KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City's push to host the NBA's Raptors for a season is more than tweets from the city's mayor (Quinton Lucas) and king (Patrick Mahomes).
This is real, you guys. Or, at least, influential people are working hard to make it real.
You probably know the context, but here's a quick recap: Canadian law currently prevents Americans from traveling to Canada because of COVID-19. Unless the law is changed or an exception is made — and it's worth noting here that an exemption would likely be popular and profitable for Canada — the Raptors will need a temporary American home for the 2020-21 season.
Which means an opportunity.
"It's the sort of thing we should make a go at," Lucas said. "You say, 'Hey, if they're looking, we might as well try to be as attractive as we can.' "
Louisville was the first city mentioned publicly, but there is a feeling among some in the league that Louisville was floated to get other cities interested.
Kansas City has responded. Lucas and lawmakers representing Kansas and Missouri co-signed a letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Raptors ownership outlining the city's interest and strengths. The T-Mobile Center also sent a letter to Silver outlining interest and the building's strengths.
More conversations pushing Kansas City are happening through back channels and at various levels of NBA leadership, including in Toronto, according to sources.
Again: This is real.
Kansas City is highlighting its advantages. Geographically, the travel would be much shorter (particularly for Eastern Conference games) compared to Seattle or Las Vegas, which are often mentioned in expansion rumors.
The T-Mobile Center is move-in ready for an NBA team, and scheduling practices and games would be simpler than sharing an arena in a bigger city, like New York, or one closer to Toronto, like Buffalo. A new luxury hotel just opened less than a mile from the T-Mobile Center.
If the league prioritizes a simple, plug-and-play temporary solution with the season starting in December and a schedule out soon, then it could do much worse than Kansas City.
Assuming NBA arenas will allow a limited number of fans to attend games this season, the league could prefer to be in a new city rather than an already saturated one.
That is a crucial point, and worth further exploration.
Kansas City ranks as America's No. 32 television market, according to Nielsen. It's bigger than three current NBA markets and trails eight without NBA teams. Of those eight, six have NHL teams. Only Baltimore and San Diego are bigger and without a major professional winter sports team.
Put all of this together and you realize an undeniable truth: This is our opportunity.
Not just for this season, but beyond. Lucas and others would not be putting this much effort into the Raptors if they didn't believe it could lead to a permanent team later.
"It's an opportunity to have a test run," Lucas said. "We understand these are different times. Nobody's filling up an arena anywhere probably in the first two quarters of 2021. That's not happening. But you get a team on TV, you see what the ratings are like here in Kansas City, you see the engagement in things from apparel sales to interest online ...
"Those are the sorts of things that tell the Raptors and the NBA more broadly that this is a city that we should really look at."
The circumstances are eerily similar to how Oklahoma City landed the Thunder. Back in 2005, Hurricane Katrina forced the franchise then known as the New Orleans Hornets to play what turned out to be two seasons in Oklahoma City. The league chose Oklahoma City largely because it had a move-in ready arena (Sprint Center was two years away from completion) and could establish a new market.
Attendance jumped from last in the league to 11th that first season in Oklahoma City, though in fairness the team won 20 more games in Chris Paul's rookie season. The next year the Hornets averaged 17,833 fans, finishing 15th. In their first year back in New Orleans, attendance went back down to 26th despite a division championship.
Two seasons after the Hornets went back to New Orleans, Oklahoma City had its own NBA team. There is simply no way that would've happened without the two-year trial run of hosting the Hornets.
One more time: Katrina was a tragedy. COVID-19 is, as well.
But in much the same way that Oklahoma City took advantage of an opportunity nobody would have wished for, Kansas City can do the same now.
Hosting the Raptors for a year is a real possibility, but a longshot. Those with influence in Kansas City need to convince those with influence at the league's office. There is a belief among some that the league would rather keep the Raptors closer to the East Coast. If that is true and holds, there is little Kansas City could do.
Buffalo is only 100 miles from Toronto, hosted the Blue Jays in 2020, and is making a push for the Raptors. Also, the Canadian government could decide to allow the Raptors an exemption to host games, which some expect. Many hurdles remain.
Still, this is the most realistic shot Kansas City has had to land an NBA or NHL team since the Kings left for Sacramento in 1985. This specific moment has possibility and tangible effort that never existed when AEG made its empty promises to get the Sprint Center vote passed.
Buffalo makes sense, but the Raptors would need to work out game and practice schedules with the NHL's Sabres. Assuming Buffalo isn't considered a future NBA market, maybe the league would prefer someplace that might be.
Grassroots efforts to land an NBA expansion team were already in motion. Kansas City has a real case to make. Hosting a temporary team means we don't need to find the owner right away, and doing so during a pandemic means we don't have to worry about scheduling conflicts at T-Mobile Center.
If this happens, our collective tryout will be judged much differently than Oklahoma City's. It would have to be. Limited capacity would mean limited opportunities for Kansas Citians to feel connected to a temporary team.
Enthusiasm would need to be measured in TV ratings, merchandise sales and other factors. Most importantly, an owner with the motivation, means and belief to put a team in Kansas City would need to emerge.
Perhaps at some point it will be worth discussing that Mahomes, the superstar quarterback of the Chiefs, has expressed interest in an NBA team, and that some in the league believe his connections with LeBron James could matter. But that's a conversation for another day.
Considering the way Oklahoma City got its team, it's an interesting coincidence that there's some chatter around the league about the Pelicans relocating from New Orleans, though the most likely path for a permanent team here remains expansion.
Let's wrap this up with three irrefutable takeaways:
1. Nobody wants this opportunity, but now that it's here local leaders owe it to their city to take advantage.
2. This remains a longshot, with many factors outside Kansas City's control.
3. If it happens, and the team is welcomed the way a lot of us think it could be, this could be the beginning of the local sports scene changing forever.
