KANSAS CITY, Mo. — OK, fine, Missouri left. So now the Big 12 should just throw up its hands and concede downtown Kansas City to the Southeastern Conference? Are you nuts?
"Well, I'm not much on hypotheticals," Cindy Circo, Kansas City's mayor pro tem, allowed Friday, after it was announced that the Big 12 men's basketball tournament would remain at the Sprint Center through 2016, and, in all likelihood, beyond. "(The Big 12 is) tried and true and proven. And so, trying to reinvent the wheel, I think, at this moment in time, isn't the smartest path to (take). So the Big 12 is our partner, and we want to continue that."
As well they should. And yet, in the hours after the press release hit the interwebs, out came the whispers of dissent: The Missouri side gets the human traffic, they sniffed, plus the parking kitty and the hotel rooms and the gas scratch. Why would the Big 12 want that?
I'll tell you why: Because Kansas City fits.
Because she's a college basketball town. Because she always will be. Burnt ends, fountains, tailgates, Chiefs, ice storms, college hoops. Unlike the use of turn signals, it's part of the collective DNA.
Why? Because Oklahoma City belongs to David Stern now. Because in Dallas, it's buried and forgotten. It has to scream and wave and stomp to be noticed.
Why? Because in Kansas City, it commands center stage.
Bricktown is sublime. The Metroplex is teeming and wonderful. The Big 12 tourney works better here.
Chicago is arguably the greatest city on the continent. The Big Ten men's basketball tournament feels bigger when it's in Indianapolis. When it comes to March, the broadest shoulders don't always necessarily add up to the warmest embrace.
Between 2003-2011, the Big 12 men's tourney was held at the Sprint Center three times; Dallas, three times; and Oklahoma City, twice. In Texas, the event drew 89.6 percent of the building's capacity, on average. In Oklahoma, it was 88.4 percent. Solid numbers, sure. Meanwhile, Kansas City was practically a sellout — 99.6 percent.
"There's no reason to sort of move it out of a venue that's very, very successful," Kansas State president Kirk Schulz said, "just to artificially move it somewhere else."
Why? Because there's history, tradition, a thread that dates all the way back to the old Big Six conference tournament at Municipal Auditorium in 1946.
Why? Because sometimes, you have to draw a line in the sand. Even more telling than the aforementioned extension was that it included a clause in which the Big 12, starting in 2017, has "first right to championship dates" at Sprint Center. Which means if another conference — such as, oh, the one Mizzou is joining this summer — wants to schedule its postseason tourney in the Power & Light District, the bigwigs at Sprint have to go back to the Big 12 first before continuing talks with another partner.
"That will go a long way," noted Kathy Nelson, president/CEO of the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation. "We'd love to keep it here another seven years, you know? We'd love to make it a permanent home here."
Should SEC basketball types — the league hasn't locked into site for 2017 or ‘18, and Kansas City is reportedly on their radar — look to plant a flag in the metro, the Big 12 can apparently pull a Jeff Withey and swat that puppy all the way back to Birmingham.
"I would tell you that the city is not in communication and not in talks with (the SEC)," Nelson continued. "Right now, we're all about the Big 12. We're anxious to continue that relationship."
Why? Because it brings 18,000 folks into downtown every day. Because it's worth an estimated $14-18 million to the metro area.
"You can't get much better," Nelson gushed, "than being able to walk back and forth across Grand Street."
Why? Because Florida president Bernie Machen said of Kansas City: "I just don't know if we're going to get a lot of people wanting to go up there in March."
"I don't think they want to come north during their spring vacation," Big 12 acting commissioner Chuck Neinas chortled.
Why? Because even with the Tigers gone, that just means more tickets that'll be snapped up by the legions that'd follow Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State to the ends of the earth if it meant watching their boys hoist that trophy in person.
"I'm claiming," Kansas chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little declared, "that Kansas City is a Big 12 city."
Line drawn. And amen to that.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter @seankeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com
