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Recently, there has been talk about National Hockey League expansion in the news. For years there has been speculation that AEG would eventually land an NHL franchise with the Sprint Center as it anchor. So far, nothing.
It seems to me like KC won't work and never will as a "hockey town". Or at least that appears to be the general consensus. Former St. Louis Blues player and current sports commentator Bernie Federko mentioned in an interview that KC would never be eligible, because there isn’t enough of a grass roots fan base where the sport could grow. He pointed to the youth hockey leagues in St. Louis as an example of how a fan base will continue to grow in the St. Louis area. Kansas City, not having a foundation to build on, would make it unattractive to the NHL. After all, we tried with the KC Scouts in 1974 and it was a complete failure after just two years.
The only reason the NHL is interested in a long-shot market like Las Vegas is because it has the potential to draw a lot of out of town fans who want to watch their hockey team play in the middle of winter, plus take in the sights around Vegas as a vacation.
Nevertheless, many of my friends are still convinced that KC deserves an NHL team. But I guess my biggest question would be..... why? Why are there people in this city who still believe NHL Hockey has a chance here?
Last edited by MidWestCityNative; 08-29-2014 at 10:26 PM..
Recently, there has been talk about National Hockey League expansion in the news. For years there has been speculation that AEG would eventually land an NHL franchise with the Sprint Center as it anchor. So far, nothing.
It seems to me like KC won't work and never will as a "hockey town". Or at least that appears to be the general consensus. Former St. Louis Blues player and current sports commentator Bernie Federko mentioned in an interview that KC would never be eligible, because there isn’t enough of a grass roots fan base where the sport could grow. He pointed to the youth hockey leagues in St. Louis as an example of how a fan base will continue to grow in the St. Louis area. Kansas City, not having a foundation to build on, would make it unattractive to the NHL. After all, we tried with the KC Scouts in 1974 and it was a complete failure after just two years.
The only reason the NHL is interested in a long-shot market like Las Vegas is because it has the potential to draw a lot of out of town fans who want to watch their hockey team play in the middle of winter, plus take in the sights around Vegas as a vacation.
Nevertheless, many of my friends are still convinced that KC deserves an NHL team. But I guess my biggest question would be..... why? Why are there people in this city who still believe NHL Hockey has a chance here?
Yea, I saw where these NHL expansion rumors were ignoring KC. Pretty stupid actually.
KC would be a great NHL market. I think people would be surprised at how well KC would support the NHL.
Here are some reasons:
Lots of people that live in KC are transplants from NHL towns (Denver, St Louis, MSP etc).
KC has always sold out or nearly sold out exhibition preseason NHL games.
KC has a great history of supporting "good" hockey clubs. The NHL Scouts failure was simply do to an absolutely terrible team, terrible ownership. The team got off to a terrible start in KC and didn't give the city a chance. They didn't have much more luck after moving to Denver and finally settled in New Jersey (yet Denver today is a great NHL market).
KC was much smaller in 1972-1974 yet had NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL. With a regional population of a million more people today, KC could easily support either an NHL or NBA team and I think NHL would be far more successful although the Kings only failed due to bad timing. The Kings were competing against the wildly popular indoor soccer team (KC Comets) at a time when the NBA was not all that popular anywhere. The Comets were outdrawing nearly every NBA and NHL team. Had the Kings stuck around a few more years and enjoyed the rising popularity of the NBA and developed a more rabid fan base (there were getting better too), they would still be in KC today.
Back to the NHL.
The Kansas City Blues and Blades both drew very well for minor league clubs. KC only supports well run high level organizations. When the IHL was peaking and getting into major markets, KC fans responded and really started packing Kemper. 15,000 fans was average for weekend games. The IHL simply imploded by trying to go head to head with the NHL, salaries got too high and they raised ticket prices too much for a league that would never be the NHL. The Blades were as popular as Sporting KC is now, till this happened and attendance dropped. The league failed and KC fell through the cracks along with most other major markets that were in the IHL. I think the KC blades would be doing quite well today had they made the move to the AHL and moved to the Sprint Center.
However, the Missouri Mavericks are doing very well. They are one of the top drawing teams in the CHL and have a pretty dedicated and rabid fan base that is nearly entirely from only the eastern suburbs. So KC does have plenty of potential to develop a hockey fan base.
KC is a sports town. While the Royals have been near the bottom of the league in attendance, what do you expect after 29 years of losing? This year the fans have started to come out. I think Royals fans are still hesitant to buy into the idea that the Royals might make the playoffs, but weekend games have been averaging 30k and that's huge for a team that has a tiny season ticket base.
Everybody knows the story with Sporting KC and how well they are doing. They sell out every game now and the Chiefs still fill one of the largest stadiums in the NFL for a team that really has done about as little on the field as the Royals have in recent decades.
Last night, there were 31k at the Royals game and 20k at the Sporting game and if the Chiefs were playing, they would get 70k there. There were also probably 15k at Worlds of Fun, 15k at the Zoo etc. So there is enough people in KC to support all this summer stuff, why couldn't KC support an NHL team during the time of year when there is little else going on?
With the new arena, the power and light district and downtown actually being a destination that people want to visit, I have no doubt that an NHL team would draw at least league average in KC. If the team was competitive, they would sell out every game.
So why is KC always mentioned as a potential NHL city and yet never seriously considered? No local ownership. KC has always has a problem finding local owners for sports teams. The big money in KC is just not interested in sports.They invest in the arts and culture (performing arts center, Nelson etc) which is awesome, but KC just doesn't have anybody local with deep pockets that has a passion for sports. Maybe that is changing with the owner of Sporting KC (tied to Cerner). AEG just doesn't know what they are missing out on as far as KC, but the owners of Sporting KC would be a great potential owner for a NHL franchise.
Maybe that can be the one thing Cerner actually does for the urban core of KC. Bring an NHL team to the Sprint Center.
I would love to see NHL here. Hockey is such an awesome sport, and with the city taking a serious stab at soccer and succeeding with Sporting KC, I think a sport like hockey could do well here. Of course we should have more of a hockey vibe if we want a serious shot at that (like have more indoor skating rinks, youth hockey leagues, etc).
I feel like we really lost out when Oklahoma City was awarded an NBA team and we sat there with a brand new arena living off of concerts and regional tournaments. Right now I believe the NHL is considering a second team in the Toronto area so we would have to put up a pretty good show to persuade them to consider us.
I would love to see NHL here. Hockey is such an awesome sport, and with the city taking a serious stab at soccer and succeeding with Sporting KC, I think a sport like hockey could do well here. Of course we should have more of a hockey vibe if we want a serious shot at that (like have more indoor skating rinks, youth hockey leagues, etc).
I feel like we really lost out when Oklahoma City was awarded an NBA team and we sat there with a brand new arena living off of concerts and regional tournaments. Right now I believe the NHL is considering a second team in the Toronto area so we would have to put up a pretty good show to persuade them to consider us.
OKC was not "awarded" an NBA team. The team was moved from Seattle by a local group of people (from OKC) that bought the franchise just so they could move it to OKC. They wanted a team in OKC even though it may have made more sense to move the team to a larger city. Although so far it's been a very successful move.
KC has no such people or person interested in bringing a team to KC. AEG was thought to be interested, but they have shown zero motivation in any vested interest in bringing a pro team to KC since the sprint center opened.
If KC had an ownership group with deep pockets that wanted a team in KC, there would be a team in KC by now because the Sprint Center is still the best NBA/NHL ready arena without a tenant in the country in a major market. KC has the regional population and not much winter competition for expendable entertainment income and could easily support an NHL or NBA team. Although I do think the NHL would do much better in KC.
I wouldn't say KC isn't worthy, I'm just not sure there are enough hardcore hockey fans in the area that would support them, even in losing seasons. I'm definitely not a hockey fan....I've probably never even watched a game only highlights on ESPN. Just never got interested in the sport and never played it as a youth. Baseball, basketball, soccer and football are all sports I can relate to because I've played them. Just my take.
Not sure what you guys are referring to exactly... I read several articles on these "rumors" and at least two of them mentioned KC. That being said, these are all just rumors of course, and I'm actually quite against the idea of the NHL adding four new teams for a variety of reasons. KC getting a team (if the expansions "has to" happen/does happen is fine with me, and I certainly prefer to other choices like Vegas) has the big issue, as KCMO pointed out, of an ownership group to back it. I think St. Louis should be a part of the MLS expansion for a variety of reasons, but without an ownership group in place to buy a franchise and help pony-up for a stadium it's pretty unlikely to happen...
I wouldn't say KC isn't worthy, I'm just not sure there are enough hardcore hockey fans in the area that would support them, even in losing seasons. I'm definitely not a hockey fan....I've probably never even watched a game only highlights on ESPN. Just never got interested in the sport and never played it as a youth. Baseball, basketball, soccer and football are all sports I can relate to because I've played them. Just my take.
Well I grew up in KC following hockey as did many of my friends and relatives. At the same time, I could not care less about college basketball, again, the same can be said for most people around me. KC supports college basketball events right? We actually followed the Blades to other markets like Milwaukee and Denver and I would follow NHL in StL and Denver (once they got the Avs) or San Jose when they were affiliated with the Blades.
Since moving to DC, we are very much Caps fans and go to a lot of games. You really don't notice a lot of caps fans casually unless you are in a sports bar or something, so you might not think there were a lot of fans, but they sell out every game and tickets are often over four times face.
Then again (and I've said this many times), you don't see a lot sports gear here anywhere unless at a game.
This area has two MLB teams that are running away with their divisions and average 32k per game each and unless you are a fan, you wouldn't know it. I'm sure the Royals are basically in your face 24/7 in KC right now, fan or not.
Point is that just because the circles you are around are not into something doesn't mean there are not plenty of others that are. KC is a pretty large and diverse metro. I really do think that it could support NHL or NBA. (I have no interest in NBA, but I think KC would have enough fans for it). KC sports fans are desperate and tired of watching losing teams which is why Sporting is doing so well.
You bring an NHL or NBA team to Sprint Center, and KC would rapidly develop a rabid fan base for them because the entire metro is so consumed with its sports teams and a high percent of the population is into sports (pro and college).
Oh and BTW, I Love watching NHL "live". Pretty much hate it on TV. So if you don't know much about hockey, go down to StL and catch a Blue game and get lower bowl seats. Chances are you will be hooked on the sport if you like sports at all.
Good points, I'll need to catch a Blues game in STL next time I am there. I lived there in the late 1990's for 4 years and it never really crossed my mind to attend a game. Of course St. Louis it seems all the talk is about the Cards and at that time the Rams were really good, even going to the Super Bowl.
Good points, I'll need to catch a Blues game in STL next time I am there. I lived there in the late 1990's for 4 years and it never really crossed my mind to attend a game. Of course St. Louis it seems all the talk is about the Cards and at that time the Rams were really good, even going to the Super Bowl.
You can also check out the Missouri Mavericks, although just know that it's pretty different than NHL. Much lower caliber hockey and more of a suburban family type crowd vs NHL which tends to be more "grown up" .
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