It must drive Jim Balsillie crazy watching Gary Bettman work behind the scene to award Kansas City with a franchise. Kansas City is where the NHL failed and will fail once more if the NHL moves in.
Last night an announced crowd of 11,603 watched a Kings split squad defeat St. Louis 2-1 in the brand new $276 million Sprint Center. Although arena officials curtained off the upper deck in the south end of the 17,297-seat facility to condense the crowd.
Tim Leiweke, president of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the Kings and manages the Sprint Center (yeah no conflict of interest here), says, “I can’t think of any reason this doesn’t work here”. “Kansas City has the best arena without a hockey team in the world”. That may be true but you also need hockey fans.
After Bettman came up with Boots Del Biaggio to save the Nashvillie franchise, I can't wait to see what he comes up with for Kansas City. Hopefully the new owner can stay out of jail for at least one season.
