KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ken Batrick pondered the question
for a second, took another sip of his beer, and grimaced.
"I've been to the tournament in Oklahoma City. I've not been to it in
Dallas. But it's not the same," said the Overland Park native, dressed in
a black pullover adorned with the logo of his alma mater, Missouri, an hour
before the Tigers tipped off against Baylor in the Big 12 tourney title game.
"I mean, the tournament here is absolutely crazy."
As if to prove his point, Batrick tried to extend his arm in order to wave at
the capacity crowd at Johnny's Tavern, directly across the street from the
Sprint Center, where clumps of Mizzou gold was speckled with little pockets of
Kansas blue and Iowa State cardinal. Because we were crammed, shoulder to shoulder,
against the bar, rather than take another patron's eye out, he just smiled and
shrugged. You got the drift. In the Power & Light district, every joint was
jumping Saturday.
"Oklahoma City was just — boring," Batrick continued. "And this
tournament in Kansas City is fantastic."
It ain't broke. It ain't even bruised. It's part of the water here. It's part
of the blood, woven into the fibers that bind this community. There are few
so-called "pro" markets that embrace college basketball the way
Kansas City has for nearly a century now. New York has the Knicks and Nets; Los
Angeles, the Lakers and Clippers; Chicago, its Bulls. Kansas City has the
Jayhawks, Tigers and Wildcats. In March, it seems as if every third house in
the suburbs is flying a Kansas, Missouri or Kansas State flag, just off the
front porch. The Chiefs rule the fall. Barbecue rules the summer. College hoops
rules the soul.
Meanwhile, the Big 12 tournament, much like the conference itself, finds itself
staring at a crossroads. The league is contractually obligated to keep the
men's tourney in Kansas City through the spring of 2014. But with the departure
of Missouri to the Southeastern Conference and the addition of Texas Christian
and West Virginia, the league's geographical epicenter will move even further
from the Kansas-Missouri border which was so much a part of its roots. The word
on Oak Street is that there's talk of cycling the tourney away from Kansas City
again — perhaps permanently.
"Competition in the marketplace is good. Keeping people on their toes is
good," said Big 12 associate commissioner Tim Allen, the point man for the
future of this event. "You know, on a weekly basis, I stand on the fence
and I fall on one side or the other. Is it easier to manage an event by having
it in one location year after year?"
It is if it's this event. And this community. Heck, it's a no-brainer.
The Big 12 has a bounty of new arenas up and down its I-35 footprint, a wealth
of jewels from which to choose. Kansas City more than holds its own in terms of
aesthetics, sure, but this is also about putting backsides in seats.
Consider between 2003-2011, the men's tourney was at the
Sprint Center three times, Dallas, three times and Oklahoma City, twice. In
Texas, the event reached 89.6 percent capacity, on average. In Oklahoma, it was
88.4 percent.
Kansas City? 99.6 percent.
Why is this even up for debate?
"Well, I may be biased, but Kansas City has done very well for the Big
Eight Conference and the Big 12 Conference," Big 12 interim commissioner
Chuck Neinas told FOXSports.com before the league's championship game tipped
off. "I think there's a recognition as to the fan support here, and that's
been — basically, as I understand it — unprecedented compared to any other
site."
Yeah. You could say that.
Yet the league office remains coy and non-committal because the league offices
are in Texas, and Texas coaches are tired of bringing their kids up north only
to find thousands of Jayhawks and Cyclones fans screaming in their ears.
Neinas is an old-school Kansas City man, but his reign ends July 1. Allen kept
things extremely close to the vest Saturday, but if there was a sliver of good
news, it was this: He did allow that the league wasn't down on the community
just because the arena sits on the Missouri side of the river, and its
relationship with Missouri's largest university ended on somewhat, shall we
say, acrimonious terms.
"That has not been mentioned in any meetings that I've been a part
of," he told FOXSports.com.
Allen added, "It's always a good and healthy debate, to talk about parking
it or moving it around. And coaches, obviously, to a certain degree, some of
them might say, 'Move it around.' We don't want to abandon any of our
markets."
But this one, least of all. At least, you'd hope.
Another thing to consider: Wednesday's new evening play-in session for the
bottom four schools was a new wrinkle in 2012. It featured four programs from
the southern-most reaches of the conference landscape, four squads with a
combined record of 52-73, a quartet of punching bags, postseason afterthoughts.
It still drew nearly 10,000 fans to the Sprint Center, or roughly 53 percent of
capacity.
One longtime Big 12
radio announcer joked that he was pleasantly surprised to see that many fans of
rebuilding Oklahoma State and Oklahoma turn up for what was essentially Kansas
and Missouri's show.
Then again, when you throw a great party, word travels awfully fast.
"It's a staple for Kansas City," offered Kevin Henderson, CEO of the
College Basketball Experience and the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
"College basketball and Kansas City go hand-in-hand. It's not just the
fact of (what's happening) today, what happened this week or five years ago.
It's something that's happened over 75 years."
Back at Johnny's, Batrick thought about those years, the road map of his youth.
The man's a Big 12 lifer, an acolyte of the old Big Eight that came before it.
He was raised in Kansas City. His wife went to Kansas. His two kids went to Kansas
State.
"If you're a Tiger fan, this is a bittersweet day. Especially if you're a
Kansas City Tiger fan," Batrick said. "I hate to see it end."
If the turnstiles are any indication, he's not the only one. Not by a long
shot.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter @seankeeler or email him at
seanmkeeler@gmail.com
