You don’t have to be a die hard sports junkie to have insights or opinions on sports…
A handful of comments section naysayers ripped me last week for suggesting that some locals – notably the sports media – were over-hyping this week’s All Star baseball game in Kansas City.
"Your opinion on baseball is as relevant as mine is on quantum physics," snarled Merle Tagladucci before hammering me for supposedly not knowing that the team that won got home field advantage in the World Series.
Sorry Merle, I do know that. But that’s supposed to matter to everyday Kansas Citians again why?
Look, there’s nothing wrong with hardcore sports buffs like Merle obsessing over baseball minutia. No more than there is people who obcess over stamp or comic book collecting. It’s the human condition.
We all have our dalliences.
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However people here have a habit of getting snookered into falling for broad assertions about the amazing things that will come to pass and propel the local economy if we just do this. Or get that.
The Sprint Center was a sure bet to land KC a pro basketball or hockey team if only we’d build it. The Power & Light District would pay for itself. The Legends would be an economic bonanza for KCK.
With rare exception those assertions by politicians and the benefiting business interests went unchallenged.
And while – just like the All Star game there’s no doubt Kansas City has reaped some rewards from all three – there are no pro sports teams even talking about coming to Sprint, the P&L is a red ink machine that taxpayers must now subsidize and the developer of the Legends is heading towards foreclosure.
The point being, mindless cheerleading is not what Kansas City needs. Not entirely anyway.
And as for the laughable hyperbole of comparing the need for a degree in quantum physics to having an opinion about sports, please.
Check the headline atop Sam Mellinger‘s column on the All Star game in the Star‘s advertising special section:
"Game Isn’t What It Once Was," it reads. "We may never recapture passion of Midsummer Classic despite flawed World Series tie-in."
Now I could be wrong, but I don’t think Sam has a degree in quantum physics or baseball either…
Now go enjoy the game!
Nice job, Hearne
Too many people don’t know the difference between opinions and facts. Opinions, when expressed about a subjective topic, can’t be wrong. Sports, politics, religion, entertainment, etc are all subjective. One man’s trash, blah, blah, blah….
In MY opinion, too many people have a reverence for baseball that goes beyond religion. I don’t get it, but to each their own. You made the mistake of discussing “religion” openly. You should have stuck to Physics.
A+ for Jim
Hearne!
Spot on nice story, full of facts as well but doubt as Jim points out people will understand that.
Truth or Consequences
Until developers and promoters are held accountable for their pro forma predictions the bullshit will continue to flow. Anyone with an IQ over 100 knows the predictions and prognostications are flat out lies. People pull numbers out of their asses like they pick bugers at a stoplight. We have become conditioned to accepting lies without really understanding that we, the taxpayers, are on the hook. The easiest money to spend is other peoples money. Tim Leiweke has made a career out of it going back to David Schoenstadt and the Comets. Remember his prediction that INDOOR SOCCER would replace the NBA as the tird most popular sport? Then, Leiweke and Company stiffed all the media in Kansas City on Walk Through Rock for close to $100K…..and the saga continues to this day at AEG.
Is Cordish any different than the Mafia in the elaborate schemes they hatch with public money. TIF’s are a fucking joke and the TIF commission would have better luck picking winners by throwing darts. Any time the public sector gets involved in deals with the private sector taxpayers get fucked like a Brazilian whore during Maris Gras, hard, fast and often.
Jock Sniffers
They come out of the woodwork to spew their half-baked opinions of any sport. Most of ’em don’t have enough sense to pour piss out of a boot.
A rose smells better than a cabbage so it makes better soup
No one in this world, so far as I know
I laughed a good one
when I heard that Jack Hairy JO spewing a 60 million dollar number that KC would receive when he was interviewing some old baseball player.
Man, the media just laps this shit up like it is buttercream spilled milk.
I can’t believe people actually take these numbers these “prognosticators” pull out of their ass seriously, and then quote it as fact!!
Ugh.
smarmyman the wackoff man
smartman 09:02:02 PM – Sun. Jul 8. 2012
Ernest Borgnine passed away. What a great guy. Never will forget him being on Fox and Friends in 2008 to promote his book. Steve Doocy asked him the secret to his vigor, vitality and longevity. He leaned in to Doocy’s ear and whispered but the mic still picked it up, ” I masturbate a lot.”. It’s sure like most of us Ernie probably rubbed a few out to Ann Margret.
NO SMARMYMAN….MOST OF US DON’T “RUB A FEW OUT”!!!!! most of us have girlfriends/wives. While you;re
posting on kcc a 1am/2am in the morning on fridays/saturdays wacking off….the rest of us are with
wives and girlfriends. No…we don’t rub one off….we leave that to lonely…losers like you to do in your
mom’s basement. Have fun tonight.
Breaking news…….
There you have it, folks. Only lonely losers punch the clown. Men with wives or girlfriends don’t.
Hmmmmm, someone is seriously skewing THAT bell curve.
Im a sports agnostic….. but its been huge for me!!
The Royals is a client, MLB is a client, I’ve been swamped for a month, and a month prior in planning. $60M is a stretch of unbelievable proportions, but its great business.
I’m amused and flattered, I guess, that my
60 million is not a stretch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7 million in taxes just on the tickets and concssion (im not an accountant but that’s pretty close for 3 fullpacked
houses at the k)!!!!!!!
hotel rooms….rental cars…equipment….labor…..added revenue in hospitality industry….i was at p owe and light
friday and it had many many people from out of town…
cabs!!! flights…..food….and remember that the money flows thru in multiples…
people fly in…they pay for rooms…people clean the rooms…they eat…the food thats served..the people who
servie it….bartenders…wiat staff…when you look at each dollar spent its multiplied throughout the economy
of the city….so 60 million dollars…its not that far fetched.
Ask st. louis in 09….they said it was wroth more…and you can’t put a price on the stories…news media
exposure for the city …plus everything that comes later on…
nice story by merle….he used stats and facts to put his story straight…I couldnt have said it better!!!!!
$60M – soft, anticipated, projected, unqualified forecast $s
but yes, it will be a substantial boost. I sit on the Board of Directors for the largest hospitality group in the State, so I’m pretty close to this topic.
Where Kansas City will benefit most, also unqualified but certainly expectant, is the image we will have projected to the 40 million viewers who will watch the goings on. Many of them event planners, convention guides, people who may be pushed over the edge to book KC that may not have otherwise. I’ve been at the host hotel for a good deal of this, things have never looked better with the fresh face KC has put on. Not to mention, plowing down all the blight that’s stood along I-70 for 40 plus years.
Its amazing what it takes to get us off our collective asses and clean up what should have been cleaned up all along.
Elementary My Dear Mearle Wins Home Run Derby
This is a very juvenile way of looking at it so harley should understand. We know that there aren’t one million people spending sixty dollars, or half a million spending one hundred and twenty or two hundred fifty thousand spending two hundred and forty dollars or one hundred twenty five thousand spending four hundred and eighty dollars. As we dial in closer to a real number of people at 62,500 each spending $960.00…..it seems plausible but not realistic. The REAL number is probably $40/MM to $50/MM. I realize that in political circles that is considered a rounding error against $60/MM, hence the economic state of the world today.
I realize not all spending is consumer, much of it is B2B. According to a friend that works at the CVB the 10,000 rooms MLB reserved were at well below market rates. That impacts MARGIN. So fuck the spend! The number that matters is the net retained earnings and MARGIN! When all is said and done what’s really left in PROFIT? My guess, not much. In typical KCMO fashion we have $60/MM, allegedly, coming in and probably $62/MM going out. Fuck the media exposure. See Detroit and Superbowl and Atlanta and Olympic Games.
And fuck the intangibles too! There is a reason they are called intangibles and not tangibles. THEY CAN’T BE REALISTICALLY QUANTIFIED. Glazer nails a Woodside hottie. That’s a tangible. Harley bangs his blow up doll. That’s an intangible!
Smartman,
FTW.
Smartman rules, harlinator drools- all over his blowup doll.
Smartman- Dude – WINNER, WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!!
Which is exactly why I said:
“$60M is a stretch of unbelievable proportions, but its great business.”
and followed it up with
“$60M = soft, anticipated, projected, unqualified forecast $’s”
There are many other “intangibles” we see put forth daily on here, blow up dolls the least of them.
It’s the new math
You can easily make a small fortune if you start with a large one.
I am reminded of a KC icon, Kendall Kohr. A simple soul, whose life was changed in an accident. Walked the streets of KC for many years and crowned The Mayor of Independence Avenue.
He once traded his bike with a flat tire for a new tire.
He made a better deal than KC did in getting the All Star Game.
while the trio of losers
were writing and blogging about their “personal” gratification (yes…that’s their new subject) we were at the
home run derby in kauffman. If anyone said this was not huge for this city they are an idiot. We moved thru the
media area with our credientials and saw at least 100 tv/media trucks. The media that came to this town
incldued ev ery national media. we rean into Brian Kilmeade from Fox and Friends and spoke with him
for about 20 mintues in the outfield area of royals stadium. He interviewed me about the all star game and
my media credentials (another story)! The subject as always turned to politics and I said i was
glad he was in town so we could convert him to the greatness of the democratic party. We laughed.
But we talked about the economy for a short time…me insisting that he and his colleagues had it all
wrong. Stats are not telling the whole story.
Anyone who did not see the economic impact in this town is completely wrong. If i had to pick a number
I would probably go with 60 million dollar figure. Tax revenue (including earnings taxes)…ticket sales..
people lined up to buy $80 baseballs…food…the gala that night…the parking ($25)…the hotels…
and thats not including the other parties we visited that night…and unlike the economic idiots whofrequent
this baord there’s the multiplier effect as the money ciruclated thru the local economy.
The old white male woe is me crowd is back out here at kcc. The exctiment …fun and enthusiasm
for really a promotional game was really cool. Hopefully we can get our town back on track.
The city did an amazing job.
We were given a tour of the stadium on the way to the gala…this stadium is really beautiful.
The media people from out of town were surprised how old this stadium is and how really
good it looks….
great job by the entire royals organization…and the city.
This was a huge event for kc.
headed to game tonight.
@harley
You talk about being a democrat and then talk about the virtues of “trickle down” economics. Interesting!
Ugh, some of these posts are too long to read
KC Confidential should be posting dish on the celebrities that are in town for these events instead of grousing. Are you even goign to any of the events?
mikey…come on…
trickle down works when the companies (hotels/restaurants/movers/concession companies/media) have to
spend the money. If they didn’t have to spend the money they wouldn’t.
A hotel takes in $150 a night for a hotel…they have to pay cleaning people…they have to pay the wait staff
to serve the food…its a neecesity.
When people get big tax break…they don’t have to spend that money…and many times they don’t
trickle down didn’t work under bush…won’t work now. If we don’t make sure dollars get to the middle
class we’re dead…plain and simple.
Yes I’m a democrat. Tough in kansas to be one. I havemany many repub freinds and have done
extensive work for some of the top repubs….good people…bad ideas and positions. l
This loser was there too… and and will be tonight…
as a guest of MLB for all the events and games. Up front and center with my kids and their wives. Oh, and the celebrity ball signing done in total security this morning on the lower level of the Intercontinental where 153 players, celebs, past and present signed the ball that had been in the Marriott lobby.
Don’t put everyone in the same pot, kettle. You make broad brush swipes at people you really know nothing about. But you want to base everything on “facts”. You make very odd, hurtful and inaccurate, demeaning and libelous statements and judgements on people based on what you THINK you know, when you’ve been PUNKED on half the info you have.
But thats fine, you’re happy with that world, keep living in it. Remember how we “know all the same people”?
Money doesn’t trickle. Never has and never will.
Compare the earnings of the Top 1% in this country for the last 20 years to the earnings of the bottom 90%. The disparity between those two groups has NEVER been greater.
If the Top 1% are better off than they have EVER been in this economy, doesn’t “trickle-down” logic dictate that everyone else should be better off, too?
If you think there is a nickel’s worth of difference between being “Red” or being “Blue”, you are a freaking moron. The only color that matters to EITHER side is GREEN.
That, Harley, is ECON 101.
are you serious????????????????????
hahahahaha….what is up with people today? Full moon last night? hahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
punking yourself,
I wonder how that feels.
Well, how does it Harlinator?
Clarification…..
I am not saying that it is the Top 1% er’s obligation to support the remaining majority. But, when the US government CLAIMS to be cutting taxes for the uber-wealthy to SPECIFICALLY stimulate economic growth, it’s reasonable to expect growth to be an ACTUAL consequence to those very tax cuts!
NOBODY can defend all these tax cuts when the result is that they have done NOTHING to stimulate the economy. Nothing.
jim is right
nobody can defend all these tax cuts….exactly jim…i agree 100% with you….those bush tax cuts did
nothing to stimulate the economy….northing…
so i expect you to jump on the winning bandwagon on pres. obamas program to end those high end
tax cuts come january afterv he’s reelected. Romney wants to increase and continue those tax
cuts………..
yes…i found somoene who agrees with me on kcc…thanks.
Don’t forget history, Harley
A. It’s an election year.
B. Obama already voted to EXTEND them previously. He’s no champion of the middle and lower classes. It’s no coincidence that NOW he’s against them.
C. I don’t pick “sides”. Fools who do think there is a difference between them.
D. It’s an election year.
nice points
obama did agree to extend them to help the economy…now it becomes a huge political issue
in the election since obama said eliiminate them on people making 250K or more…l.
think politics is at work….but isn’t it always….
“the K”…….by out of town mlb writer:
Having been lucky enough to travel to and work in all 30 Major League ballparks, in addition to a number that are no longer standing, I’m often asked to choose a favorite.
It takes a politician’s tact to size up an audience quickly enough to produce an honest answer without starting an argument, and mine usually goes like this:
“Safeco Field in Seattle is great. So is Coors Field in Denver … and I love Petco Park in San Diego. No place can match Fenway and Wrigley for history, and the views at PNC in Pittsburgh and AT&T in San Francisco are unmatched. But I really like Kauffman Stadium.”
Kauffman Stadium? Outside of a Nolan Ryan no-hitter and the 1985 World Series, it’s tough to think of signature moments there. KC hasn’t exactly been the top-of-mind backdrop for Cooperstown-worthy events. Heck, even the George Brett pine tar game happened in New York. So it is that explaining my affinity for “The K” is akin to defending the virtues of a really good meatloaf, or rationalizing why you still listen to the Beach Boys: I just like it.
The park’s signature feature is the “Water Spectacular” behind the right-field fence. (Even the Midwest is given to a little Siegfried and Roy-like pizzazz every now and then.) At 322 feet, it is the largest privately funded fountain in the world, and even in this “wow factor” era of giant scoreboards and video screens, the fountains still manage to grab us and make us smile.
But beyond the waterworks, great sightlines and easy feel, part of Kauffman Stadium’s appeal is that it thrives despite being crafted in an era of ballpark construction that is looked back upon with regret — a time when the term “multi-use” invaded our lexicon and when artificial turf and concrete got more consideration than bluegrass and brick.
Kauffman Stadium, or Royals Stadium as it was known back then, opened on April 10, 1973, and stands as that rare modern design that has outlasted its now-extinct contemporaries in Pittsburgh (Three Rivers), Cincinnati (Riverfront) and Philadelphia (Veterans), among other places.
Sure it’s easy to enjoy a ballpark as a fan — after all, you’re there on leisure time. But Kauffman Stadium’s intuitive layout makes it a favorite among people who work there, the writers and broadcasters, ushers and concessionaires, as well.
Among players, “The K” has received high marks for its batters-eye background and brilliantly manicured playing surface — one that markedly improved when the synthetic stuff was ditched for real grass in ’95. A decade later, another round of changes led to expanded concourses and new outfield seating. As the saying goes, even the Taj Mahal needs a new coat of paint every once in a while.
The Royals’ home of nearly 40 years may not have the dramatic views of a fabled skyline, nor has it been romanticized in prose in the way of Wrigley’s Ivy or Fenway’s Monster. But for my money, the site of this year’s All-Star Game may just be the best ballpark too few people in baseball talk about.
excited…been to 3 super bowls (1 on the field with dallas in phoneix) …2 nba finals games….game 7 of world
series….and its not quite close to the excitement of those other games…but its’ still lots of fun.
Watch for me on fox news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
too bad the K is in a
horribly shitty Independence/Raytown location, that totally ruins an otherwise decent ballpark.
They should have built it downtown, points deducted for crappy location!!!!