NHL21 Says NHL lockout talk doesn’t dampen ticket sales for Kansas City preseason game

Talk of a potential National Hockey League lockout isn’t checking ticket sales for October hockey games planned at Kansas City’s Sprint Center.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman recently set a Sept. 15 deadline for the National Hockey League Players Association to reach a new collective bargaining agreement with team owners. Ownership seeks to reduce the players’ portion of revenue sharing from 57 percent to 46 percent and wants less flexibility in player contracts.
But hockey boosters in Kansas City aren’t letting the labor dispute stand in their way.
Sprint Center is scheduled to host a preseason game between the New York Rangers and the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 6.
“We’re moving forward, business as usual,” said Paul McGannon, president of NHL21, a group of people trying to land an NHL team in Kansas City. “We’re happy with the presale. It’s gone well so far.”
Interest remains high, and the game has plenty in its favor.
For one, it comes on the heels of last year’s preseason game between the Los Angeles Kings and Pittsburgh Penguins, which sold out two weeks before the event.
On top of that, this year’s game is scheduled on a Saturday instead of midweek.
And the game is one of the Rangers’ last preseason games before their Oct. 11 season opener. The team’s arena is under renovation, so many players who will make the final roster are expected to be at the Kansas City game getting some ice time.
The last time the NHL headed into a lockout was 2004-05, and the league canceled the entire season. NHL21 had a preseason game scheduled in Kansas City the last time a lockout occurred, and fans were given full refunds.
The lockout angered many hockey fans, but team owners are concerned that the current revenue-sharing rules are a big reason for the financial woes being experienced by teams such as the owner-less Phoenix Coyotes and the debt-laden New Jersey Devils.
“We’re hopeful that the new collective bargaining agreement will be Kansas City-friendly, meaning we’d like to see some revenue sharing in there, like baseball and football, that would help a city like ours flourish in the NHL,” McGannon said.
The weekend after the planned NHL game, the Sprint Center will host the 16th Annual Ice Breaker Tournament, featuring college hockey teams from Army, Notre Dame, the University of Maine and the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
“We need to show well for the Ice Breaker Tournament,” McGannon said. “It’s nationally televised. Doing well there could lead to landing a regional hockey tournament and eventually a Frozen Four.” (source Kansas City Business Journal)