The Kansas City Hornets of the NBA?

Oh, a day I've dreamed of for 25 years -- a Kansas City NBA Franchise coming back.

That was the only franchise move that ever affected me. I was 10 when the Kings left...and devastated. One of the few to go to Kemper during their last year, 1984-85, when the Kings drew 5,000 a game -- after announcing they were leaving for Sacramento.

Here is the day, June 8, 1983, when the Sacramento group bought the Kings:



As much as I've wanted this to happen... I also know Kansas City doesn't have the corporate support to back an NBA team, nor the disposable income. A lot of that income (from the wealthy Kansas suburbs goes to Kansas Jayhawks home games). I doubt those very people will ditch KU to go watch an NBA team.

Actually, I believe Louisville - while a smaller market (48th or 49th in TV households) - would do fairly well. Deep pockets in town and the corporations would back it. It would be a similar siutation to Memphis, where a beloved college program has to share the pie with a relocated NBA team. Yet I think Louisville's financial demos are FAR better than Memphis.

Scott Wedman, one of the few former Kansas City Kings still living in town, would approve:

 

What about Las Vegas? I believe that this arena is being built to lure an NBA team to Sin City:

http://silverstatearena.com/

Obviously, the Kings are the most logical candidate to move there, with the Maloofs owning the team. I don't think the NBA would be as opposed to a team in Las Vegas as the NFL or MLB would be, they did have the All-Star game there a few years ago. I have no idea if an NBA team would be viable in Las Vegas, with so many other things to do, but it can't do any worse than Sacramento or New Orleans currently.

 

You mean playing in an arena that will never be built?

 

Yeah. EVERY fan base bails when the team doesn't win, with maybe the exception of the Packers. There weren't many people going to Red Sox or Yankees games in the early 1990s, or the Bulls when Jordan and Pippen left.

 

Have you had your head in the sand for the past several years? Las Vegas has been destroyed by the recession.

 

That's actually wrong. Chicago's attendance held up exceptionally well considering how bad they sucked. The bulls haven't averaged less than 18,900 a game since they moved into the United Center.

 

If Stern would let Vegas have a team, the Kings would have been there yesterday.

 

Well, yes, but relative to the market size? The Knicks or Bulls not selling out a game is like 3,000 people showing up in Indianapolis or Salt Lake City.

Just because the lease says the Hornets can move doesn't mean they're going anywhere. The team would face the same situation -- maybe a couple years' honeymoon, then a decline because there are only so many people in a market that size (KC, Louisville, Ottumwa) willing to pay NBA prices night after night no matter what. Like the rest of us who can't sell our houses, these teams are going to have to figure out how to make it work where they are.

 

For several years after Jordan left (the Tim Floyd era especially) about 10,000 of those sold tickets came disguised as empty seats.

 

Didn't the Scouts do the same thing?

 

best NBA road uni's ever

 

No, just the Kings.