We're Pucked

The Star has provided a forum for Barnes and Leiweke to repeatedly stoke the speculative fires and make more promises. And the Star's headlines over the past two years have added to the rumors that several teams were Kansas City-bound.

The practice of reporting speculation hasn't let up, with the paper adding new teams and dropping others from the list of potential tenants. In a February 2005 story, the Star added the Florida Panthers, the Nashville Predators and the Carolina Hurricanes to its list.

In May 2005, Leiweke talked up meetings with the commissioners of the pro hockey and basketball leagues. Halfway through the story, NHL Commissioner Bettman trampled on Leiweke's optimism. "I have told Tim, as this stands right now, there is nothing to discuss."

So did NBA Commissioner Stern, who sounded as if he were dodging potential blame for an empty arena.

"We didn't tell them to go do a building," Stern told the Star in May 2005. The Star quoted him adding a joke: "Maybe they can have a WNBA team."

The Star still pondered potential relocaters — the NHL teams in North Carolina, Nashville and Pittsburgh and the NBA teams in Orlando, Sacramento and Seattle.

After Leiweke's Penguins-to-Kansas City talk in November 2005, the league quickly refuted Leiweke's comments. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly smacked down the speculation, saying the NHL had "no current intention of either relocating an existing franchise or adding an expansion franchise." The next day, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette quoted Daly as saying that Leiweke wasn't speaking for the league or the NHL board of governors. "It remains the league's strong desire to continue working with the Penguins and with local government officials to create an environment in which the Penguins can be successful in Pittsburgh for the long term," the statement read. "We have no interest in relocating the Penguins to Kansas City, or anywhere else, for that matter."

After the sale of the Supersonics, the Star's Randy Covitz told Kansas Citians to "relax." He added that it was "too early to panic." Covitz noted that talk of a move a year from now would be ludicrous — season tickets still need to be sold.

Covitz declined to comment to the Pitch, and calls and e-mails to Star Managing Editor Steve Shirk were not returned.

Covitz's coverage of the search has reflected a faith in Leiweke's ability to get things done. Leiweke's résumé breeds such confidence. Leiweke sits on the NHL's board of governors. His company also owns the NHL's Los Angeles Kings and a stake in the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Star's editorial board has also given Leiweke a pass. An editorial in May 2004 showed the paper's full support: "Why doubt Leiweke?"

Even with a new stadium under construction, Kansas City will have difficulty finding a tenant, simply because relocation packages now require more than AEG and the city may be willing to give.

For instance, Kansas City might have landed the New Orleans Hornets last year, but Kansas City was outbid. With the New Orleans Arena wrecked by Hurricane Katrina, the NBA needed to temporarily relocate the team last season. League officials considered Kansas City and even toured Kemper Arena.

But then came an offer from Oklahoma City, which reportedly guaranteed Hornets owner George Shinn that his team would get a 5 percent bump in local revenue over the previous season in New Orleans. The city also picked up the tab for housing expenses, team offices and upgrades to its Ford Center.

AEG's Leiweke wasn't about to be outdone. "Whatever Oklahoma City gave away is minuscule in comparison to the opportunity for revenue in this marketplace for an anchor tenant," Leiweke told the Star in November 2005.

But Andrew Zimbalist, a professor at Smith College and a leading sports economist, doesn't see how that's realistic. He says AEG would have to offer a team low rent — or none at all — and perhaps all of the revenue from the arena. "So it doesn't seem like a promising situation," Zimbalist says. "I wouldn't be optimistic, if you were asking for my projection."

Neil deMause, co-author of the widely cited Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money Into Private Profit, wonders what the benefit would be to the city. "You've got a team, but you're not making any revenue off of your arena," deMause says. "You've just filled up 40 dates, and you're not getting anything from it." He says Kansas City and Oklahoma City could end up being "the cities that everybody loves to play footsie with."

Vacant arenas can become nothing more than leverage, according to deMause. "Probably every other team in the nation was thrilled when KC decided to build this arena. It's a win-win situation for them," deMause says. "Either they can think about moving there and reaping the benefits of the new place, or they can just use it as a threat."

Gray, with Kansas City's sports commission, dismisses the idea that Kansas City has become a bargaining chip. "They're not going to jack around with AEG," Gray says. "AEG is an 800-pound gorilla. The leagues won't play around."

Anyone wondering what AEG and the city might offer a franchise need only look at the NBA's Grizzlies' move from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to Memphis, Tennessee. With his team only six years old, but having suffered a reported loss in 2001 of $13.3 million, Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley began making eyes at several cities. Heisley's decision to put his team in Memphis made the Grizzlies the smallest-market team in the NBA.