Sorry to stay on the NBA, but it’s one of my most favorite things to write about, particularly with it being playoff time.
But hearing the myth of how “the NBA can’t work in Kansas City” is driving me a little insane right now.
For whatever reason, this is a common belief you see on local message boards or even some blogs.
Consider four points before taking this hook, line and sinker.
1. Similar (or smaller markets) are doing well. Oklahoma City sold 99 percent of its available tickets this season. The Utah Jazz sold 97.3 percent. Even in a down economy, many markets the size of Kansas City did well this season.
2. If you win, people will pay. If the Kansas City Kings had won an NBA title or two, we’d still have NBA basketball. Period. It seems like most teams move when they suck, with the former and present Oakland Raiders and Brooklyn Dodgers being the two obvious exemptions. If an NBA team in Kansas City wins, especially when the Royals and Chiefs are struggling, butts will be in the seats.
3. Superstar power. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Dwight Howard would guarantee at least six sell outs a season. No league – not even the Yankees in baseball or Indianapolis in the NFL – has the individual starpower of the NBA that attracts seats.
4. Soon, Kansas City will be a premier basketball city. In the next decade, Kansas City could have a golden age in basketball. College basketball, that is. The Kansas Jayhawks will be damn good and a national title contending team over the next decade. As long as Mike Anderson and Frank Martin remain in Columbia and the Little Apple, Mizzou and Kansas State will have Top 10-15 programs over the next decade. Both coaches are getting the job done and at no point in recent history could our three local teams be as good as they are at the same time.
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