The Lost City of Kansas City

To paraphrase Scott Levy: "What about us?? What about Kansas City??"

Lost in all the of the uproar of Winnipeg and Quebec City being the destination for the next team on the move in the NHL is Kansas City, Missouri. While the Sprint Center laying in the downtown core collecting dust when it's not arena football season, that city could be a solid location for a NHL team to come and enjoy the state of the art arena and in a city that has a somewhat solid location and is readily recognizable to the casual person.

Granted, the thought of this situation not being any better than the situation a team could be coming out of, as well as the rampant fan-base not being as on top of things like the Canadian counterparts, but it's just odd how they were very high in the bidding when it came to Nashville, Pittsburgh, recently with the Islanders, and mentioned when the Phoenix Coyotes' thing was still new; but now-- they've gone silent. There really hasn't had been much, if any, talk from Paul McGannon and his NHL 21 contingency about the recent developments on the relocating franchises.

Yet, it falls back on whether placing a team in another market that doesn't have the hockey heat as a Canadian site or another US market will always be one that looms over the Kansas City bid, though McGannon and his team are passionate in getting a team into the Sprint Center. Granted, it's an area that's close to the area airport (15 miles) has five Interstate and three US highways going into town, and is 31st in media according to Nielsen ratings system. More over, there's a lot of corporate backing possibilities with it being the home city of not only Sprint, but H&R Block, Applebee's Russell Stover's Candies, and Hallmark-- so it won't be without takers in terms of getting some kind of backing to the team. But...does that mean it'll bring in the people.

Even so, will the people show up for a hockey team in the area?? Sure, the corporations will be there, but is the area hot enough for hockey?? They'll have to deal with the Chiefs during the fall months, but is there a lack of interest in the Royals or college teams for people to clamor to the rink for a game?? That will be the biggest concern, even if there weren't other suitors for relocation. The CHL's Missouri Mavericks, who play in Independence, Missouri-- 13 miles East of downtown KC-- do have a decent amount of heat, as they are 2nd in the CHL in average attendance with 5,406 in a 5,760 venue. However, the ticket prices is drastically less in the CHL than in the NHL, which could be a deterrent to some hockey fans who follow the Mavericks. Then it boils down to is risk worth the reward??

I'm not saying that the Kansas City relocation play is good idea over Winnipeg or Quebec City; but I'm saying it's another alternative if a team doesn't want to move into Canada. They have the building, they could have the backing, but whether the fans will show up is the big unknown and in the end-- could be the deal-breaker should KC be in the fight for relocation. It's just amazing how they have really fallen off the radar in all of this mess.

Friday Five: Off-ice Thoughts of an On-ice Event

It's been a crazy week and it's now time for a short recap of the odds-and-ends of the week with the Friday Five. Maybe, just maybe-- someone would want to cash in on this fantasticness, because like "Wayne's World"; I do bow down to sponsors.

1. Is Air Canada using this as PR or do they actually think the NHL couldn't get another airline for 11 teams, so they pose a threat??

The Air Canada stunt was ridiculous and was only used to put themselves over. Odd how it "leaked" out and if any other sponsors raised issues-- still hasn't come out yet. While I understand the position of Air Canada and wanting to put the NHL under the gun, but this sponsorship is beneficial to both sides and kind of cutting the nose off to spite the face. Plus, if a sponsor starts to dictate how the game is play, the slippery slope of what could come after it would be monumental. That'd be like a patient telling a dentist how to go about drilling. In the end, I think that while it's a great stunt; Air Canada has a lot more to lose than win in a situation like this, because I'm sure other airlines are out there looking for 11 teams to be under their umbrella and others waiting to be the marquee name on the Toronto Maple Leafs arena. Bad spot that Air Canada put themselves in.

2. When it comes to the headshot issues-- how can the GMs actually change the rules and enforce it better without taking hitting out of the game??

Another fine-line issue, but there has to be something to discourage shots to the head-- whether it's by not playing and losing money or something; but the respect between fellow players just isn't there. I don't believe that any new rules in place will be a landmark change and actually make players not play as cheap as they have been. The league doesn't want to take hitting out if they don't have to, because it is a part of the game that appeals to some sectors of fans and is really what separates this from other games, to the extent of whether it's clean or not. It's more of something that the player's have to talk about themselves and start to respect each other.

3. The NHLPA seems to have hedged their bets when it comes to not directly coming out against one player over another in this event-- smart or silly??

The comment Donald Fehr made in the official statement, saying the injury of Max Pacioretty could have been caused by lack of padding, showed that he may have been led wrong; but at least his first statement saying he wasn't knowledgeable on the hit or dynamics behind it was honest and truthful. This padding thing could be silly, but the fact they haven't gotten to the point that the disrespect between union members is running rampant seems to be like an ostrich with its head in the sand. Granted, Fehr is new-- but at the same time, the people around him should have been seeing this for the longest time and should have brought this up to their members. While the NHLPA is looking out for their player's wallets and all of that, they should get more concern for their player's health and safety-- and maybe the padding is the first step, who knows-- but doesn't seem like it.

4. When it comes to Gary Bettman, he signed a five-year contract extension last fall. Fans hate it, but are they missing the bigger picture??

Of course they're missing the big picture. Bettman is a heel, he knows he's a heel, and he plays it well and almost embraces it. He doesn't kowtow to pressure from outside sources and has made great business for the NHL since he's come into the league-- bigger revenues some good and not so good expansions/relocations, and all around growth of the game. While people may hate him and his Count Count statue/appearance-- he's a great guy to have as the figurehead because he doesn't care what you call him and the Board of Governors have been making money out of his regime. He's good for everyone and should have been retained. (Sure, this all could be because of the fact the CBA is coming up and they want to look strong, but still-- all the things I said hold true.)

5. It seems after Chara-gate, the rest of the on-ice product has been ignored-- sans for hits and what-not.

Considering it's the same week (and same day, I think) that the Bertuzzi-Moore event happened back in 2004, the debates ramped up hardcore and, sure, the games got lost in the mix-- but that's going to happen when something this crazy happens. Sure, we've had some fancy shootout moves from Mike Ribeiro and Martin St. Louis (that caused its own controversy), but nothing too out of the ordinary happened. Maybe it wasn't the best time for teams to go into hibernation with excitement, but that's the way the universe works.

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That's it for the week that was, which seemed very Chara-bomb heavy-- oof. In any case, you have a topic or a question to submit-- Scotty.Wazz@Gmail.com is the place to send it and I'll get to it, post-haste.

Niche Connection

As many of you may (or may not) know, as much as I'm into hockey; I'm also into the other oft-bashed sport-- NASCAR. In fact, myself and Todd "Wilson" Butts used to do a NASCAR internet radio show called "Pit Stop Radio" from 2001 until 2005. Todd has moved onto Wilson's Race Report and far surpassed the fame I have, but that's neither here nor there.

The thing that I've notice is how closely the two sports intertwine and intermingle in terms of promotional events. Also, these are sports that have their niche markets and have tried to expand out to the more mainstream across the country and even in other continents. Granted, NASCAR has seen a bit more success when expanding into the mainstream; even though they have plenty of detractors for one reason or another. Notwithstanding, there's a decent amount of parallel with the sports on the surface.

When you look deeper, you can see a lot more parallels when it comes to the two, especially when it comes to the minor leagues and their promotional activities. Before we get to that, we have to start out with one of the first cross-promotional items between the two sports. It happened in 1997, the first year for the Carolina Hurricanes. To get their name out there to the masses after the move from Hartford, the team bought space on the back deck-lid and bumper of Jeff Burton's #99 Exide Ford. They call NASCAR the fastest billboards on Earth and it seemed to get some word out there for the masses.

While the Burton thing seemed to be just a one-year deal, the NASCAR community would welcome some more NHL logos in 2004, when Jeremy Mayfield had the 2004 NHL All-Star Game logo on his #19 Dodge Dealers Dodge for the Budweiser Shootout, seen in the picture above. This is when Dodge was the official car of the NHL and they took the chance to get the word out for the All-Star Game during Daytona's Speedweeks. Since then, there has no out and out sponsorship of a team or event.

That said, the likes of Regan Smith (formerly of the #01 DEI Chevy) have used the Carolina Hurricanes logo as a design on his helmet. Also, Martin Truex, Jr. of the #56 NAPA Toyota is an avid Philadelphia Flyers fan since he grew up in Mid-South New Jersey and has seemingly pulled Kevin Harvick (seen here with Flyers forward Jeff Carter), driver of the #29 Shell Chevy in with him to the Flyers fandom. Both Truex and Harvick followed the Flyers through their playoff run last season. Harvick also admitted to watching the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL, which is his hometown team. With NASCAR going into Canada, the Montreal Canadiens embraces driver David Reutimann of the #00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota and owner Michael Waltrip by presenting them jerseys of the team.

Conversely, there's plenty of hockey teams that incorporate NASCAR into their game-day and jersey schemes. The Charlotte Checkers, where most of the NASCAR teams have their headquarters, often have a NASCAR theme night during the year and the name goes along with the motif of the city prior to hockey. The old UHL has had many NASCAR nights with the checker pattern, as seen here with the Danbury Trashers and many other lower minor leagues and junior teams have done such ideas, as seen by this interesting Tri-City Americans' (WHL) jersey during their NASCAR night. Truex ties into this with being at Syracuse Crunch's NASCAR night in March of 2010.

One of the bigger tie-ins happened earlier in the summer with the SPHL announcing that the Ryan Newman Foundation would be a partner with the league and incorporate special nights with all eight SPHL teams for trips to NASCAR events. Ryan Newman is the driver of the #39 US Army Chevy and his foundation educates and supports animal welfare. Newman and his wife are hockey fans and thought that this would be a nice tie-in to the area that the SPHL targets.

While they seem miles apart in terms of philosophy, the fans of each sport and the sports themselves are somewhat on par. The fans, most of them are avid and very knowledgeable of the ins and outs of the game, while those who are new to the sport often pick it up fairly quickly and embed themselves quickly. The sports are both quick, high tempo, and often have strategy to them when the game or race is on the line. Of course, hockey can turn in all directions and NASCAR is usually all-left, that's neither here nor there. The point is that while it seems like these two "niche" sports wouldn't be in the same ballpark as each other, they are closer than some would like to admit.