Kansas City and the NHL

Last week in my first blog post, I did a little Throwback Thursday post on a special project on the hockey scene in Kansas City. Last Saturday, I went to the NHL preseason game at Sprint Center between the St Louis Blues and the Dallas Stars. It has been three years since the Sprint Center hosted an NHL preseason game.

The last time had the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Los Angeles Kings play in front of a sold out crowd. There was going to be another preseason game the following year but it was canceled due to the NHL having a lockout in the 2012-13 season. Last Saturday had a great turnout. It was 80% full of hockey fans wearing jerseys of several NHL teams, the Missouri Mavericks and some of the older KC teams like the Blades and Outlaws. Not only did Kansas City fans attend but Blues & Stars fans traveled to Kansas City to cheer on their teams. What I really want to talk about is what Saturday’s game showed me and why Kansas City should be considered for an NHL team.

Last season, the NHL re-aligned their conferences, which also caused it to have an uneven number of teams for both conferences. It went from having 15 teams in both conferences to 16 teams in the Eastern Conference and 14 in the Western Conference. Lately the NHL has been talking about adding two more cities to evenly balance out the Western Conference. Kansas City is listed as one of the two possibilities along with Seattle, Las Vegas, Houston, Portland and Quebec City.

Sprint Center has been open for seven years now and it has been doing well without a sports tenant to call home. It’s been making money and getting the recognition, but I believe the people running the building have lost sight of one of the main reasons why the arena was built - namely to be home to an NBA or NHL team.

From the people in KC I’ve talked to on this subject, many have ruled out the NBA because they either prefer college basketball to NBA or they only watch the NBA when it’s the playoffs. When talking about the NHL however many people are open to the idea and say that they wouldn’t mind having a team.

Many of the managers running Sprint Center feel that Sprint Center is fine and doesn’t need a team and think that having a team would conflict with concerts and other events. Really? Sprint Center averages 140 events a year out of 365 days a year and the NHL has 41 home games (and then some additional games depending on playoffs). The only way it would be a major conflict is if KC had both an NHL and NBA team but that won’t happen because KC isn’t big enough to support both of those leagues. The only other sport that would work along side an NHL team, concerts and other events would be an Arena Football team (if Kansas City wants to give that another shot). Whenever I look at the calendar for Sprint Center events they have enough room to still have all the concerts, college basketball games and miscellaneous events (Monster Trucks, Disney on Ice, Harlem Globetrotters, etc) and still have 41 dates of NHL home games.

They would have to work around the team’s schedule and likely work around their schedule if the team goes to the playoffs. Here are some of the reasons (no particular order) on how and why an NHL team would work in Kansas City.

1.)  Having an NHL team would give something for the Kansas City sports fans to pay attention to when the Royals are in the offseason and when the Chiefs and Sporting KC are beginning to wind down their seasons.

2.)  Not only would having a team bring more money to Sprint Center but it will also bring more money to all the restaurants and bars in or near the downtown area. Not to mention it would bring more money for the Power & Light District for when people go hang out there after the games on Friday and Saturday night games.

3.)  During the regular season when they’re broadcasting games on TV, it would give Fox Sports Kansas City something to broadcast when the Royals are in the offseason and something else to broadcast aside from college football and college basketball. Seeing how majority of the regular season games would be broadcast locally unless they occasionally get a game shown on NBC and NBC Sports.

4.)  Not only would having an NHL team bring out KC sports fans to the games but also many regional Midwest NHL teams would travel to Kansas City to watch their teams play in Kansas City. Which would also create rivalries with the St Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators and the Dallas Stars.

5.)  Local Ownership. Paul McGannon is the man who made the NHL preseason games happen in the last several years and not only is his grassroots organization in charge of putting those games together but his organization is also a ownership group that wants to bring the NHL back to KC. Also McGannon is passionate about hockey and he has lived in Kansas City all his life. One of the key ingredients to a successful ownership to a sports team is someone who is passionate about the sport and the connecting with the fans and the city. Sporting Kansas City is a perfect example on how local sports ownership has worked so well in this town.

Another thing that would help an NHL team become successful in Kansas City would be reviving one of the old team names like the “Kansas City Scouts” or the “Kansas City Blades”. Here are the other factors that will contribute to a successful franchise and many of this comes from what many sports teams do.

1.)  Promotions. One of the things that is part of any experience at a pro sports event is promotions. Whether it’s something fans get when they enter the arena like magnet schedules on opening night, bobblehead dolls, t-shirts, posters, etc.

2.)  In-Game Entertainment. Having entertainment during the intermissions like whether it’s part of a theme night like having former/retired players play a game against each other or having a mascot game other anything else for the fans to watch in between periods.

3.)  Giveaways. Many of the companies that sponsor a team tend to have some giveaways during the game. Like if the team scores a certain number of goals in the game, fans receive a coupon for a free burger from McDonalds or any other restaurant. Giveaways are also done through in game contests like where a couple of fans get selected for a contest like shooting a certain number of pucks into the goal in one minute or something like that.

4.)  Community Engagement. Have the players, coaches and mascots make appearances around the community on some days when they are not playing. This helps the team to make a connection with the community to get to know the players. Whether it’s appearing at a charity event, a parade, a festival or making a day for a meet and greet to sign autographs like at Rally House.

5.)  Special Offers. Sometimes sports teams use some offers to help the fans save some money with a discount or a special offer. Some examples of special offers would be things like the following:

·      Buck night = $1 hot dogs and sodas

·      4 for $40 = 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs and sodas

·      Bring a Coke can for a certain percent off tickets

·      Student Night = College students show their college ID to get half off tickets

I know there are some people that have their doubts about having a team in Sprint Center because it didn’t work back in the 70’s, but that was a different time back then and this is now. Kansas City deserves a second chance with the NHL. Kansas City should have another team to cheer with along with the Royals, Chiefs and Sporting.