They say it’s lonely at the top…
Well, make no mistake, Craig Glazer of Stanford & Sons comedy club isn’t the only lonely, local businessman to take note of the financial toll the success of the Kansas City Royals baseball team has taken on the area economy.
Pizza and beer sales have likely soared with the tens of thousands of locals who settle in night after night to watch Royals games on television.
Face it, watching baseball in the comfort of one’s own home has to be among the world’s cheapest dates/family freebies.
And clearly for sports bars, taverns and restaurants with multiple televisions, showing Royals games is a plus. Grocery, liquor and convenience stores have probably fared reasonably well as well.
However, woe be to the restaurant, bar, nightspot, movie theater, comedy club, mall or retail store that’s had to muddle through while a sizable chunk of the population hunkered down in front of their big screen televisions.
Now I’ll let you in on a not-so-secret secret.
For years those of us with but a passing interest (or less) in the Kansas City Chiefs have known that the absolute best time to go shopping is on a Sunday is while Chiefs games are being televised.
There’s like zero traffic and shopping center parking lots and stores are eerily empty. And wandering around nearly empty streets is reminiscent of an old Twilight Zone episode, which is kinda cool.
The $64 million question:
For the third year in a row, will the Kansas City area continue to revert to a ghost town on nights the Royals play, now through October?
There are like 25 games in the month of April alone!
Last year’s Royals schedule had a crippling effect on many small, local businesses. However in decades past – before practically each and every baseball game was televised – life went on, while maybe 20,000 to 40,000 locals trucked out to The K to watch the games and however many thousand baseball nerds holed up by their radios.
No harm, no foul, but that was then.
There is hope for this year however because some say continued Major League Baseball successes can lead to diminished fan zeal. That once a team has made its climb – gone to the World Series, etc. – the novelty wears off and the masses in subsequent seasons begin to take things in stride, take team’s successes more for granted. They essentially return to their alternate lives and ways.
Baseball burnout?
There’s also the distinct possibility of the team slipping in the standings while other teams rise to the forefront. So we’ll see.
Nonetheless, with MLB gain comes financial pain and we may soon find out whether the entire Kansas City area economy will again crippled this year by – what’s it called? – baseball fever.
ANOTHER FACEPLANT!
The royals are hot.
The chiefs will be hot.
KU basketball is hot.
Do we have to listen to the voices of gloom and doom forever!
The royals are KILLING IT ON TV. Huge viewership.
And they will continue to do that because after 30 years…after all the years
of glaze beating up on every player/manager/owner/they get their payback.
So I would suggest that if you can’t beat them….join them.
Do something different. Market yourself differently. There’s still 900,000 people
to draw from. During a home game there’s 30-38k at the stadium. 200,000
maybe watching the game. Stop blaming the royals.
tonight its the boss at sprint….come see me on the floor as we experience the greatest musical
artist of our time……then 25 or so royals games in april.
Hearne….what a great idea. Shop during the chiefs game! Why didn’t anyone
else ever think of that.
Because they support their local team.
I’ve been to 30-50 royals games a year. Love baseball and the stadium.
Went even when they would lose 100 games.
NO MORE EXCUSES. CHANGE OR DIE!
Talk about fuzzy math…
Let’s see, 2 million in the great kc metro and you count up to 238K.
So much for my ghost town theory!
“tonight its the boss at sprint….come see me on the floor as we experience the greatest musical
artist of our time……”
More bad news for the local economy. As legions of rabid followers and Harley “disciples” vacate local watering holes to buy tickets to the “Boss” to go and “watch” Harley watch the Boss. I envision thousands trampled in the surging crowds seeking to touch the hem of his “Members Only” windbreaker.
did you take a shower? Because even here in beautiful joco
you stink.
I’m sure the 18,000 people at sprint to see bruce had a
huge impact on the overall economy in kc.
But chuck…you dig ditches all day. Probably couldn’t afford
to pay for the tickets to the boss. Probably couldn’t afford to
pay for the parking.
No big deal chucklets…you’re already losing on every
debate with Harley and I’d rather wear a members only
coat than the filthy mud covered..sweat covered clothes you
wear all day. No wonder no one at loews wanted to wait
on you when you screamed at them to get to work…the
reason they didn’t wait on you….you smelled like sh*t.
Now go take a shower. Its Friday and Friday is your
weekly shower day.
jeeeeez…..
The Royals aren’t to blame for slow nights. I have a good friend that is part owner of a very successful chain of local bars that I guarantee you have at least heard of. He has told me for years how the bar business is declining and this was going on when the Royals were awful. I go into his bar at 11 at night and it’s almost empty as are most other bars. If not for families going to the bar for dinner they would be failing. Twenty-something people simply don’t go out like older people did. Younger people I work with hardly ever go out. They are rightfully so hyper-sensitive about DUI’s. They don’t have the disposable income we did because they have thousands more in student loans than older people did. This is going to be a huge problem in the near future. The same younger people can’t buy big ticket items like new cars and houses. That will affect us all down the line when they are 40 and still living in apartments and not buying houses.
I think he Newturk makes a great point. People just don’t out like they used too. All the reasons he mentioned plus social media, crime worries on and on…DUI’s are a huge reason…its been a government plan nationwide to keep people at home after 9 or 10 PM every night of the week…it is working…KC streets are empty after 10 7 nights a week today…very sad. The Plaza is empty after 9 every night…sad…Westport is the best bet, then P&L and Brookside/Waldo, thats it…its a nationwide situation…so the Royals only add to an already lessening nightlife…
I always say the 60’s-90’s was the best times in American life…they are gone. Not to return…and I do hate to see that.
yes glaza dream on. It’s a government conspiracy plan to
keep people inside by 10 every night of the week. It was
hatched by the Homeland Security in conjunction with the
NSA and all the teachers unions.
What the “f” are you talking about?
You’re the only guy on social security going to these places.
What do you want?
People in their 20’s/30’s go out andparty. Its just different.
They’re looking for more than a pick up joint.
They can do that online now without spending $200
buying some girl drinks all night.
the world has changed….why not add dancing to your
place during theweek. Or do some specials. does your
place have TV’s to watch the game….get some and do
some drink specials during the week to bring in people.
Remember sat. night games are over by8:30 so people
still have time to go out. Maybe bring in a mariachi band
on Tuesdays and attract the Hispanic crowd. Do something.
You’re an expert in p.r. …..there’s something to come up with..
build it and people will come.
the 80’s and 90’s were great. But the world has
changed
I think the PR is shining through in this article. He got Hearne to write an article bashing the Royals as well as fans of the Royals who are cheap and looking for freebies if they stay home to watch the Royals and don’t get their butts on over to Stanford & Son’s Comedy Club to see the likes of TJ Miller and washed up porn stars.
Obviously glaza doesn’t travel much. He’s never been to
lodo in Denver….downtown in Austin…..on rush in Chicago…
in soulard in st. Louis….or a college town ….because this
isn’t a national problem as he puts it.
Westport is the best bet, then P&L and Brookside/Waldo, thats it.
Sounds like quite a few places, except say, oh, I don’t know… Stanford & Son’s Comedy Club.
“its been a government plan nationwide to keep people at home after 9 or 10 PM every night of the week”
On top of everything else you are also a conspiracy theorist now?
That part is true. Who the hell can afford to potentially lose their license in this day and age? There is blowback to more DUI enforcement and younger people and most in general would rather stay at home and imbibe than tempt losing their license for blowing a few parts of a percentage above limits.
If your business cannot weather the success of a local sports franchise then your business is destined for failure.
No kidding.
You do realize that the Kansas City Office of Economic Development Central Intelligence Office is coming after you. WikiLeaks has nothing on you, and while FastTrack and Kauffman have worked diligently to bring Commerce to Kansas City, you have dashed it in a single article. It is part of a trend. It used to be that every marketer knew, you send out 100 mailers, you get three replies, and one of them might become a client. If you made calls, say at dinner, the odds increase, but you were likely to offend the cold calling Gods, like the Missouri AG, who believes you to be the scourge of all time, not the arsonists in Ferguson. Even though people have all that gas money, they are staying home, watching television or doing some other non-public, but very discretionary activity. Perhaps, it could be inflation, but according to the governmental powers that be we do not have any, and that is why social security recipients didn’t receive their COLA, but they did see higher Medicare premiums. It is a great article because it covered all of the facts that some, no mention of names, were unaware of. Of course, if you had a bar in the Power and Light District, you made money, assuming your guests were drinking, and many of those guests contributed to the Kansas City legal world where they had to pay attorneys to get out of the DUIs, accrued while leaving the scene. It was beneficial, wasn’t it? Economic progress comes in fits and starts, with the occasional side amusement, like the St. Louis House Member who proposed that the Cardinals be labeled Missouri’s team. I won’t say what political persuasion he maintained, other than to report on his braying. How can a Comedy Club survive when life is turning out to be a comedy all by itself?
I’VE FIGURED IT OUT GLAZA. NO WONDER THE COMEDY CLUB BIZ IS SO
SLOW.
NOW PEOPLE CAN GO TO FOX NEWS/CNN/CNBC AND MSNBC AND SEE
THE BEST COMEDY RIGHT IN THEIR OWN HOME.
Today I’m about to get codi (spelling) installed in my computer. I can get
over 9 comedy channels in this special hookup so why do I need to
go out and pay for it. I get free ppv/movies now in the theatres and movies before
they reach the theatres in dec/jan/feb…..and it’s free!!!!!!
Harley, you owe us $247.26 on the movie, “Batman In Robin”. We need you to remit or we will suspend your privileges.
“Face it, watching baseball in the comfort of one’s own home has to be among the world’s cheapest dates/family freebies.”
Is that supposed to be a swipe at all the citizens of this city who enjoy the Royals as opposed to say, oh, I don’t know… Craig Glazer’s Standford & Son’s Comedy Club. F U Hearne. You make it sound like every Royal’s fan in the city who enjoys watching the Royals while paying $8 for a six pack of premium beer as opposed to $24 for the same six pack at a bar is some kind of deadbeat.
“Last year’s Royals schedule had a crippling effect on many small, local businesses.”
Link?
The link is CGs business. Nobody else really exists in his world.
Glayzer’s yuk yuk shack.
I happened to make the rounds during a recent Royals game.
Austins was so packed you couldn’t move. Not a table open, not a spot at the bar. 80% of the people in Royals merch.
Then to the new 151st Street HyVee; the grocery store with a bar in it! The Market Grill was packed. Again, most in Royals garb. Heavy family presence but also groups of couple with buckets of beer and crowd enthusiasm you’d guess could only be found inside the stadium.
Dub V’s, across from the JoCo courthouse where my attorney friends hang out – packed. And it was founded as a K State bar!
Business looked nothing short of outstanding during game time!
wislon…go help glaze get his business up.
Glaze go to best buy….get some TV’s….give free food with drinks..
or whatever you legally can do….give $1 beeers ……$1 drinks…do
something and you too can cash in on the royals nights…
keep the comedy…but if there’s some better names bring them in
so people will recognize who is performing.
It’s not that hard dude…you just got to do some marketing and
promotion…
good luck…
if you need more assistance contact meat law4life1000@yahoo.com
yuo
Yeah, but did you go to Stanford & Sons Comedy Club, the center of the universe. This isn’t about those podunk places you speak of Paul. You should know that.
Glazyzer’s yuk yuk shack not filled so it must be somebody else’s fault OF COURSE.
Uh folks I didn’t write this someone else did. I never said anything about our biz and the Royals…It’s true most entertainment venues take a hit with sports being so big these days on the tube and at the stadium…way it is…so calm down. Hearne likes to stir the pot he always does. If he can throw me in there he does so you will go whack…geez..like you didn’t know…like the Bill Self article same thing.
I comprehended completely that you weren’t complaining Glaze. Hearne was complaining on your behalf
Which is worse.
Glazes Yuk Yuk Shack is probably empty because the other comedy venue in town is booking good talent. Not the same people on the same weekend every year. Before people say well comedy is dead unless they are playing the midland or the few shows at the sprint center look at Netflix/HBO/Comedy Central/Showtime and see that there is new funny talent but someone doesn’t bring them to town or lets the other place book them.