American Royal Secures Backer for National Barbecue Hall of Fame

Henry Ford will be among the first inductees into the American Royal’s new National Barbecue Hall of Fame, so it seems fitting that Midwest Ford Dealers has climbed on board as the inaugural sponsor.
The group is sponsoring the first class of inductees, which also includes Johnny Trigg and Guy Fieri. The ceremony is Oct. 6 at the World Series of Barbecue.
“We are proud to sponsor the National Barbecue Hall of Fame and are honored that Ford Motor Co.’s founder, Henry Ford, is being recognized alongside other remarkable individuals for their contributions to the world of barbecue,” Mark Smith, chairman of the Midwest Ford Dealers Advertising Association Inc., said in a release. “We look forward to celebrating this historical moment with the many thousands of fans at the annual American Royal’s World Series of Barbecue event and with barbecue enthusiasts for years to come.”
Henry Ford is being honored in the business/industry category for turning wood scraps from Model T production into charcoal briquettes, which later became Kingsford Charcoal. Johnny Trigg, who is known as the godfather of barbecue, is being honored in the pitmaster category. And Guy Fieri, of Food Network fame, is being inducted in the celebrity/humanitarian category.
The Hall of Fame already has seven members who were inducted before the American Royal bought the hall in March.
The American Royal World Series of Barbecue will be Oct. 4-7 in the West Bottoms.

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.

American Royal enlists experts on how to pay for Kemper Arena proposal

American Royal Association officials hired a team of public finance professionals to examine how to pay for a proposal to replace Kansas City’s aging Kemper Arena with a new Agricultural Events Center, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
“Every past building project for the American Royal has been a public-private partnership with the city of Kansas City, and we look to continue that approach,” says Brant Laue, newly elected chairman of the board of directors.
The nonprofit’s annual board of governors meeting was this week. The American Royal has an agreement with Kansas City to use the Kemper Arena and other facilities through 2045.
On Oct. 25, American Royal officials announced the proposal to raze and replace the Kemper with a 5,000-seat coliseum and other new livestock facilities. However, the plan requires city approval.