arizona Coyotes’ plans for a new area were shot down by Tempe voters, that answer changed.
Maybe.
Well, I don’t know. But his answer has changed.
“It may or may not happen this time around,” McGannon said, “but we’re on the list. We have something we haven’t had before.”
If your initial reaction is to roll your eyes that we’re talking about this yet again — perhaps you promised yourself you’ve participated in this semi-annual song and dance for the last time — I get it. Heck, I spent the better part of an afternoon digging into The Star’s archives on the topic, and every so often, there’s another NHL or NBA team that just would make the absolute perfect match in Kansas City. Must’ve been nearly a dozen options.
For nearly two decades, we debated whether the NHL or NBA would be a better fit, as though the choice would be left to us, yet we’re still standing alone by the punch bowl.
But that last phrase McGannon used — “something we haven’t had before” — stands out. It’s acknowledgment that we’ve done this before.
I’ll warn you ahead of time that this column will also delve into a reason the proposition should be considered closer to a long shot than an expectation. But first, the reason it’s perhaps not quite the long shot it once was.
Ownership.
No, Kansas City does not have an apparent local owner, or at least not one who has made his or her interest publicly known. A possibility that might have provided some hope, Lamar Hunt Jr., who owns the Kansas City Mavericks minor-league hockey team in addition to part of the Chiefs, told The Star’s Vahe Gregorian just last month that “it doesn’t seem realistic.” He did make that comment before the tease of the Coyotes vote failure.
But here’s the change: Kansas City might not need local ownership, but rather just someone interested in NHL ownership more broadly. The NHL, if you’re following recent signs, has turned ownership proximity from a requirement to a preference. And that, as McGannon says, “is a game-changer as we’ve been talking about this for many years.”
The Seattle Kraken, the league’s newest team, entered the NHL as an expansion outfit with out-of-town owners just two seasons ago. The Ottawa Senators are in the process of being sold, and the four primary bidders are from either Toronto or Los Angeles — bidding while understanding that one of the conditions is keeping a team in Ottawa.
The suitors want a team. At home. Or elsewhere. And the NHL appears to be just fine with that.
“There are three groups that are going to be told ‘no’ in Ottawa,” McGannon said, “and I don’t think the NHL is going to let three ownership groups just walk away.”
That could be where KC comes in. Or Houston. Or Atlanta. Or Salt Lake City. There are cities all over the country having this same conversation.
And, by the way, one of them is Phoenix and its surrounding areas. It’s far from a lock that the Coyotes leave Arizona at all, even as they occupy a 5,000-seat arena.
Whether the permanent solution is found in Arizona or elsewhere, though, it cannot conclude with an NHL team selling a maximum of 5,000 tickets for 41 home games every season.
Kansas City, of course, has an arena without a primary tenant — T-Mobile Center — locked in the heart of downtown, though it likely would need some amending before housing a full-time NHL or NBA team.
It’s a scenario that has the mayor tweeting and mentioning the NHL commissioner.
Hockey would make a great fit here or anywhere. It is a terrific in-person product — there is no sport that presents a wider gap between witnessing it live and watching on TV.
But any conversation about the reality of the possibility in Kansas City has to be just that. Reality.
While the NHL might not mandate local ownership, it does highly prioritize corporate financial backing. Any sports league would, and does. There is rationale for why major markets house more professional sports teams, beyond the obvious of more rear-ends in seats. They have more major corporations, too. Sports franchises draw a high percentage of their money from a combination of tickets sold and corporate sponsorships.
In my conversations Wednesday with multiple people involved in sports and who know the Kansas City landscape, that’s what inevitably became the topic that covered the most time.
Does Kansas City have enough corporate financing to add a third team, particularly when you consider no market its size has a combination of three teams in NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA?
“It’s the premium seats, the suites and the corporate sponsorship that I’d worry about,” one said. “Kansas City will show up as fans. There’s not a doubt about that. But you need the backing of Fortune 500 companies. Could you find that support in Kansas City? In the short-term, maybe. But in the long-term, I have doubts.”
Said another: “I don’t think I’d say it’s prohibitive (for an NHL or NBA team), but I’d classify it as a major hurdle.”
A premium seat runs in the thousands, and NBA and NHL teams play not eight or nine home dates (like the rocket ship of the NFL) but 41 of them — some on weekday nights.
In Kansas City, it should be noted, the highest-ranking local company on the 2022 Fortune 500 list was Seabord Corp. at No. 382. Houston, a city that’s long been considered a front-runner for an NHL team, had 24 companies appear on the Fortune 500 list the same year. That’s a factor.
Kansas City can garner corporate dollars, perhaps, but would be starting the race from the back row.
Not prohibitive. But a hurdle.
And the shame of it is that it’s not a hurdle you or I can help this city leap. After all, we’ve had example after example, particularly recently, that KC shows up. Any number of those scenes could lead a pitch video, and it would probably be pretty persuasive. You saw the showcase of the NFL Draft last month, right? That’s the reason KC is even worthy of this discussion.
But there’s also rationale for why, in two decades, that’s all that has come from this.
A discussion.
