Remember when Kansas City made the deal for Sprint Center with Anschutz Entertainment Group, and Anschutz promised to try to get either a National Basketball Association team or a National Hockey League team as the anchor tenant for the new center?
To the chagrin primarily of the Talk Sports Radio fellas, it never happened…hasn’t even come close to happening.
But you know what? We should all be grateful that neither the NBA nor the NHL has come to town.
I’m going to tell you the main reason in a minute, but first here are a couple of things to consider:
The NHL is about a dozen years behind the National Football League in terms of head injury awareness and prevention…And the NFL was about a dozen years behind the curve when it got its head out of the sand. So, the way I see it, the NHL is — or will be in several years — about a generation behind.
The NHL still condones pugilism on ice. The people who run the NHL can’t pull themselves back from indulging those fans who buy tickets primarily to see guys drop the gloves and duke it out. The game itself is good, partly because the action is fast and almost continuous, and it’s a beautiful thing to watch those players glide, skid and do 360s on the ice. But overall, it sucks because league officials put fighting over safety.
Then, there’s the NBA. My, God.
The Los Angeles Clippers franchise, the doormat of the league, is worth $500 million to $1 billion? Hell, we’re going to get a single terminal at KCI for that much!
Business Insider reported last year that the average ticket price for a non-premium seat in the NBA was $50.99 per seat…As tennis great John McEnroe would say, “You CANNOT be serious!”
But here’s the kicker.
The SportsMonday centerpiece in today’s New York Times was about how the final minutes of NBA playoff games drag on interminably. The headline was “An Eternity in Seconds,” and the headline was an illustration of a large sundial inscribed with the Latin words “Terminus Est Aeturnus,” or, The End is Eternal. (I believe the correct spelling is “aeternus,” with a second “e,” not another “u.”)
Reporter Richard Sandomir said that in a recent game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors, it took nearly 18 minutes to make it through the final 60 seconds of the game.
Eighteen minutes for one minute of play! Aeternus, indeed.
The culprits were timeouts and TV commercials. Sandomir wrote:
“Action on the court unfolded in two-, four-, six- and nine-second bursts, save for one sequence that flowed for all of 33 seconds.
“The six timeouts requested in the game’s final 22.5 seconds illustrated how the clock bent to the vagaries of coaching strategy and TV’s dominion over big-time sports.”
Sandomir cited a second example: The final one minute and 23 seconds of last Friday’s game between the Clippers and the Oklahoma City Thunder took 12 minutes and 43 seconds.
Of course, the NBA isn’t the only pro sport in which games go on and on. Baseball games have gotten progressively longer — although, thank God, they are not governed by a clock. And National Football League games, which used to be played in under three hours, now last an average of about three hours and 15 minutes.
Here’s a statistic for you: A 2010 Wall Street Journal study of four NFL broadcasts showed that the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes.
Holy Mother of the Hour Glass!
Let us count our blessings, then. At Sprint Center, let’s go forward with a steady diet of concerts, circuses and college basketball games. Even without the NBA or the NHL, it’s still one of the most successful arenas in the country.
Makes me think those Anschutz people knew what they were doing all along.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Dead on the money, sans the KCI comment.
The lure of the NFL is gambling. Inveterate gambling schmucks like me are hooked on the wager not the on field contest. It is impossible to watch more than 10 minutes at a clip.
The social aspects relating to gambling amongst and with your friends can be hilarious and rewarding even when you lose. It reminds me of betting on golf during the round. Again, this can be very, very funny stuff.
:)
This metro area cannot sustain another major sports franchise. Add in our long-standing ‘fair weather fan’ attitude of ‘if you are not winning, we won’t be at the games’, and you have the makings of a disaster. Although I think KC would take to a D-League team of players that had some local connections.
I watched the end of that Nets-Raptors game and, yes, it took forever to end. Give me college basketball everyday of the week instead of NBA.
I only watch hockey during the Olympics (thanks to the 1980 USA team!).
Sound reasoning on Olympic hockey, Jennifer.
The Clippers are not the doormat any longer. And just wait until we lose the Royals ( to Portland, Charlotte or San Antonio) and the Chiefs ( to L.A. or several other teams). The tiered pricing, based on the visiting team and the teams continued losing. Stranger things could happen. In the last couple seasons the Royals’ improvement has only slightly increased attendance. The Chiefs are having troubles at the gate too. The Glass family and Clark Hunt would jump on the over-priced offers they could easily fetch for the franchises. I am a fan, but I would adjust.
Nasty scenario, Larry, but I don’t think either team is going anywhere for a long time.
En garde…
“Anschutz promised to try to get either a National Basketball Association team or a National Hockey League team as the anchor tenant…it never happened…hasn’t even come close to happening.”
I’ll say this is mostly true but, there was actually an offer to the Pittsburgh Penguins to move into the Sprint Center during this period. It was an offer that was just as bad as the TIF’s that were offered to (and accepted by) the P&L tenants. It basically gave the Penguins a rent-free arena to call home. In the end, Pittsburgh caved in on the wishes of Mario Lemieux and their own citizens and built a new arena. And that was that.
As far as the NBA is concerned, that was just a pipe dream, and only possible if there were expansion teams coming in. Not to mention the fact that at that time they were having the dress code “controversy” which didn’t really help with luring in a “politically correct” organization like the NBA.
As a side note the AFL (Arena Football League) K.C. Brigade/Command did move from Kemper to the Sprint Center for a short time but was unsuccessful.
I could probably go on, but I’ll concede and give Jim the point here. A “real” sports team in the Sprint Center was not going to happen…in the short term at least.
Touch’e…
En garde…
You attacked the sport of hockey with the term “pugilism”, which is by definition the “hobby or sport of boxing”, and is more akin to the theatrical performances of the WWE tournaments that the Sprint Center brings to town.
Parry…
And the NFL? What does that have to do with the Sprint Center? As far as I know, all those guys that made it to the NFL and the NHL (for that matter) had a choice as to weather or not to pursue a professional sports career. In fact, I would bet most of them were shown the same video that I was shown in grade school about the dangers of contact sports.
Riposte…
I wonder if the horses you enjoy watching run their selves to death ever got the chance to see that video, or was given the choice of a life in the pasture vs. a professional sports career?
Do you remember…
AP story –
“LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Boy, did Eight Belles hang with the boys.
All that heart and her gallant fight, however, ended in the worst of all possible ways: a breakdown, an ambulance on the track. And, with no other choice, she was euthanized by injection.”
…and what about Barbaro?
Do the NFL, NHL, or NBA issue death sentences due to injury? While I’m on that subject, do you think Eight Belles and Barbaro suffered any less than Clayton D. Lockett?
Just comparing apples to apples here, unless you think Lockett was more significant than a Thoroughbred. I’m sure Eight Belles and Barbaro performed many an execution before they were brought to justice.
If the NFL is a decade behind and the NHL is a generation behind, then horse racing is still stuck in the days of the Roman Colosseum or at best, Medieval Times.
As far as the NBA goes, I don’t like it for reasons other than the ones you reported, but I do believe they can operate as they choose (within limits of the law) just as any other business in a free enterprise system.
Awarding myself the point here, but feel free to protest.
On your last point, “Makes me think those Anschutz people knew what they were doing all along”, I cannot argue. However, it comes as no surprise that it is being used the way it is. If Kemper Arena had an entertainment district built up around it like the Sprint Center, we would still be going to the bottoms to watch concerts.
Since it appears to me that we are at a draw, I’m leaving the final decision to you ‘O Worthy Moderator!
Your favorite Redneck (w/ his head in the sand),
Jason Schneider
P.S. Hope some of you got a chuckle! You know who you are!
You may have blogging potential, Jason…
Jim, I’ll take that as a compliment even though English and writing have never been my strong points. Apparently I don’t know the difference between weather and whether. Spell check won’t bail you out in the case of homonyms. Hope you liked the Fencing reference.
I appreciate having the comments section here allowing us to express our opinions. Even though we don’t always agree I think your a great guy with class.
Still my turn to buy lunch whenever you’re ready! Just let me know.
Jason