Kemper Arena's End Getting Closer

Kansas City is moving toward taking over management of Kemper Arena, a signal that the aging West Bottoms facility may be approaching the end of its useful life.
The Kansas City Finance, Governance and Ethics Committee approved an ordinance Wednesday to terminate its management agreement with Anschutz Entertainment Group on June 30, six months ahead of schedule. The measure will go before the full Kansas City Council on Thursday.
If it passes, Kansas City would self-manage Kemper Arena and the American Royal Complex, saving an estimated $500,000.
Kansas City’s five-year management contract with AEG is set to expire Dec. 31.
Kemper Arena was supposed to become the preferred locale for livestock and other so-called dirt events, such as truck rallies, when plans for the Sprint Center arena were announced.
But Kemper Arena has struggled to fill its calendar, with most promoters preferring to stage their events at Sprint Center.
It has made the arena a budgetary black hole for Kansas City, with the city spending between $1 million and $2 million a year because of Kemper’s failure to generate a profit since Sprint Center opened.
Kansas City issued bonds in 1997 to renovate and spruce up Kemper Arena in an economic development play that has fallen flat.
In voting to recommend the termination of AEG’s management agreement, Kansas City Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Circo said that the city didn’t address reality with Kemper Arena’s past and that the current council is doing that now.
“This is all positive,” Circo said. “We can look back and point fingers ... but that’s not constructive.”
Kansas City Councilman John Sharp was critical of the city’s past decisions regarding Kemper Arena at Wednesday’s committee meeting.
“I disagree with the mayor pro tem (Circo) that it’s not constructive to look back,” Sharp said.
A backdrop to the Kemper Arena discussion is that the facility’s namesake family is looking to tear it down in favor of an upgraded American Royal Complex that would include a new livestock events center.
Mariner Kemper, chairman and CEO of UMB Financial Corp., said in May that a study found the proposal would generate a $75 million annual economic benefit.
So far, the Kansas City Council hasn’t weighed in on the $60 million proposal.