Ticket prices are too expensive, and there is a lack of big corporations that call KC home to buy up suites/luxury tickets.

IMO< the arena is fine as it is…as a concert/special sporting event venue that is in use 100-125 days a year.

I don’t see any team moving to KC. The former home of the Sonics has so many other factors going for it that KC just doesn’t have.

And I haven’t gotten my hopes up for an NHL or NBA team yet. But this looks like a real golden opportunity here. KC should and I believe will be numero uno as a destination spot for relocation. The biggest reason why is Sprint Center. Its a fantastic new arena with a well-known operator in AEG and they have been willing to offer a pretty lucrative deal to teams in the past. We’re a decent sized market with the closest teams being in Chicago in OKC, giving us a big territory to draw from. We’re college basketball crazy (which might be seen as a negative..for example Charlotte struggles big-time).

The other candidates would be:

Las Vegas – they have the Thomas & Mack Center which is dated and have talked about a new arena, but it has fallen through with Vegas going through recession hell right now. Plus the NBA seems wary about going to a gambling mecca. And Vegas is a tiny market with no ancillary market.

Anaheim – they have a pretty new arena and a large population base to draw from. They’d also cannibalize the Lakers/Clippers market. Still, its a huge market. I think they’re the most serious contender to KC.

The less serious contenders:

St. Louis – don’t seem much interested. Its a hockey town. If some local owner made a big push I can see them being more of a candidate.

Seattle – until they get talking about a new arena, they’re a non-starter.

San Jose – they had a committed owner to bringing at team there and a great new arena, but they’d be cannibalizing the Warriors market, an already tenuous market.

Louisville – new arena, new market, but probably too small and too close to the struggling Pacers.

New Orleans was always kind of an iffy market to begin with. Its kinda sad to see the team not being able to make it there, but if they do move, I would love to have that team and I think we would have a very good chance of landing them provided some local ownership group steps up.

Apparently it’s making the city a lot of money with things as they are. I’m not so sure the city is in such bad shape without a team.

But I live in St. Louis where the city could use some money to fix the freakin’ water mains that break every week. Maybe they should kick out the cardinals and host Kenny Chesnea every week.

is to keep them in New Orleans until they can find a buyer committed to keeping them there. Stern has been very… stern… about his desire to keep a team in New Orleans as a matter of civic duty.

The Hornets’ problems aren’t their own, really. They’re George Shinn’s. He’s not trying to sell the team because the team is losing money, but because HE needs the money to deal with his own personal BS.

Kansas City would, by far, be the smallest three team major city. Without a major public transportation system, plus the fact that Kansas City is already smitten with college basketball, I don’t see it happening at all.

I’ve heard Chicago as a potential destination for another NBA team. If there were any justice in the world, Seattle would be the only destination considered, condition of Key Arena be damned.

They’re my favorite team and it’d just feel right to have the Kings, Chiefs and Royals all in the same town again.

Clippers and Blake Griffin would be nice, too.