Sporting KC News

Here's some news for you today regarding Sporting KC.

Sporting Pull Out of Swope Park Project

This actually happened last week, but with all the news regarding player announcements I keep forgetting to post about it.  The project that the city of Kansas City supports to turn the area around Sporting's training facility into a soccer complex that could rival the Overland Park Complex.  The plan was to use funds left over from the Winchester Center TIF to help fund the project.  The plan for the project immediately came under fire because the unused portion of the TIF funds was supposed to go to the Raytown School District and Mid-Continent Public Library.  In the long run Sporting probably made the smart move so as to avoid be looked at as attempting to take money away from a school.

Still the thing that continues to bug me with regards to this situation is the fact that the TIF went into effect before the team was even originally founded and nothing has been done with the left over TIF money for years.  But when another use for the project funds is found, people get up in arms over the situation. 

New Byline to the Back Post

A new From the Byline to the Back Post is up for your listening pleasure.  This week Thad and I discuss all the moves that had taken place through Wednesday evening, including Benny Feilhaber, Matt Besler, and Ike Opara.  We also discuss the Comets, FC KC, and more.  Enjoy through Posterous and iTunes.

Re-Entry Draft Stage 2 Tomorrow

The second stage of the re-entry draft takes place tomorrow.  After seeing only one player taken in the first stage, the second stage of the draft is usually much more active.  With Sporting KC making a number of moves after the first stage of the draft, including picking up Opara in a trade with San Jose.  KC took a similar method last year, trading for Bobby Convey instead of waiting for the draft.  After that trade Sporting sat out the second stage of the re-entry draft making no movement.  I wouldn't be surprised for KC to once again not make a selection now that they've picked up Opara.  There's no one on the list that immediately jumps out at this point that I would think KC would take.

Former Junior Trialing Abroad

Whether you want to consider this a missed opportunity by Sporting or not, this is pretty cool.  Former Juniors player, Badr Seyam, a 13  year old, is currently working his way around Europe, trialing for the youth teams of some of the biggest clubs in the world.  Including Arsenal and Hamburg, he's apparently also heard from Manchester City as well.  It's amazing that a kid from Sporting's youth system could reach these heights so quickly.  I wish the kid nothing but luck for his future

Tax Credit for Stadium Approved

Great news for all Wizards fans today. Today we are 1 step closer to Hillcrest Road becoming a reality.

Today the Missouri Finance Board has approved the $30 million tax credit for Lane4 and OnGoal for the Three Trails development at the old Bannister Mall site. The news comes from the Wizards Executive Vice President, Greg Cotton on Bigsoccer.

The Star has their article up now on the topic. Randy Covitz is saying that this is the last hurdle the development and quotes Robb Heineman as saying that they hope to start demolition on the site soon.

Thad from The Back Post attended the meeting today in Jefferson City and has a write up up on his site on the meeting. It looks like this is not the last hurdle for the project, but it certainly seemed to be the last really challenging hurdle. According to Thad the last small hurdles do not appear to be a huge concern. It looks like demolition is now set for this coming January.

Three Trails on Agenda

The Three Trails redevelopment at the Bannister Mall site looks like it may finally be moving forward. The plan for the redevelopment of the site is on the agenda for Missouri Development Finance Board meeting this Thursday, November 20th. The redevelopment is the first piece of old business on the agenda for the meeting. If news from the KC Business Journal earlier this month is accurate, then this meeting should see the approval of the funds for the development approved.

Stadium Money Update

The KC Business Journal has broken the news on the Bannister Mall situation today. The Journal is reporting that the Missouri Development Finance Board is set to approve the $30 million for the Three Trails redevelopment. Included in the development is the Wizards soccer specific stadium. The board and Three Trails Redevelopment LLC (with OnGoal LLC) have reached an agreement on the amount of square footage that needed to be developed to avoid the clawback clause. This is what had caused the delays that kept the issue off the agenda back in September. The board meets again on November 20th, where they will look to approve the funding. After the funding is approved, it should pave the way for ground breaking and construction of the stadium.

Reason for Development Delay

The KC Business Journal has an article for paid subscribers up on their website about the reason for the delays in the 3 Trails Project, including the Wizards soccer specific stadium. You can at least read a portion of the article and get an idea as to why. It would appear that the main reason for the delay is the fact that there is a disagreement between the developer and the state on the amount of square footage that would need to be developed to avoid a "clawback" provision.

The developer dropped the square footage they were willing to commit to when the "clawback" provision was brought up. This has caused the main delay in the $30 million in funds being released. Which has led to the construction delay at the site. For this to get approved, the developers and the state are going to have to reach an agreement. The way the economy is right now, though, it's going to be hard for the developers to get this going, especially with the problems with municipal bonds right now.

Bannister Mall has been Sold

While discussing today's developments on the Bannister Mall redevelopment on bigsoccer. This google cached article was linked. The article talks about how Lane4, the developers in charge of the Three Trails redevelopment, have purchased Bannister Mall from the former owners for $12 million, or $70 per square foot. It's something positive out of what has turned out to be a pretty crappy day with the news that the funding will not be approved on Tuesday. The fact that the mall has been purchased by the developers is at least one good sign towards this project still on the way to completion instead of being on it's way to it's death bed like some people seem to think. The article also mentions other properties that will close in the fourth quarter of this year. All news that certainly helps to brighten what had been a bleak day.

More Stadium Delays

Those of you hoping to head to the Downtown Marriott in KC for the Missouri Developmental Finance Board hoping to see the Bannister Mall funding finally be approved, can cancel your plans and go ahead and go to work. The state tax credit for the development has been delayed again. According to an executive assistant to the board, the plan is not ready for a second presentation to the board. This is becoming laughable, and incredibly frustrating, not just for fans or people in favor of this development, but it has to be getting frustrating for the Wizards front office as well. Particularly because I was told the Wizards had planned to break ground very soon at the site, meaning that this latest set back is a big surprise to the team.

As Robb Heineman says in the article, continued delay puts the stadium construction in doubt. And if the stadium construction falls through I have a feeling that this entire redevelopment will fall through as they won't have the anchor of the stadium there.

Costs Rising (Stadium Problems?)

An article has come out today in the KC Business Journal talking about the redevelopment of the 3 Trails area, that includes the construction of the Wizards soccer specific stadium. Unfortunately, it's not good news. Due to the increase in construction costs recently, Lane4, OnGoal, and the other redevelopers are having to up their request for state tax credits from $10 million to $30 million. It was originally thought that the only thing left was the approval of the Department of Economic Development (DED) to release the funding. Now that shows not to be the case, as the director of that department, Gregory Steinhoff is also on the Missouri Development Finance Board, meaning that the DED won't approve their end until this is sorted out. The board will meet on the 16th of September.

While there is confidence from the lawyer representing the developers that this will pass, this is still not a good sign in today's economy, when you have to ask for more money. It's also not a good sign for the entire area as a whole, because as Robb Heineman says in the article, a long delay or denial of the funds could kill the project, leaving the area again to remain undeveloped. No development there will just continue to send the area even further down than it is already going. My understanding of the mall itself, is that it is basically beyond repair at this point. Bobcat's have been inside tearing out anything and everything that people can tear out. All the copper is basically gone, the aluminum escalator stairs are basically all gone as well. From news reports, there are people living in the mall, there's no way even Richard Tolbert could say the mall could be brought back successfully now.

Should the board not approve the funding, the Wizards will go back to searching for a site, likely on the Kansas side, in the suburbs (Olathe possibly).

And it didn't take long for the Wizards to have a report out in response to the article in the Business Journal. Bob Rusert from MLSnet has an article up today that includes quotes from Greg Cotton in regards to the stadium situation, Cotton, general counsel for the Wizards says the "snag" isn't as big as the report makes it seem to be. The article certainly came out in a timely manor, as the tone of the article helps to calm some people who were worried after reading the KC Business Journal article.

Local Media Picks Up on Stadium Delay

NBC Action News here in KC has picked up on the continued delays in the process to get Bannister Mall torn down so that the Wizards stadium and a new shopping area can go in. As I've stated previously, the project is only needing one final approval before construction on the site can begin. Once that is done, then the construction on the stadium can actually begin. The article says that Lane4 will need to provide more detailed information about the project. So we'll see how the meeting on the 30th goes, but some people are already very frustrated that a project that many fans thought would start in June has now been pushed back to starting sometime this fall.

Stadium Update

A quick stadium update. The Wizards, OnGoal and Lane4 only have 1 hurdle left in getting the funds to begin construction of the Bannister Mall area, that includes building Hillcrest Road for the Wizards. That last hurdle was to petition the release of those funds from the Department of Economic Development. Their next meeting was supposed to be August 19th.

Unfortunately, a poster on bigsoccer posted that the meeting had been canceled. As the poster says, it doesn't mean that the funds for the stadium will not be released. It's likely because a member of the committee had another commitment on that day and could not make the meeting. The next meeting is apparently on September 30th, and the meeting will take place in Kansas City.

It's another minor delay, but all these minor delays are starting to push the demolition of the mall back. Originally construction was to start in June, now we're looking at early October before we can even begin to tear the mall down.

State Budget Passed Stadium Moving Along

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt today signed the Missouri budget for this coming fiscal year. Part of the budget included the state TIF funding for the Bannister Mall redevelopment and the Wizards soccer stadium.

With that signed, there is now only 1 more hurdle for the Wizards and Lane4 to get over before construction can begin. They have to now petition the Department of Economic Development to release the approved funds for use. That will likely be on their meeting agenda when they get together on August 19th. One step closer.

Stadium News

It looks like we may be waiting on a bit more then just the governor's signature, like I had thought we were for the stadium. A few of the KC city council members presented the redevelopment to the Missouri Development Finance Board yesterday. While the group got a good vibe from the meeting, the article does has some pretty sobering news for Wizards fans. Councilman John Sharp said that a decision was not expected until their meeting on August 19th, and since this is one of the last major hurdles, will delay this project a bit further.

While Greg Cotton said on the radio recently that they are planning for a late summer/early fall demolition and start to construction, with a 14-16 month time frame, you have to begin to question whether the Wizards will have their stadium done in time for the 2010 season, or whether they will begin the season with an extended road trip.

Budget Passed (Stadium News)

I'd mentioned recently how the Missouri budget had been stuck in the state House after some disagreements with the Senate on some things in the funding. As I'd mentioned earlier, the stadium is part of the budget, but was not the part that was causing problems. Well yesterday, the House and Senate came to an agreement and it was "Truly agreed to and finally passed." It will now move on to the governor, where he'll sign it either later this month or early in June.

Stadium Update

It's been a while since I've written about the Wizards and their stadium situation at Bannister Mall, so I figured it was time for an update. Since the approval by the Kansas City city council, the bill has moved on to the state level. At the state level, it started in the House where it spent most of the month of March. Finally on March 27th it passed the House by a vote of 82 to 70.

It then moved on to the state Senate. It only spent the first half of the month of April in the Senate, where it ended up passing 32 to 1 on April 16th. While in the Senate, though, there were changes made to the bill as a whole, which sent it back to the House. The House, though, did not concur with the changes leading to a Conference Committee with members from both the House and the Senate.

According to a poster on bigsoccer, who claims to be a lobbyist in Jefferson City, the stadium funding is not part of the problems between the House and Senate. That same poster says that the Conference Committee should be done some time this week and that the budget (which the stadium funding is part of) must be finished no later then May 9th. That means by next week, things should be clear at the state level for the funding for the stadium at the Bannister Mall site.

Hope that gives you all an idea of where the stadium situation is.

Full 3 Trails TIF Plan

Thanks to a poster on bigsoccer, we now have the full TIF plan for the 3 Trails Development (WARNING: it's 60 MBs). The 794 page document outlines the entire plan that is in front of the state. There are 24 pieces to the TIF, the stadium, hotel, tournament fields, and stadium retail will all be done by 2010. The entire project must be completed in 10 years. There are a ton of good numbers in the plan, see this post by dusty144 on bigsoccer for a better break down of some of the numbers.

The entire stadium cost will be only $46 million, which seems a little low to me personally, with over half of it ($25 million) coming from private funds. We also see the reason why there has been no development on the project yet, even though city funding has been approved, and state funding looks to be very good. That reason is the fact that $17 million of the Super TIF (which requires state approval to go into affect) is going to be used for the purchase land and demolition of the current buildings on the site.

Including Wizards tickets and other events at the facility (concerts, high school/college athletics, other sports teams, etc) the revenue per seat at the stadium will be around $345 a year.

Starting on page 421, you have the standard soccer participation levels for KC and all of US Soccer.

Some interesting news, league wide is on page 433, where the plan has each team's payroll for 2007. The surprising news is that KC was FOURTH last season in team payroll. Of course they were over $2 million below third.

LA - $9,179,949
NY - $4, 909,556
Chicago - $4,464,113
KC - $2,626,175
RSL - $2,607,531
TFC - $2,453,208
Houston - $2,439,999
Colorado - $2,374,164
Dallas - $2,285,499
DC - $2,163,103
Columbus - $2,021,398
Chivas - $1,886,076
New England - $1,860,448

On page 497, starts the potential demand of the stadium and youth fields. It talks about the different uses for both, including the Wizards, women's pro soccer, Missouri high school events, concerts, and other things held in the stadium, along with practices for soccer and other sports along with league games held on the youth fields. On page 512, you can see the potential demand of the stadium and the youth soccer fields. Fifty events at the stadium, including the Wizards (20 games at 13,500 attendance), women's pro soccer (8 games at 5,000), concerts (6 at 20,000), International soccer (4 at 15,000), and other events (8 at 5,000) would bring in half a million people to that area a year. The youth fields would bring in even more, with soccer tournaments, camps, leagues, practices, other sports (rugby, ultimate Frisbee, lacrosse, etc) and festivals expected to bring in 750,000 people to that area a year.

Starting on page 671, you can see the layout of the site including some artist rendered pictures. Overall, it's a great read if you have time to read through it, or to even skim different parts of it for some great information.

Tolbert Fails but Doesn't Concede

Today was the final day for Richard Tolbert and the Save Bannister Group to turn in their signatures for saving Bannister Mall. And the grand total of signatures turned in? TWO!!! He didn't turn in any more signatures today, but since he likely had no where close to the number needed it's not surprising.

Still, though, Tolbert and his group are not conceding, and will continue to fight. Tolbert again pimps his plan to have them cut the mall out of the redevelopment, and ask for TIF money to let HIM and his group redevelop the mall. Tolbert says that with an anchor tenant like Walmart, the mall would "thrive." Excuse me, Bannister Mall has room for four anchor stores. A Walmart taking up one floor of one of those anchor stores is not going to help the mall thrive. And putting faith in Tolbert to adequately redevlop the mall is foolhardy. As I've said in the past, one only has to look at Tolbert's track record (which will now be linked any time I say his name) to realize the city should not give him one cent for redevelopment.

As Councilman John Sharp says in the article. "So far he has delayed this project for a month and he turned in two signatures. That is a joke. It makes a mockery of the referendum initiative process." Tolbert has made a complete joke of the process. This plan was nothing more then a delay tactic, and due to the fact that there is no minimum required number of signatures, Tolbert got his time. Now he's trying to hold the project up more.

He says he's for both in the area, when the truth is he's likely just killing time until the Wizards decide to drop out and he can have the only plan left to redevelop the area. Demolition of the mall is supposed in the spring, but as is the case today in our sue happy country, Tolbert says he will sue to stop the building from being torn down.

In other Tolbert news, more and more people around the city are starting to call him out on his false cries of racism, a point I made back in October.

Tolbert Basically Admits to Not Having Signatures

Tonight on 980 KMBZ AM here in Kansas City, Richard Tolbert basically admitted the group did not have the signatures required to put the 3 Trials TIF funding on the ballot. While on the radio talking about the campaign to recall Kansas City Mayor, Mark Funkhouser, the hosts asked Tolbert about his Bannister petition and if he had the signatures. Tolbert appeared to stumble and back track saying that the group may have taken the wrong path as even if the petition is successful to bring a vote, it does nothing to grant us ownership anyway. To me this sounds like a white flag going up from the camp on this plan. His excuse is something I've been saying since day 1, even if the group did succeed, it did not make the owners of the mall reopen it. But it helped to delay the process.

He tried to hype up his new plan, which would move to exclude the mall area from the 3 Trials TIF plan, and give the Save Bannister group TIF money to buy the mall from the current owners.

The city council should take one look at Tolbert's track record with owning property in this city and laugh him out of the building. Hopefully this plan will not make it out of the TIF commission. If it does, the city council would be a big step, especially with all the support the 3 Trails TIF had with the council.

Tolbert's New Plan

Apparently, Richard Tolbert and the Save Bannister group are struggling for their signatures. So much so that they are planning to change their tactics on trying to save the mall.

According to the article, Tolbert and the group are now going to try and get the title to the mall and get TIF funding to resurrect the mall. The mall's current owners will hopefully be persuaded by the city council to avoid this path at all cost. Should it come down to it, the city should only have to show the owners this article about Tolbert to see what the man can do. How Tolbert continues to view the mall as a viable option any more is beyond belief. Enclosed malls are dying in this country, people want to park right in front of the store they want to shop at, go in and leave. Hopes are that this is just a minor speed bump in the redevelopment of the area.

Tolbert Filing for Extension

It's not over yet. The hopes of Wizards fans, and South KC residents that after tomorrow Richard Tolbert would be gone from our minds will have to wait. Tomorrow was supposed to be the date that Tolbert had to have his 8500 signatures to put the redevelopment funding on an upcoming ballot. Unfortunately, tonight we find out that Tolbert plans to file for a 10 day extension in hopes of collecting the signatures he needs. He made the announcement today at a rally supporting his cause. Apparently, though, the rally was not very well attended, but did bring the police who were called to keep Tolbert and the rest of the Save Bannister group from trespassing on mall property.

The thoughts of people I've talked to is that with the poor turn out at their "rally" today, is a sign that Tolbert and his group are struggling to get the 8500 signatures, and his filing for extension is him grasping at the last straws to stop this project from happening.

We also have Steve Penn at the Star with another column on the whole situation and Tolbert comparing his battle to save the mall to the Biblical story of Jericho. The best part of the article, though, is where Tolbert actually believes that the citizens of Kansas City would vote for them to keep the mall there.

“John Sharp and these people don’t want a vote of the people, because they know black and white will vote overwhelmingly to have a nice mall there,” Tolbert said.

You really can't make up some of the stuff this guy is saying. He continues to claim that the this is for the black community and that the black community is for this project. Yet, as the article mentions, Freedom, Inc., the cities chapter of the black political club, voted 28-1 in support of the project. The only decenter, was Tolbert. I've heard that The Globe, the cities black newspaper, has run ads telling people not to sign the petition. I've even had local black church leaders post comments in this blog stating their approval for this project. So where is all the black community that is supposedly for it?

Or is Tolbert like an overbearing parent that says they know what's best for you?

Bannister Plans

I came across this article from The Call while looking around the KCrag Forums. The article is a rehash of a lot of the information that's been out there already about Richard Tolbert's attempts to stop the redevelopment of the area. Still there are a few things from the article I want to touch on.

The first goes back to a quote from Councilman John Sharp during the rally. The article gives tells us that of the 5 main members of the "Save Bannister Mall" group, only 1 of them lives in the area around the mall. So 4 of them get to go home to a different part of town and not see the eyesore of a mall and all that comes with it at night. While the majority of those in the area, that do have to live with it, are for this redevelopment, for a second chance at making the area thrive again.

Tolbert continues to bait the race issue on this topic saying basically that the black leaders of the area are folding to the pressure of the white developer. Tolbert says "A better road to prosperity is through a nice black mall, over a white soccer stadium." Yet as is pointed out by Sharp in the article, and seen during the rally, it's not just whites in the area that are for it. It's all races, the blight of the area is driving both white and black people away from the area, which can be seen by the housing costs which have been falling steadily for years, even before the recent housing market collapse. Many of the black people in the area don't seem to think of this as a "gold mine" for the black community.

We also get to see what Tolbert and his friends have planned for the mall. The group wants to get a $25 million TIF for the mall. With that TIF they plan to do four major things with the area.

• Repave the parking lot.
• Update the plumbing.
• Add aesthetic imp-rovements inside the mall including “nice skylights.”
• And, add security features including a security fence surrounding the property, armed security guards and metal detectors.

Can't you just see people flocking to a mall that has a security fence, armed security guards, and metal detectors in it? Would this be a mall or a prison? How is creating almost a police state around the mall suppose to make the area a vibrant area to go to again? All of that stuff is just like finger in a damn. It may work for a short while, but pretty soon it's going to break down. The best thing is to just start over with this area.

In regards to the metal detectors, I refer you to the immortal words of Chris Rock, in his song No Sex (in the Champaign Room), "Don't go to parties with metal detectors. Sure it fells safe inside,but what about all those niggas waiting outside with guns. They know you ain't got one. "