NBA to Kansas City

[GRID]

On the flip side, KC is solely focused on NBA and isn't seeking anything else.

How is KC "focused" on seeking the NBA? Or better yet, "who" is focused on bringing a team here? I'm not aware of any organized push to sell the league on the city or identify an appropriate ownership group.

Articles from CNBC and other sites have talked about KC showing a keen interest and grassroots campaigns organizing to get the movement started.

This is where people get most confused though- we do NOT need a local ownership group. We just need Memphis or NOLA to sell or relocate and for someone to bring it here. There’s no better place for a team given all the factors.

It will probably be Mahomes and then a bunch of investors from all over, with Mahomes steering the team here. As I’ve mentioned before, there won’t be a better market and place for a team than here. Any ownership group would recognize that.

The ownership is all that KC has been missing. If Mahomes is seriously interested, KC would easily get a team.

[Cratedigger]

Even if Mahomes is interested, you'd need more capital. A billionaire like Garmin's Min Kao

[AlkaliAxel]

Of course Mahomes is interested- he already bought in on the Royals & Sporting.

From the KC Star: “If the NBA expands, and Kansas City is a candidate for a franchise, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes wants in. ‘It would definitely be a goal of mine to get a team to Kansas City,’ Mahomes told The Star in an interview.”

Mahomes doesn’t need a KC investor group. He can team up with billionaires from anywhere and get a team. Even if you had a team of investors from Boston…where else are they gonna go with a team? The only real alternative was San Diego and they just declined it.

Mahomes is the perfect face for an ownership group, even for a non-KC team anyone would want him.

[mgsports]

WNBA?

[DColeKC]

WNBA?

God no.

[DColeKC]

Of course Mahomes is interested- he already bought in on the Royals & Sporting.

From the KC Star: “If the NBA expands, and Kansas City is a candidate for a franchise, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes wants in. ‘It would definitely be a goal of mine to get a team to Kansas City,’ Mahomes told The Star in an interview.”

Mahomes doesn’t need a KC investor group. He can team up with billionaires from anywhere and get a team. Even if you had a team of investors from Boston…where else are they gonna go with a team? The only real alternative was San Diego and they just declined it.

Mahomes is the perfect face for an ownership group, even for a non-KC team anyone would want him.

The problem is, we don't know his actual financial contributions to those ownership stakes. It makes a ton of sense to let him in for a few hundred grand just to say he's an owner. The Royals deal was simply about selling tickets and I can't imagine he put up much cash.

His power is in his celebrity sway, not his money because while he's rich, he's not the kind of rich it takes to own a NBA franchise.

[AlkaliAxel]

Of course Mahomes is interested- he already bought in on the Royals & Sporting.

From the KC Star: “If the NBA expands, and Kansas City is a candidate for a franchise, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes wants in. ‘It would definitely be a goal of mine to get a team to Kansas City,’ Mahomes told The Star in an interview.”

Mahomes doesn’t need a KC investor group. He can team up with billionaires from anywhere and get a team. Even if you had a team of investors from Boston…where else are they gonna go with a team? The only real alternative was San Diego and they just declined it.

Mahomes is the perfect face for an ownership group, even for a non-KC team anyone would want him.

The problem is, we don't know his actual financial contributions to those ownership stakes. It makes a ton of sense to let him in for a few hundred grand just to say he's an owner. The Royals deal was simply about selling tickets and I can't imagine he put up much cash.

His power is in his celebrity sway, not his money because while he's rich, he's not the kind of rich it takes to own a NBA franchise.

Yep, agreed.

Mahomes role here is to help get a group together of investors…and they can be from anywhere. Mahomes can pull investors from places outside of KC. You put Mahomes name on an ownership group then suddenly John Smith from Barclays in NYC wants to throw in $50 mil to invest.

Look at what A-Rod did to buy the Timberwolves! He didn’t put up the money, but he got the big names together and they bought the franchise last year.

[droopy]

Mahomes is the perfect face for an ownership group, even for a non-KC team anyone would want him.

I would think Mahomes would be more interested in being the face of the Chiefs and winning football games than being the ownership face of a NBA team

Look at what A-Rod did to buy the Timberwolves! He didn’t put up the money, but he got the big names together and they bought the franchise last year.

Yup. Mahomes and A-Rod are basically at the same points of their careers with the same level of connections in basically the same sort of cities /s

I appreciate your enthusiasm but let’s be realistic.

[AlkaliAxel]

Mahomes is the perfect face for an ownership group, even for a non-KC team anyone would want him.

I would think Mahomes would be more interested in being the face of the Chiefs and winning football games than being the ownership face of a NBA team

Look at what A-Rod did to buy the Timberwolves! He didn’t put up the money, but he got the big names together and they bought the franchise last year.

Yup. Mahomes and A-Rod are basically at the same points of their careers with the same level of connections in basically the same sort of cities /s

I appreciate your enthusiasm but let’s be realistic.

Ok boomer. Go back and read this thread I started here and you'll see how the NBA expansion/relocation is gonna work in the 20's. This is just what the modern super-star athlete does nowadays- they go in on big, public investments. Nobody is saying he's gonna lead an ownership group tomorrow. Lebron James is still playing and he just helped lead an ownership group for the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Penguins. Giannis just bought in on the Brewers after he won the Finals. Mahomes has *clearly* demonstrated he's willing to join an ownership groups and he strikes me as the type of athlete who'd be willing to help lead one.

[DColeKC]

Mahomes is the perfect face for an ownership group, even for a non-KC team anyone would want him.

I would think Mahomes would be more interested in being the face of the Chiefs and winning football games than being the ownership face of a NBA team

Look at what A-Rod did to buy the Timberwolves! He didn’t put up the money, but he got the big names together and they bought the franchise last year.

Yup. Mahomes and A-Rod are basically at the same points of their careers with the same level of connections in basically the same sort of cities /s

I appreciate your enthusiasm but let’s be realistic.

Mahomes has more pull currently than A-Rod who isn’t exactly a universally respected athlete. Half the youth watching sports these days don’t know or care who A-Rod is and the other half only know him as the dude who was banging out Jennifer Lopez.

[mgsports]

We have a Woman's Soccer Team thats getting its own Stadium why not WNBA one to? Tulsa has a WNBA team.

[Cratedigger]

I'd buy into a WNBA team. Maybe have them play at Municipal Auditorium?

[DColeKC]

We a Woman's Soccer Team why not WNBA one ro?

WNBA and NWSL lose money each year. I’d rather have a pro team that will generate revenue and tax dollars.

[Karambit25]

The NBA would be huge for KC's reputation and identity. The Kings had a decent following but Kemper was just in the wrong location. I would not like to see a WNBA team here as I don't see the interest for our size market.

[AlkaliAxel]

The NBA would be huge for KC's reputation and identity. The Kings had a decent following but Kemper was just in the wrong location. I would not like to see a WNBA team here as I don't see the interest for our size market.

I would also add I think it was the wrong time period.

NBA has made substantial gains in popularity amongst the youth since the 80's. I think if it were current day and we had the Kings & Royals, I truly believe the Royals would be the team to leave if one of the teams had to go.

[FangKC]

It would likely come down to which of those two teams had local ownership. I'd wager a team with a significant local owner, or significant financial interests in the KC area, is less likely to leave the City.

The Kings were never owned by anyone with any ties to Kansas City. Local residents preferred spending their sports money on the Royals instead of the Kings during the era the team was in KC.

Had the Kings had local ownership who would have allowed the team to stay in KC the last 40 years, the fan base might have grown significantly, and fan loyalty for the Kings might have exceeded the Royals.

[AlkaliAxel]

While it's true that in the MLB that Kansas City is one of the 5 smallest markets, in the NBA a KC team would actually not be that small. Especially if you count in the fact you'd probably be getting St. Louis & Omaha.

Now, what would be interesting is Wichita and southern KS.
https://www.intrustbankarena.com/releas ... n-wichita/
The Oklahoma City NBA team is actually closer to Wichita than KC is. OKC has already plunged its fangs into Wichita's market for NBA, so by the time KC gets an NBA team I actually am not sure how much of Wichita would just flip over to KC. Unlike the Royals & Chiefs, KC may have to really garner fans from Omaha & STL to make up for that.

[KCtoBrooklyn]

Here is a new article from ESPN about Patrick Mahomes' interest in owning sports franchises, using his minority stakes in Sporting KC and the Royals as a learning experience in hopes of holding a majority ownership one day.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/330 ... team-owner

"I would always keep my options open, but I've always tried to go with Kansas City first," he said. "That's the biggest thing for me. You look at things like trying to find a way to bring an NBA team to Kansas City, try to do stuff like that [or] a hockey team, all of that different type of stuff. I would definitely say my first option would be to try to do something in Kansas City and at the last resort, if that didn't work, I would try to figure out maybe something else."

Kansas City has really lucked out by drafting Patrick Mahomes - and not just with success on the football field. He could potentially have a considerable impact on the city. Not only potentially helping to bring another pro franchise here, but also through other investments in the city, philanthropic work, and generally being a good ambassador/spokesman for the city (although, I hope he gets his brother in check).

This was another nice quote from him in the article:

I want to invest in the Kansas City community, and I want to have something that my kids will be able to have once I'm gone

And his success on the field brings benefits to the city. There's no guarantee that they can keep up this level of success and there are sure to be ups and downs, but it's not unreasonable to expect to host multiple home playoff games most years and at least a few more Super Bowl appearances in his career. That brings all of the traveling fans coming to KC (as well as teams/media/etc), as well as extra exposure/publicity for the city. Any single one of these events might not move the needle that much, but if you add them up over the course of his career, and it could be a nice little boost for the city.

[normalthings]

Mahomes Riverfront Stadium and Four Seasons Hotel please

[Cratedigger]

Kansas City has really lucked out by drafting Patrick Mahomes - and not just with success on the football field. He could potentially have a considerable impact on the city. Not only potentially helping to bring another pro franchise here, but also through other investments in the city, philanthropic work, and generally being a good ambassador/spokesman for the city (although, I hope he gets his brother in check).

Agree