Great video Andy, but as a former Kansas City resident. I just want to clarify that the team was located in Kansas City, Missouri not Kansas City, Kansas.
The Royals actually began their existence in ROCHESTER, way back in the early days of the NBA. They even won an NBA title in 1951. Your videos are typically very good, but this was overlooked.
@@dannychamberlain6244and after they left Rochester, they were the Cincinnati Royals (1957- 1972). I was almost 6 years old when the Cincinnati Royals left to go to Kansas City and change the name to Kings.
As a resident of Middle Tennessee, I know I was happy for the City of Memphis when the Ownership of the Grizzlies decided to move from Vancouver to over in West Tennessee. I was happy for them to finally get a professional sports team after many years of trying. It is great that both Memphis and Nashville have their pro sports teams.
Thank you for telling the story of the Kansas city kings. I've literally heard so many people disrespect the kings for having a complicated history and I wish more people acknowledged the Kansas City chapter of the team.
I’m born and raised in KC and man as much as I’ve appreciated our World Series win a few years back and the Mahomes era of the Chiefs, it really sucks not having an NBA team. At least we have KU basketball only 40 minutes away
I grew up in St. Louis and got Kings broadcasts when Nate Archibald played for them. Almost no one got to watch the man play in his prime. What a shame he was amazing in his prime. I feel fortunate that l got to see him at his best.
This reminds me so much of when Kroneke bought the Rams and kept telling the city that he wouldn't move them while he was planning what became SoFi behind everyone's backs. And a little note about the Kings: it was because of the move that the Chiefs would hire a young play-by-play man for their radio broadcasts who decided not to join the Kings in the move, even though the Kings had planned to renew his contract. That man was Kevin Harlan.
Just like the grifters who bought the Sonics all the time denying their goal to move them to Oklahoma. St. Stern doesn't come across in those episodes.
The Rams move actually made so much sense though considering LA is the biggest sports market and didn’t have a single team at the time. The Chargers moving afterwards is actually the one that doesn’t make sense. KC should absolutely have an NBA team though. Just look at the passion for KU and K State basketball!
Its time for the NBA to come back to KC. I would be a season ticket holder. The real problem was that the team never put a winner in front of the fans at all.
Without success in Sacramento, the Rochester - Cincinnati Royals / Kansas City (and Omaha) / Sacramento Kings will soon be relocating to be the new NBA franchise for Las Vegas Nevada!
@@silvercrystal13 Just like in Rochester NY, Cincinnati OH, Kansas City MO and now Sacramento CA have all provided excellent civic and fan support, but the current owners, The Maloof family own the Las Vegas NHL and WNBA teams. The Oakland A's and the Kings will be the next to relocate to Las Vegas. The A's will move as soon as next MLB season. The Kings who have tried previously to relocate to Anaheim, Virginia Beach and Seattle will be playing in Viva Las Vegas as soon as the arena contract expires. Success as far as NBA Championships happened in 1951 ~ Rochester Royals!
Totally remembering the Sonics while watching this and to know that this story has played out this way before. In fact, the act of attracting fandom and loyalty in the first place is already a racket in itself. There has been some noise about Seattle or Las Vegas getting an expansion team soon. Hope the fan base is wiser and see these maneuvers coming this time around.
I went to Kansas City's last game in Detroit at the Silverdome. Met a few fans from KC who were determined to go to every single game that season, which would be their last chance.
If ever plans for expansion, after watching this video, I think Kansas City and Seattle deserves to have a NBA team again just like the other places before. Vancouver, also if its possible and just add Las Vegas to even the number of new teams.
Living here in Kansas City as a Detroit transplant i can tell you that tbis growing metro area can absolutely support an NBA team. we even built an arena for a team tbat never came.
@@phillipcummings3518 it’s odd because sometimes nuggets games are blacked out and we are much closer to OKC. Also closer to Minnesota, Memphis and even Chicago.
Really hope KC can get the second expansion team instead of Las Vegas, but seems like the NBA really wants to be in Vegas and they're practically promising Seattle a team.
If the NBA brings back the Sonics (and it should; Seattle should never have lost its team), then it would have to balance by putting a team in the east. Nashville, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Buffalo would be the most obvious cities to consider.
I passed by the t-mobile center in downtown kansas city, mo a few days ago; what a beautiful & shiny nba ready arena. And yes, the old kemper arena, now hyvee arena, is still open & in use.
the State of Kentucky needs to be represented in the Association, that State has a history of the ABA, and its in-state college rivalries are well known across the country.
@@homerthompson416That team sold out Freedom Hall in Louisville every night. Definitely should've made the merger. Not sure about that owner though. The one that stole KFC from Colonel Sanders
Also, what a weird timeline. If KC never relocated, there would be no Maloof family ownership; no Palms hotel in Vegas, no CWebb or White Chocolate, and thus no great LAL/Kings rivalry of the early 2000s 😮
@@MazeDaGr8 Shoot, the Spurs run would have been overturned by losing one game in Houston in 1999 when Pop was about to get fired, with Doc Rivers waiting in the wings to take the job. No way they would have kept Duncan in 2000 without Pop and without that 99 title and with Duncan in Orlando or Chicago no way they would have gotten the AT&T Center built, and would have ended up in either New Orleans or Anaheim. Another interesting chain reaction was winning the draft lottery in 87 for David Robinson. Until then the team looked like it was headed to Nashville after attendance tanked once Gervin got traded to Chicago.
@johnharris5566. Brutal calls went both ways in that game, but only those hurting the Kings get remembered. If the Kings were the better team, they would have found a way. Two decades later Sacramento is still crying in it's cowbell. Some cities are not allowed to have nice things. Look on the bright side. Gavin Nuisance is your governor.
Nearly every new owners said something similar about they just want to improve the team and they are not moving when they first purchased the team. Not only the Kings, but almost check out the Seattle Supersonics and the Vancouver Grizzlies
And now A-Rod's group with the T-Wolves... I can't help but have a feeling Seattle won't be needing an expansion team when expansion finally does happen.
The team was a founding team in the NBA (1948), then known as the Rochester Royals (upstate NY). They moved to Cincinnati in 1957. They won the franchise's only NBA title in 1951 as the Rochester Royals.
I was a young Portland Trailblazer fan who has many fond memories of seeing the great Nate Archibald and the Kansas City-Omaha Kings come to town to play in Memorial Coliseum in the 70's. He was always pure magic on the court.
This is why you dont trust investors in a different state.. they say they have no plans in moving the team but they end up doing it anyway. Same thing happened to Seattle
Something that got lost in the documentary was that the K.C. Kings actually had some very good players: Phil Ford, Otis Birdsong, Scott Wedman, Reggie Theus, and a good coach in Cotton Fitzsimmons. We did make the playoffs, but the Lakers were in the midst of their dynasty and just swept us.
As a Spurs fan this hits close since I remember when San Antonio was in the same situation. After trading Ice the Spurs attendance tanked the same way the Kings did after trading Archibald, and the only thing that saved the Spurs from moving to Nashville was winning the lottery to draft David Robinson. Otherwise our team would have been gone too.
How does these work. As someone who watches ⚽ football I've never seen these relocations outside USA. Like people can just lose the team they support it seems to be a crazy idea to me
@@paramtageja6891 Basically if local taxpayers don't gift the team a new stadium the team leaves to a city that will. Only the largest cities in the US, eg Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York, can tell teams to piss off and pay for their own stadium. Giving handouts to billionaires is a national religion in the US. As is telling the working class to go screw themselves on healthcare, transportation, education, etc.
@@homerthompson416 honestly this is crazy to me. The team which you have supported with passion can just leave you based on who owns the team. In football ⚽ the team represents the whole region it's based in. But I think the main difference is that American sports teams are franchise whereas most football teams were started by the people of that region. I don't know how basketball team originated
@@paramtageja6891 The teams are all privately owned. The only American sports franchise in any of the major leagues (NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL) that's publicly owned is the Green Bay Packers in the NFL. Which is the only reason they haven't moved to a larger city. It's an insane scam on American taxpayers. th-cam.com/video/vLkyULxrWiE/w-d-xo.html
@@paramtageja6891 basketball has this issue because a bunch of rich white guys started their own private league to play and when others wanted to join they had to pay these people ridiculous amounts of money just to join the league, hell even when the nba merged with the aba these greedy mfkers made the aba owners pay in so much money for such a long time, it made the ex aba franchises terrible for a long ass time. Since it’s conception it’s been a business rather then a sport to the people who started it, that’s the real issue.
Here's a cliffs notes version of the biggest problem in KC. The Kansas City Comets indoor soccer team blew into KC in 1981 and with one of the most innovative marketing campaigns this side of the Savannah Bananas, they took the city by storm. They instantly began outdrawing the Kings by nearly double and their local tv ratings did the same. By 1983-84, the Kings, who had out and out refused to market the team feeling like they were owed a fanbase in spite of being one of the worst franchises in the NBA, and as a result lost the market share battle with the Comets and the MISL. Things got so bad that the 1984 NBA All Star Game was PRE-EMPTED by the MISL ASG. It was here where Kemper Arena pushed the Kings' games to tuesday and wednesday nights while the Comets got all the prime weekend spots. If the fanbase was walking away from the Kings before, they had antipathy for them now. By 1985, they had a handful of strongly attended games, but for the most part, the fans just wanted them and their ultimatums gone. The Comets would thrive until the MISL collapsed in the early 90s, but KC has never really missed the NBA all that much either.
@@mongoslade277 probably with the chiefs part everyone in the state loves the chiefs, nobody gives a fuck about the royals since we have the much better cardinals.
@@TerribleTake Royals won the World Series in 2015. Cardinals last won the Series in 2011 and 2006. And I still remember the I-70 Series from 1985. George Brett, Willie Wilson, Frank White, Bret Saberhagen, Dan Quisenberry. The Cards have always lived on their history of having Stan the Man Musial from the 1940s and 1950s.
Not one mention of the Kansas City Comets of the MISL taking the city by storm and usurping all of the prime dates at Kemper away from them. If the Kings had even BOTHERED to market the team in the wake of the Comets being so huge upon arrival, they'd still be in KC now.
I'm sure most newer fans have no idea that Kansas City used to have an NBA which is why in my opinion this didn't garner much controversy just like how with how Seattle lost their team.
Even those who do know just don’t have an emotional attachment, and Kansas City is perceived as a “boring” city so there’s just not a big movement to bring a team back to KC, might take 3-4 expansions for that to happen and it seems like the league is going to be way slower with their expansions
@@mattmmixes regardless, KC is chiefs town now for the next 8-9 years, probably wouldnt be too much interest in seeing a losing team trying to build from the ground up.
The Kansas City Kings were also as he said, mediocre to decent. One ok conference finals team in 81 but not a ton else. Little more than respectable. The Sonics on the other hand won a championship, and made the finals three times in addition to a number of other playoff appearances. They weren’t exactly considered the best, but played well enough that they are remembered fondly. As such it wouldn’t surprise me that more people would say they want an NBA team in Seattle.
As pointed out by someone else the team played in KC, Missouri, not Kansas. But also there is no NHL team in KC either although they did have one called the Scouts for a short time. As far as why the Royals left Cincinnati, from what I've read it had more to do with the 1968 entry of the Bengals football team in that market drawing revenue away from the NBA team rather than as the result of Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas departing.
Kansas City is probably the most deserving market that doesn't have an NBA team. Such a shame. It's a Midwest anchor market and probably the healthiest economy in the region (outside of perhaps the Twin Cities). Passionate, proud fans, they would rival Sacramento and Toronto in terms of pure devotion to their team, whatever the results.
Being a lifelong KC resident, this story is spot on, to add another piece to the story, which caused a sudden drop in attendance in the early 1980's was due to Tim Liewieke & and the new Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), KC has always had a strong soccer backing, and they as they would draw up to 16,000 for games in Kemper, while this "Ownership Game" was going on, so the people of the city were done with them... KC would embrace the NBA if it were to return, KU being 40 minutes away, and newer arena, but the NBA has its own set of problems these days.
@@gregb6469 The Browns moved to Baltimore, the Hawks moved to Atlanta, the Spirits disbanded after the ABA merged with the NBA, the Cardinals moved to Arizona and the Rams returned to Los Angeles.
I think the appetite for basketball is there. College ball is already crazy popular in these parts. It'd be great if another NBA came to Kansas City, but I never saw some other bigger markets are also jockeying for a franchise.
It is weird that Missouri hasn’t had an established nba team in decades, despite their being two mlb teams, an nfl team, an nhl team and One mls teams in the state. It’s odd that the nba never even considered a new team in either Kansas City or St. Louis
Probably because at that time the NBA was expanding into more untapped markets. Shortly after all of this Orlando, Miami, Minneapolis, Charlotte, Toronto and Vancouver all got expansion teams.
As I remember, one of the reasons the Kings moved was the floor at Kemper Arena, as I remember being THE WORST in the NBA, especially after the roof collapsed and forced the Kings to move most of their home games to the Municipal Coliseum. That floor got so bad it likely specifically caused a devastating knee injury to Bernard King of the Knicks near the end of the 1984-'85 season.
I believe you are referring to the Municipal Auditorium, which was also the Kings' home for their first two seasons in KC until Kemper Arena was completed.
Sucks that they lost their team but with the NBA talking about expansion and so much talent coming in the next couple of years they should definitely add a couple teams, Seattle, Vegas, Kansas city, maybe even Montreal cause they love basketball up there. They’d need to move teams from the west to the east tho so like grizzlies, t-wolves, rockets and stuff
I don't see any expansion after 32 teams, and Seattle and Las Vegas seem to have those two spots on lock. I could see KC taking Phoenix's team in 20-30 years though considering that city will never have enough water again to support its growth and you have to think their population will thus tank in the not too distant future. With Arizona being the runt of the litter for water rights from the Colorado River I don't see how Phoenix can possibly continue to exist as it is 30 years from now.
@@homerthompson416 There are actually quite a few existing franchises that could do better if they were relocated. NBA currently has too many bad/small markets on its hands.
As a Sacramento Kings fan, I’m happy the Kings are here in the 916. However, I wish Missouri gets NBA teams again-especially St. Louis, as many NBA players come from that city (Jayson Tatum, Bradley Beal, etc.)
Had that bill pass i think alot of teams until this day wouldnt have relocated as much like Andy said when teams relocate the city’s local economy really does get effected big time
If we’re being honest, the NBA needs teams in Kansas City, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Seattle, Vancouver, San Diego, Tampa, Louisville, Austin, and Baltimore.
San Diego had the Clippers at 1 point don't why that prejudice punk Sterling sold to LA to compete with the Lakers.Maybe San Diego might need to take it back as well as KC bringing back the Kings.
Did the K.C. Kings have a center named "Sam Lacey?"I am from Indianola, Ms and i think he did.I am 64 now and was wondering.He was from Indianola along with the late B.B.King.
The Gregg Lukenbill investment group wasn't the only NBA franchise owners to exploit an expiring lease. Abe Pollin did the same thing when he moved the Baltimore Bullets to Washington DC. The NBA has a nasty reputation for using and abusing quality markets like Cincinnati, Kansas City, San Diego, Buffalo, Vancouver, Seattle and Baltimore.
You mention “Kansas” multiple times, but the Kings always played on the KC Missouri side as far as I remember. Not a big deal to outsiders, but you need to be specific for KC folks. Municipal Auditorium and Kemper Area are both in KCMO. 😊
Hey man good video but at 8:05 & 8:12 you refer to the Kings as a team in Kansas, this is incorrect as the Kansas City Kings only ever played in Missouri in KC Municipal Auditorium and Kemper Arena both of which were located in KCMO not KC, kansas
You forgot to mention how the Kansas City Comets indoor soccer team was insanely popular during the final years of the kings. The comets popularity is said to be one of the big reasons why the Kings left for Sacramento.
The answer is so obvious...1. the split between KC/Omaha 2. A team called the KU Chickenhawks and Kansas State Wildcat schools far more established and notable
The sad thing is that for nba to ever look at KC’s way again, it probably wouldn’t be through expansion but rather through relocating another team to it. Kansas City built a state of the art arena in the heart of downtown back in the late 2000’s in hopes to lure a new nba or nhl team to the city and it hasn’t worked out for them till this day.
Born and raised in Johnson County Kansas with family connections to the mayor of Leawood and JE Dunn as well as the illigs (owners of the soccer team) and the super elites of Kansas city will never say it, but they let the NBA team go and pushed the narrative of "we have a pro team, it's KU basketball, no need for an NBA team" because they didn't want minorities (namely blacks) in the area with vast sums of money years down the road.... Kansas city STILL to THIS DAY doesn't have a super elite African American family, I guess the 1 percenters really can control their entire bubble for a generation...
Don't forget the Cotton Fitzsimmons curse. He coached the Buffalo Braves, they moved shortly after. Then the Kings, they moved. He was coaching the Spurs in 1988, when it looked like they were gonna move. David Robinson of course saved the franchise.
I'm not a fan of team relocations at all. As someone who watches football ⚽ the fans are the ones who represent the team and the owners cannot just change the location of the team as they like. A team represents that particular. Manchester United's owners cannot just decide to move to Wembley area in London and become Wembley United. It's crazy to me that people can just lose their team they support and use your hard earned money for
As a guy who worked in the front office. Yup that is exactly how it went down. Kings marketing would have blinders on and wondered why nobody was showing up.
Memphis already has a team. Cincinnati needs a new arena as does Baltimore. Columbus has an NBA-ready building as does most of the cities you mentioned.
One interesting fact is that Kevin Harlan, the now famous national sports broadcaster got his start calling KC Kings games. I remember those days so well. I went to a lot of games and was very sad to see them go. I remember going to a game in their last season when a rookie named Michael Jordan took to the court. Be sure to say Missouri or Missouri/Kansas and not Kansas. The Kings actually played at Kemper Arena in KCMO. I remember going with my dad when I was young and stopping in the Golden Ox. It seemed like the only restaurant around at the time.
This debacle reminds me of the Movie "Major League" where the Owner wants poor performance to have low attendance so she can move the franchise. The players and city rallied and get into the playoffs and break attendance records. In Major League Cleveland Wins sad IRL Kansas City lost. I was too young to remember this happening. I didn't pay close attention to sports until 1987 when I was 10 years old. I do remember the NFL Cardinals moving from St. Louis to Arizona in 1988 and of course the Supersonics moving to OKC. Which was bizarre because the franchise moved to a much smaller city. I looked at the Sonics like the Bucks sister Franchise since we both came into the NBA around the same time '68 &'69 and we both wore same colors both had George Karl as coach and both had Gary Payton and Ray Allen. Hopefully Seattle can bring back the Sonics soon.
The Rachel Phelps character in Major League was a play on Georgia Frontiere. She was also a vegas showgirl that owned the LA Rams after her husband Carroll Rosenbloom "drowned". 1st thing she did was move the Rams from LA to Anaheim. Then purposely made the team bad to get a domed stadium in St Louis
Andy Hoops kept saying the Kings were in Kansas. Kemper Arena was in Missouri, the Kings were in Missouri. The CBS graphics for the Knicks vs. Kings game even said Kansas City, Missouri.
The Scouts were terrible. It turned out Kansas City is a pretty decent town for minor-league hockey, so it makes me think if a better NHL team had been there it would have been successful.
It all comes down to being able to sell the suites, the high dollar club / floor seats, and a great tv package to sell advertising. The rest is just window dressing for the common people. A pro sports team that is competitive is always popular and will have a good following. It is harder for smaller markets to have many pro sports teams. That is why teams like the Kings, the Jazz, the Super Sonics, etc… have moved. With the increase in population, cities like Sacramento, Memphis, Orlando, Salt Lake City have the ability to support a team. Cities like Denver, Indianapolis, Nashville, Charlotte, and Las Vegas have really grown economically and can support multiple teams. Don’t ever think that these sports teams actually add to the economy though. They are only entertainment and only generate some lower wage jobs to help a few people get by, but the city investment into landing the teams is huge and not really a two-way economic deal. The leagues are monopolies and all economics benefits the leagues and franchises first and foremost. These sports teams are pieces of jewelry that cities metaphorically wear.
With expansion teams definitely coming this decade (I believe the commish said basic talks will begin next year) the top two spots I can see are vegas and kc....with seattle being a dark horse lol
At least they went to Sacramento which actually has pretty great sports fans, and since they’re the only team they get all the attention. Would have been sad if they moved to SF or Oakland where everyone only buys tickets if the team is a championship contender.
Interesting video with a few errors and omissions. I guess you could say I was a beneficiary of the move to Sacramento. I was a huge Kings fan from 1985 until they fired Coach Rick Adleman and then almost moved the Kings from Sacramento to Anaheim or Seattle (you should do another video on this almost move). The underlying issue was that the then Kings owners tired of their plaything and invested their money and energy in building and operating a new hotel/casino, the Palms, in Las Vegas, instead of the Kings. I was always under the impression that they were moved for lack of support by the city and fans until it almost happened to us. Joe Axleson was a horrible GM in Sacramento too epitomized by Trade for Derek Smith, trading away Otis Thorpe, hiring of Bill Russell and Dick Motta as head coaches. So many 25 win seasons.
The Kings threw the entire city of Kansas City under the bus, and in return have been the most irrelevant franchise in sports for the last 70 years. 0 finals APPEARANCES since 1951, and those owners got to see them struggle tremendously in Sacramento, with constant relocation rumors for decades. They reaped what they sowed
It's stories like this that would come up every time Louisville would flirt with having an NBA team by those opposed to bringing one here. There are still people who remember the ABA and how the Kentucky Colonels could have entered the merge along with the other teams and they have been involved with various groups over the years trying to get either an expansion team or a team to move here. David Stern had often mentioned Louisville when candidates for expansion would come up. I believe Adam Silver has also mentioned the city but how much of that is lip service and how much is actual consideration is hard to say. The most recent group was headed up by former Colonels star Dan Issel but it seems he has since given up on that effort.
I don't think Kansas City (Missouri or Kansas) will ever get another NBA team. Kansas City is pretty much a college basketball type of town (especially with the University of Kansas and its most-recent March Madness championship in 2022). In fact, Kansas won the March Madness tournament in 1988, only three years after the Kings relocated to Sacramento.
I disagree when it comes to hockey being well supported in KC because KC did have an NHL team in the Scouts from 1974-76. However unlike the Kings, the Scouts were absolutely terrible never winning more than 15 games during their 2 seasons there. Attendance quickly dropped off within weeks of the team's opening game in 1974 & no one really missed them when they relocated in 1976. The Scouts would eventually become the New Jersey Devils in 1982 after an even worse 6 year run in Denver as the Rockies & would win Stanley Cups in 1995 & 2003.
Great video Andy, but as a former Kansas City resident. I just want to clarify that the team was located in Kansas City, Missouri not Kansas City, Kansas.
KCMO residents cringe when they hear that K word.
I don’t believe the Kings ever drew many fans while they were in Kansas City, let alone were they ever one of the leaders in NBA attendance.
Yeah, I cringed everytime he said Kansas.
@@bokrusher exactly 😂
I was just about to say that
Real unfortunate how that ended up happening. Interesting to learn about the Kings history before Sacramento.
🙏🏾🤔WHAT?🏀💯
😊😅😊😅8😅😊😅i😊o😅8
Interesting how sacramento almost lost the team a few times
Honestly I really thought they’d move to San Diego or Seattle but now it seems like they’re going to be in Sacramento for a long time.
@@mattmmixesKings were set to move to Anaheim, not San Diego.
@@JahNuhThunDeeTheOneAndOnlySan Diego has too many old republican white people to ever have a basketball team
@@jumpy2xstreaming I mean OKC has a team
@@jumpy2xstreaming lol race and politics brought up out of no where
The Royals actually began their existence in ROCHESTER, way back in the early days of the NBA. They even won an NBA title in 1951. Your videos are typically very good, but this was overlooked.
S
I was scrolling down to see if anyone else picked up on this.
They started in 1923 as the Rochester Seagrams
@@dannychamberlain6244and after they left Rochester, they were the Cincinnati Royals (1957- 1972). I was almost 6 years old when the Cincinnati Royals left to go to Kansas City and change the name to Kings.
Their major debut was in the NBL in 1945.
As a resident of Middle Tennessee, I know I was happy for the City of Memphis when the Ownership of the Grizzlies decided to move from Vancouver to over in West Tennessee. I was happy for them to finally get a professional sports team after many years of trying. It is great that both Memphis and Nashville have their pro sports teams.
Thank you for telling the story of the Kansas city kings. I've literally heard so many people disrespect the kings for having a complicated history and I wish more people acknowledged the Kansas City chapter of the team.
literally?
I’m born and raised in KC and man as much as I’ve appreciated our World Series win a few years back and the Mahomes era of the Chiefs, it really sucks not having an NBA team. At least we have KU basketball only 40 minutes away
Almost better y’all just have those two professional teams
@@buzzcitymob6230 I would trade away the royals and chiefs for an nba team every single day of the week
Fuk the NBA. That league is trash
@@buzzcitymob6230yeah if they had these Kings teams they’d probably wish they moved lmao
I grew up in St. Louis and got Kings broadcasts when Nate Archibald played for them. Almost no one got to watch the man play in his prime. What a shame he was amazing in his prime. I feel fortunate that l got to see him at his best.
This reminds me so much of when Kroneke bought the Rams and kept telling the city that he wouldn't move them while he was planning what became SoFi behind everyone's backs.
And a little note about the Kings: it was because of the move that the Chiefs would hire a young play-by-play man for their radio broadcasts who decided not to join the Kings in the move, even though the Kings had planned to renew his contract. That man was Kevin Harlan.
Wow. That's very cool and fascinating about the Kevin Harlan one.
And once Kevin Harlan left the Chiefs in 1994, he was replaced by the beloved Mitch Holthus who is still the Voice of the Chiefs today
@@ChiefBlue4298 Hmm very interesting and fascinating.
Just like the grifters who bought the Sonics all the time denying their goal to move them to Oklahoma. St. Stern doesn't come across in those episodes.
The Rams move actually made so much sense though considering LA is the biggest sports market and didn’t have a single team at the time. The Chargers moving afterwards is actually the one that doesn’t make sense.
KC should absolutely have an NBA team though. Just look at the passion for KU and K State basketball!
Its time for the NBA to come back to KC. I would be a season ticket holder. The real problem was that the team never put a winner in front of the fans at all.
Greedy owners too
916 born, lifelong Sac Kings fan here. I'm sorry KC lost their team but I appreciate it 💜
👑💜🖤🤍
Without success in Sacramento, the Rochester - Cincinnati Royals / Kansas City (and Omaha) / Sacramento Kings will soon be relocating to be the new NBA franchise for Las Vegas Nevada!
@@rkleedhamthey are very successful in Sacramento and have a very long lease
@@silvercrystal13 Just like in Rochester NY, Cincinnati OH, Kansas City MO and now Sacramento CA have all provided excellent civic and fan support, but the current owners, The Maloof family own the Las Vegas NHL and WNBA teams. The Oakland A's and the Kings will be the next to relocate to Las Vegas. The A's will move as soon as next MLB season. The Kings who have tried previously to relocate to Anaheim, Virginia Beach and Seattle will be playing in Viva Las Vegas as soon as the arena contract expires. Success as far as NBA Championships happened in 1951 ~ Rochester Royals!
@@rkleedham the Maloofs haven't owned the Kings for nearly 10 years
Totally remembering the Sonics while watching this and to know that this story has played out this way before. In fact, the act of attracting fandom and loyalty in the first place is already a racket in itself. There has been some noise about Seattle or Las Vegas getting an expansion team soon. Hope the fan base is wiser and see these maneuvers coming this time around.
I went to Kansas City's last game in Detroit at the Silverdome. Met a few fans from KC who were determined to go to every single game that season, which would be their last chance.
If ever plans for expansion, after watching this video, I think Kansas City and Seattle deserves to have a NBA team again just like the other places before. Vancouver, also if its possible and just add Las Vegas to even the number of new teams.
It’s very possible the NBA leaves New Orleans again soon too and Seattle, Las Vegas, Kansas City, or Louisville inherits them.
Living here in Kansas City as a Detroit transplant i can tell you that tbis growing metro area can absolutely support an NBA team.
we even built an arena for a team tbat never came.
I used to cheer for the Thunder yet it never felt right.
@@phillipcummings3518 it’s odd because sometimes nuggets games are blacked out and we are much closer to OKC. Also closer to Minnesota, Memphis and even Chicago.
This is why the NBA planned 2 team expansion should happen in Seattle and Kansas, they were robbed of their local teams way too unfairly
that could interesting..
Really hope KC can get the second expansion team instead of Las Vegas, but seems like the NBA really wants to be in Vegas and they're practically promising Seattle a team.
Vegas is gonna have all 4 major teams
If the NBA brings back the Sonics (and it should; Seattle should never have lost its team), then it would have to balance by putting a team in the east. Nashville, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Buffalo would be the most obvious cities to consider.
@@gregb6469 They'll add Seattle and Vegas, then move an existing team from West to East.
I passed by the t-mobile center in downtown kansas city, mo a few days ago; what a beautiful & shiny nba ready arena. And yes, the old kemper arena, now hyvee arena, is still open & in use.
the State of Kentucky needs to be represented in the Association, that State has a history of the ABA, and its in-state college rivalries are well known across the country.
Pretty sad the Colonels didn't make the merge. I'd have much rather them than the Nets after they sold off Julius.
@@homerthompson416That team sold out Freedom Hall in Louisville every night. Definitely should've made the merger. Not sure about that owner though. The one that stole KFC from Colonel Sanders
Louisville would be a great spot for a team-NBA-ready arena with no team around for hundreds of miles.
Bring back the Colonels!
I always wondered why the Kentucky Colonels didn’t make the transition to the NBA. They had a good solid team.
Also, what a weird timeline. If KC never relocated, there would be no Maloof family ownership; no Palms hotel in Vegas, no CWebb or White Chocolate, and thus no great LAL/Kings rivalry of the early 2000s 😮
Lakers probably develop a rivalry with the Suns instead
Chain reactions in sports are fascinating
@@MazeDaGr8 Shoot, the Spurs run would have been overturned by losing one game in Houston in 1999 when Pop was about to get fired, with Doc Rivers waiting in the wings to take the job. No way they would have kept Duncan in 2000 without Pop and without that 99 title and with Duncan in Orlando or Chicago no way they would have gotten the AT&T Center built, and would have ended up in either New Orleans or Anaheim. Another interesting chain reaction was winning the draft lottery in 87 for David Robinson. Until then the team looked like it was headed to Nashville after attendance tanked once Gervin got traded to Chicago.
The greatest robbery in the history of sports does not occur in 2002.
@johnharris5566. Brutal calls went both ways in that game, but only those hurting the Kings get remembered. If the Kings were the better team, they would have found a way. Two decades later Sacramento is still crying in it's cowbell. Some cities are not allowed to have nice things.
Look on the bright side. Gavin Nuisance is your governor.
Nearly every new owners said something similar about they just want to improve the team and they are not moving when they first purchased the team. Not only the Kings, but almost check out the Seattle Supersonics and the Vancouver Grizzlies
And now A-Rod's group with the T-Wolves... I can't help but have a feeling Seattle won't be needing an expansion team when expansion finally does happen.
@@wolfgangfegelein2450 wow! It would be so devastating to all Minnesota sports fans for losing not one but TWO NBA teams.
The San Diego Clippers to LA. David Stern the commissioner of the NBA then allowed all those illegal moves
The team was a founding team in the NBA (1948), then known as the Rochester Royals (upstate NY). They moved to Cincinnati in 1957. They won the franchise's only NBA title in 1951 as the Rochester Royals.
Cant wait for the expansion!! I get my Sonics back !!!!!!
Seattle SuperSonics and Las Vegas Outlaws nation!
I was a young Portland Trailblazer fan who has many fond memories of seeing the great Nate Archibald and the Kansas City-Omaha Kings come to town to play in Memorial Coliseum in the 70's. He was always pure magic on the court.
Dude, Google SI Cover Nate Archibald, 1973. See who he is putting hurt on. Classic.
I remember that SI cover very well. That is Rick Adelman taking the elbow to the head. @@brianbiechele1958
This is why you dont trust investors in a different state.. they say they have no plans in moving the team but they end up doing it anyway. Same thing happened to Seattle
Something that got lost in the documentary was that the K.C. Kings actually had some very good players: Phil Ford, Otis Birdsong, Scott Wedman, Reggie Theus, and a good coach in Cotton Fitzsimmons. We did make the playoffs, but the Lakers were in the midst of their dynasty and just swept us.
My father took me to games in the early years. Municipal Auditorium. Site of more Final Four's than anywhere. Coach was some guy named??? Bob Cousy.
Moses Malone and Houston Rockets.
As a Spurs fan this hits close since I remember when San Antonio was in the same situation. After trading Ice the Spurs attendance tanked the same way the Kings did after trading Archibald, and the only thing that saved the Spurs from moving to Nashville was winning the lottery to draft David Robinson. Otherwise our team would have been gone too.
How does these work. As someone who watches ⚽ football I've never seen these relocations outside USA. Like people can just lose the team they support it seems to be a crazy idea to me
@@paramtageja6891 Basically if local taxpayers don't gift the team a new stadium the team leaves to a city that will. Only the largest cities in the US, eg Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York, can tell teams to piss off and pay for their own stadium. Giving handouts to billionaires is a national religion in the US. As is telling the working class to go screw themselves on healthcare, transportation, education, etc.
@@homerthompson416 honestly this is crazy to me. The team which you have supported with passion can just leave you based on who owns the team. In football ⚽ the team represents the whole region it's based in. But I think the main difference is that American sports teams are franchise whereas most football teams were started by the people of that region. I don't know how basketball team originated
@@paramtageja6891 The teams are all privately owned. The only American sports franchise in any of the major leagues (NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL) that's publicly owned is the Green Bay Packers in the NFL. Which is the only reason they haven't moved to a larger city. It's an insane scam on American taxpayers.
th-cam.com/video/vLkyULxrWiE/w-d-xo.html
@@paramtageja6891 basketball has this issue because a bunch of rich white guys started their own private league to play and when others wanted to join they had to pay these people ridiculous amounts of money just to join the league, hell even when the nba merged with the aba these greedy mfkers made the aba owners pay in so much money for such a long time, it made the ex aba franchises terrible for a long ass time. Since it’s conception it’s been a business rather then a sport to the people who started it, that’s the real issue.
Here's a cliffs notes version of the biggest problem in KC.
The Kansas City Comets indoor soccer team blew into KC in 1981 and with one of the most innovative marketing campaigns this side of the Savannah Bananas, they took the city by storm. They instantly began outdrawing the Kings by nearly double and their local tv ratings did the same. By 1983-84, the Kings, who had out and out refused to market the team feeling like they were owed a fanbase in spite of being one of the worst franchises in the NBA, and as a result lost the market share battle with the Comets and the MISL. Things got so bad that the 1984 NBA All Star Game was PRE-EMPTED by the MISL ASG. It was here where Kemper Arena pushed the Kings' games to tuesday and wednesday nights while the Comets got all the prime weekend spots. If the fanbase was walking away from the Kings before, they had antipathy for them now. By 1985, they had a handful of strongly attended games, but for the most part, the fans just wanted them and their ultimatums gone. The Comets would thrive until the MISL collapsed in the early 90s, but KC has never really missed the NBA all that much either.
Hopefully if Futsal League coming out?
Kc has definitely missed the nba Missouri as a whole is dying for an nba team bruh, I’d trade away the royals and chiefs any day for an nba team lmao
@@TerribleTakeYou're by yourself dude
@@mongoslade277 probably with the chiefs part everyone in the state loves the chiefs, nobody gives a fuck about the royals since we have the much better cardinals.
@@TerribleTake Royals won the World Series in 2015. Cardinals last won the Series in 2011 and 2006. And I still remember the I-70 Series from 1985. George Brett, Willie Wilson, Frank White, Bret Saberhagen, Dan Quisenberry. The Cards have always lived on their history of having Stan the Man Musial from the 1940s and 1950s.
Thanks Andy. I found you today and I appreciate your post ! I will check out your other posts
Not one mention of the Kansas City Comets of the MISL taking the city by storm and usurping all of the prime dates at Kemper away from them. If the Kings had even BOTHERED to market the team in the wake of the Comets being so huge upon arrival, they'd still be in KC now.
This would have been a crucial point of the team's struggles in Kansas City.
I'm sure most newer fans have no idea that Kansas City used to have an NBA which is why in my opinion this didn't garner much controversy just like how with how Seattle lost their team.
Even those who do know just don’t have an emotional attachment, and Kansas City is perceived as a “boring” city so there’s just not a big movement to bring a team back to KC, might take 3-4 expansions for that to happen and it seems like the league is going to be way slower with their expansions
@@mattmmixesyes it is.
@@mattmmixes regardless, KC is chiefs town now for the next 8-9 years, probably wouldnt be too much interest in seeing a losing team trying to build from the ground up.
The Kansas City Kings were also as he said, mediocre to decent. One ok conference finals team in 81 but not a ton else.
Little more than respectable.
The Sonics on the other hand won a championship, and made the finals three times in addition to a number of other playoff appearances. They weren’t exactly considered the best, but played well enough that they are remembered fondly.
As such it wouldn’t surprise me that more people would say they want an NBA team in Seattle.
Same with STL
Kansas City native here, havent seen a second of this video but i know it'll make me cry
Just a small correction, the team was in KC, Missouri not KC, Kansas. Probably what you had in mind.
Lol genuinely think this dude doesn’t know KC is in Missouri. bUt tHeReS a kC kAnSaS… stfu Kansas’s people
Wasn’t the kemper arena so close to the state line though?
@@wilderac2250 Yes, but it was still in Missouri.
KCMO
@wilderac2250 No. Kemper Arena was located in downtown KC. No where near the border.
As pointed out by someone else the team played in KC, Missouri, not Kansas. But also there is no NHL team in KC either although they did have one called the Scouts for a short time. As far as why the Royals left Cincinnati, from what I've read it had more to do with the 1968 entry of the Bengals football team in that market drawing revenue away from the NBA team rather than as the result of Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas departing.
Kansas City is probably the most deserving market that doesn't have an NBA team. Such a shame. It's a Midwest anchor market and probably the healthiest economy in the region (outside of perhaps the Twin Cities). Passionate, proud fans, they would rival Sacramento and Toronto in terms of pure devotion to their team, whatever the results.
Being a lifelong KC resident, this story is spot on, to add another piece to the story, which caused a sudden drop in attendance in the early 1980's was due to Tim Liewieke & and the new Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), KC has always had a strong soccer backing, and they as they would draw up to 16,000 for games in Kemper, while this "Ownership Game" was going on, so the people of the city were done with them... KC would embrace the NBA if it were to return, KU being 40 minutes away, and newer arena, but the NBA has its own set of problems these days.
Thanks for this video Andy ! As a kid I always wondered what happened to that team in Kansas City 👍🏾🔥
Missouri really deserves a team we had our nba and aba teams taken away from us and they took our STL rams 😭
St Louis has lost an MLB team, an NBA team, an ABA team, and two NFL teams.
They almost lost the St. Louis Blues to Saskatoon in 1983.
@@gregb6469 The Browns moved to Baltimore, the Hawks moved to Atlanta, the Spirits disbanded after the ABA merged with the NBA, the
Cardinals moved to Arizona and the Rams returned to Los Angeles.
gregb6469
St. Louis also lost a baseball team, the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Orioles.
I think the appetite for basketball is there. College ball is already crazy popular in these parts. It'd be great if another NBA came to Kansas City, but I never saw some other bigger markets are also jockeying for a franchise.
It is weird that Missouri hasn’t had an established nba team in decades, despite their being two mlb teams, an nfl team, an nhl team and One mls teams in the state. It’s odd that the nba never even considered a new team in either Kansas City or St. Louis
Probably because at that time the NBA was expanding into more untapped markets. Shortly after all of this Orlando, Miami, Minneapolis, Charlotte, Toronto and Vancouver all got expansion teams.
Yeah Missouri is a huge untapped market for the NBA. And you've got two great stadiums (Enterprise Center and T Mobile Center) that could host a team
Missouri the state where pro teams leave. KC Scouts, KC Kings. STL Cardinals STL Rams
@@Lawomenshoops and the St Louis Hawks
The grizzlies almost moved to st Louis but the nba rejected tnat
As a Vancouver fan, I feel this
Kemper Arena was located so close to the state line that one of its parking lots was in Kansas.
As I remember, one of the reasons the Kings moved was the floor at Kemper Arena, as I remember being THE WORST in the NBA, especially after the roof collapsed and forced the Kings to move most of their home games to the Municipal Coliseum. That floor got so bad it likely specifically caused a devastating knee injury to Bernard King of the Knicks near the end of the 1984-'85 season.
I believe you are referring to the Municipal Auditorium, which was also the Kings' home for their first two seasons in KC until Kemper Arena was completed.
Sucks that they lost their team but with the NBA talking about expansion and so much talent coming in the next couple of years they should definitely add a couple teams, Seattle, Vegas, Kansas city, maybe even Montreal cause they love basketball up there. They’d need to move teams from the west to the east tho so like grizzlies, t-wolves, rockets and stuff
@lightestlightskinhunndo Or even Tampa Bay
I don't see any expansion after 32 teams, and Seattle and Las Vegas seem to have those two spots on lock. I could see KC taking Phoenix's team in 20-30 years though considering that city will never have enough water again to support its growth and you have to think their population will thus tank in the not too distant future. With Arizona being the runt of the litter for water rights from the Colorado River I don't see how Phoenix can possibly continue to exist as it is 30 years from now.
@@homerthompson416 There are actually quite a few existing franchises that could do better if they were relocated. NBA currently has too many bad/small markets on its hands.
@@JamiesonPercadtrue new Orleans should move
What about the Buffalo Braves, the Syracuse Nats and Philadelphia Warriors?
As a Sacramento Kings fan, I’m happy the Kings are here in the 916.
However, I wish Missouri gets NBA teams again-especially St. Louis, as many NBA players come from that city (Jayson Tatum, Bradley Beal, etc.)
Had that bill pass i think alot of teams until this day wouldnt have relocated as much like Andy said when teams relocate the city’s local economy really does get effected big time
Man, King has never lack of rumors to move away from Sacramento as well.
Man, That bill would be "What could had" moment.
You're right. They started in Rochester, NY. Next to Cincinnati (Royals), Kansas City/Omaha (Kings). Then finally to Sacramento, CA ((Kings)
If Las Vegas doesn't get an nba team, hopefully Kansas City gets a team so that way the Timberwolves stay in the western conference.
If we’re being honest, the NBA needs teams in Kansas City, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Seattle, Vancouver, San Diego, Tampa, Louisville, Austin, and Baltimore.
Mexico City and Mexico City.
@@sirbedevere4944Elevation too high!
NBA needs to add 4 new teams instead of two. So much talent out there and great markets/fan bases.
Montreal might be more successful than Vancouver
San Diego had the Clippers at 1 point don't why that prejudice punk Sterling sold to LA to compete with the Lakers.Maybe San Diego might need to take it back as well as KC bringing back the Kings.
Did the K.C. Kings have a center named "Sam Lacey?"I am from Indianola, Ms and i think he did.I am 64 now and was wondering.He was from Indianola along with the late B.B.King.
This franchise has relocated 4 times in its history, that is more than anyone else
More accurately it has relocated 3 times, calling 4 cites home (Rochester, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Sacramento)
The Gregg Lukenbill investment group wasn't the only NBA franchise owners to exploit an expiring lease. Abe Pollin did the same thing when he moved the Baltimore Bullets to Washington DC. The NBA has a nasty reputation for using and abusing quality markets like Cincinnati, Kansas City, San Diego, Buffalo, Vancouver, Seattle and Baltimore.
St. Louis as well.
You mention “Kansas” multiple times, but the Kings always played on the KC Missouri side as far as I remember. Not a big deal to outsiders, but you need to be specific for KC folks. Municipal Auditorium and Kemper Area are both in KCMO. 😊
Hey man good video but at 8:05 & 8:12 you refer to the Kings as a team in Kansas, this is incorrect as the Kansas City Kings only ever played in Missouri in KC Municipal Auditorium and Kemper Arena both of which were located in KCMO not KC, kansas
You forgot to mention how the Kansas City Comets indoor soccer team was insanely popular during the final years of the kings. The comets popularity is said to be one of the big reasons why the Kings left for Sacramento.
2:26: RIP Owen Hart 😢
The answer is so obvious...1. the split between KC/Omaha 2. A team called the KU Chickenhawks and Kansas State Wildcat schools far more established and notable
The sad thing is that for nba to ever look at KC’s way again, it probably wouldn’t be through expansion but rather through relocating another team to it. Kansas City built a state of the art arena in the heart of downtown back in the late 2000’s in hopes to lure a new nba or nhl team to the city and it hasn’t worked out for them till this day.
The Sprint Center. Probably called the T-Mobile Center now
@@mongoslade277 it’ is called that now
Born and raised in Johnson County Kansas with family connections to the mayor of Leawood and JE Dunn as well as the illigs (owners of the soccer team) and the super elites of Kansas city will never say it, but they let the NBA team go and pushed the narrative of "we have a pro team, it's KU basketball, no need for an NBA team" because they didn't want minorities (namely blacks) in the area with vast sums of money years down the road....
Kansas city STILL to THIS DAY doesn't have a super elite African American family, I guess the 1 percenters really can control their entire bubble for a generation...
This man summed up KC in one paragraph I use to live there and he's not lying 😢
As a Kansas City, MO native, they played on the Missouri side not Kansas.
Great video Andy!! Thanks!!
Don't forget the Cotton Fitzsimmons curse. He coached the Buffalo Braves, they moved shortly after.
Then the Kings, they moved.
He was coaching the Spurs in 1988, when it looked like they were gonna move. David Robinson of course saved the franchise.
I'm not a fan of team relocations at all. As someone who watches football ⚽ the fans are the ones who represent the team and the owners cannot just change the location of the team as they like. A team represents that particular. Manchester United's owners cannot just decide to move to Wembley area in London and become Wembley United. It's crazy to me that people can just lose their team they support and use your hard earned money for
Great video coverage Andy
Man basketball on the profesional level needs to come back to the Midwest!!
Wolves. Bucks. Bulls. Pacers. Pistons.
@@sirbedevere4944no like the mid mid west from like iowa to arkansas
@@sirbedevere4944Cavs also qualify as a Midwest state
I was 9 years old when they left. I never went to a game but I remember one of their Jingles. Feel it Kings, Feel it Kings common Kansas City Kings.
2 expansion team in the NBA in future, Sonics ? Vegas ? Kansas ? Mexico ?
Then the Sacramento kings got the maloof family and nearly lost their team twice
As a guy who worked in the front office. Yup that is exactly how it went down. Kings marketing would have blinders on and wondered why nobody was showing up.
Seattle, Los Vegas ,Vancouver, Nashville, Memphis, Baltimore, St louis,Kanas City , Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Montreal n Virginia.
Memphis already has a team. Cincinnati needs a new arena as does Baltimore. Columbus has an NBA-ready building as does most of the cities you mentioned.
One interesting fact is that Kevin Harlan, the now famous national sports broadcaster got his start calling KC Kings games. I remember those days so well. I went to a lot of games and was very sad to see them go. I remember going to a game in their last season when a rookie named Michael Jordan took to the court. Be sure to say Missouri or Missouri/Kansas and not Kansas. The Kings actually played at Kemper Arena in KCMO. I remember going with my dad when I was young and stopping in the Golden Ox. It seemed like the only restaurant around at the time.
Only way I knew Kansas had a team was their jersey inclusion in the NBA 2K games
Who's going to tell him they played in Missouri and not Kansas?
I'm glad, I remember going to a few games as a kid. It was sad when they left...
As a kings fan I'm glad it happened as sad as it is for a city to lose their team.
Can you do one about the Kentucky Generals?? They Kentucky should have their NBA team back too..
KENTUCKTY Colonels... Gilmore, Dampier, Issel
This debacle reminds me of the Movie "Major League" where the Owner wants poor performance to have low attendance so she can move the franchise. The players and city rallied and get into the playoffs and break attendance records. In Major League Cleveland Wins sad IRL Kansas City lost. I was too young to remember this happening. I didn't pay close attention to sports until 1987 when I was 10 years old. I do remember the NFL Cardinals moving from St. Louis to Arizona in 1988 and of course the Supersonics moving to OKC. Which was bizarre because the franchise moved to a much smaller city. I looked at the Sonics like the Bucks sister Franchise since we both came into the NBA around the same time '68 &'69 and we both wore same colors both had George Karl as coach and both had Gary Payton and Ray Allen. Hopefully Seattle can bring back the Sonics soon.
The Rachel Phelps character in Major League was a play on Georgia Frontiere. She was also a vegas showgirl that owned the LA Rams after her husband Carroll Rosenbloom "drowned". 1st thing she did was move the Rams from LA to Anaheim. Then purposely made the team bad to get a domed stadium in St Louis
This story is about the same one as Drunky Bob Irsay moving the Baltimore Colts. Loyal fans be damned, money is more important.
The NBA was a league on shaky ground for a long time. It was David Stern and Magic/Bird that put the league on stable footing.
Andy Hoops kept saying the Kings were in Kansas. Kemper Arena was in Missouri, the Kings were in Missouri. The CBS graphics for the Knicks vs. Kings game even said Kansas City, Missouri.
This is similar to S(a)tan Kroenke's move to bring back the Rams to LA from STL.
Rams should have never moved to St. Louis to begin with. Kroenke just fixed things.
This is exactly what happened to the Sonics😔
How Sacramento and Detroit REALLY Lost Their WNBA Teams at the end of the 2009 Season.
@3:09 Ooh the stinkin parallels. Not lost on any of us from Seattle, either.
Well they lost "Kings" in NBA but also there NHL team the "K.C Scouts" !
Just so odd when there is a great sports market.
The Scouts were terrible. It turned out Kansas City is a pretty decent town for minor-league hockey, so it makes me think if a better NHL team had been there it would have been successful.
@@scottnuzum3370 Agree!
Do how Philadelphia lost the warriors
It all comes down to being able to sell the suites, the high dollar club / floor seats, and a great tv package to sell advertising. The rest is just window dressing for the common people. A pro sports team that is competitive is always popular and will have a good following. It is harder for smaller markets to have many pro sports teams. That is why teams like the Kings, the Jazz, the Super Sonics, etc… have moved. With the increase in population, cities like Sacramento, Memphis, Orlando, Salt Lake City have the ability to support a team. Cities like Denver, Indianapolis, Nashville, Charlotte, and Las Vegas have really grown economically and can support multiple teams. Don’t ever think that these sports teams actually add to the economy though. They are only entertainment and only generate some lower wage jobs to help a few people get by, but the city investment into landing the teams is huge and not really a two-way economic deal. The leagues are monopolies and all economics benefits the leagues and franchises first and foremost. These sports teams are pieces of jewelry that cities metaphorically wear.
Can’t wait to get a team back in KC 💯💯
Don’t hold your breath…
With expansion teams definitely coming this decade (I believe the commish said basic talks will begin next year) the top two spots I can see are vegas and kc....with seattle being a dark horse lol
At least they went to Sacramento which actually has pretty great sports fans, and since they’re the only team they get all the attention.
Would have been sad if they moved to SF or Oakland where everyone only buys tickets if the team is a championship contender.
Interesting video with a few errors and omissions. I guess you could say I was a beneficiary of the move to Sacramento. I was a huge Kings fan from 1985 until they fired Coach Rick Adleman and then almost moved the Kings from Sacramento to Anaheim or Seattle (you should do another video on this almost move). The underlying issue was that the then Kings owners tired of their plaything and invested their money and energy in building and operating a new hotel/casino, the Palms, in Las Vegas, instead of the Kings.
I was always under the impression that they were moved for lack of support by the city and fans until it almost happened to us. Joe Axleson was a horrible GM in Sacramento too epitomized by Trade for Derek Smith, trading away Otis Thorpe, hiring of Bill Russell and Dick Motta as head coaches. So many 25 win seasons.
Whats with the random clips of players like Bob Cousy & Jamal Wilkes who never played for the Kings?
Cousy played one game for the Cincinnati Royals and was also their coach for a while. I can't explain Wilkes.
Vancouver, Kansas City, Seattle, and Las Vegas all deserve NBA teams…3/4 got there teams fleeced by shady new ownership, they deserve a 2nd chance!
Pittsburgh and San Diego too
The Kings threw the entire city of Kansas City under the bus, and in return have been the most irrelevant franchise in sports for the last 70 years. 0 finals APPEARANCES since 1951, and those owners got to see them struggle tremendously in Sacramento, with constant relocation rumors for decades. They reaped what they sowed
But now we light the beam 🟣
Lolol you forgot all those playoff teams with Webber and Divac, and Bibby….sounds like sour grapes and cope lol
@ivandragomiloff2356 I'm not, I'm a Bucks fan but even when your team was competitive they still couldn't get past the WCF.
@@BrandonA1 Much like your team, luckily you got the Greek Freak…sad when he ditches you for more lucrative pastures 😂 next year
Man you sound so different from your Alabama and SEC football videos glad to hear your voice slowed down a bit ✌️👽🍷🍹🍻🍺
It's stories like this that would come up every time Louisville would flirt with having an NBA team by those opposed to bringing one here. There are still people who remember the ABA and how the Kentucky Colonels could have entered the merge along with the other teams and they have been involved with various groups over the years trying to get either an expansion team or a team to move here. David Stern had often mentioned Louisville when candidates for expansion would come up. I believe Adam Silver has also mentioned the city but how much of that is lip service and how much is actual consideration is hard to say. The most recent group was headed up by former Colonels star Dan Issel but it seems he has since given up on that effort.
Fun Fact:.the King's had an NBA Finals championship in 1951 and that's the only championship they had.
That wasn’t even in Sacramento, Kansas City or Cincinnati
That was in Rochester, NY.
I don't think Kansas City (Missouri or Kansas) will ever get another NBA team. Kansas City is pretty much a college basketball type of town (especially with the University of Kansas and its most-recent March Madness championship in 2022). In fact, Kansas won the March Madness tournament in 1988, only three years after the Kings relocated to Sacramento.
“KC has a bunch of pro sports teams, look at those two flags” lol Awesome video though. Thanks!!
I disagree when it comes to hockey being well supported in KC because KC did have an NHL team in the Scouts from 1974-76. However unlike the Kings, the Scouts were absolutely terrible never winning more than 15 games during their 2 seasons there. Attendance quickly dropped off within weeks of the team's opening game in 1974 & no one really missed them when they relocated in 1976. The Scouts would eventually become the New Jersey Devils in 1982 after an even worse 6 year run in Denver as the Rockies & would win Stanley Cups in 1995 & 2003.
nj won three cups including 2000.
I'm from Sacramento. Very interesting