Then I suggest you contact Hunt Jr. and ask him for a copy of his announcement in double-spaced typeset, so you can more easily read between the lines about his last straw being broken in trying to extract a reasonable lease agreement from the SC Board of Commissioners. Sometimes you've just gotta cut bait, haul the boat outta the water, and head for a pond where the fish are hungrier.
Ah that brings a lot more clarity to the situation, somehow I missed that they were renegotiating their lease
Yeah, but how 'bout a little outdoor rink action?
I could be wrong, but I think it's just down to the arena included with the BlueHawk development now.
Well then I guess they'll get to pick which arena they like best in 1-2 years.
Considering Lamar-Jr. owns the development company for the Mentum project in Olathe (Loretto Sports Ventures LLC), the smart money trail leads to The Great of the Great.
I figured he & the Bluhawk principles had a falling out. Lamar-Jr. doesn't strike me as someone who likes to compromise.
But it isn't for the same purpose; Mentum is for Tier II junior hockey, not the Tier I franchise that was expected. It's possible (at least in part) that L-Junior's shifted focus demanded lower cost accommodations than Bluhawk was willing to offer him. Plus owning your own arena (under one of many entities) is bound to have its financial advantages. If Hunt is as committed to growing the youth segment of the game in the KC area as he portrays, the Great Mall redevelopment seems as much a complement to a Bluhawk arena as it is a competitor. Similar situation to St. Louis, as @mk80 can attest: Two new multi-sheet arenas (Centene Ice & Maryville U Hockey Center) within a 20-minute drive of one another, cooperating to bring more ice time & more community awareness to amateur hockey.
Having played at the Maryville U rink, I can say that max capacity is more around 400 than 1,000. It is a very nice, shiny new toy but not meant for anything fan-driven. Bleachers are only on one side of the rink, above the locker rooms. Tiny locker rooms that require the college to give visitors 2 separate rooms. Shared bathrooms in the locker rooms between rinks. They did build a nice little media pad out on top of the bleachers with room for both their team and visitors to bring media. Space for probably 3 cameras, maybe 6 people total.
no it's not, kjj, in fact the success of the Colisee brought on the NCDC once St. Dominic's Academy swapped cities; and Norway Savings Bank Arena was constructed as the replacement for Ingersoll Arena and then the Twin City Thunder of the NCDC arrived (NSBA has two rinks, btw), not one, it's also why the NAHL Maine Nordiques partnered with said school as the next logical extension of that franchise... replacing the NA3HL L/A Nordiques, when Dr. Antonucci bought the facility outright from Jim Cain and Firland Management;
While I'll admit your perspective - along with thoughtful Replies from @kij and @mk80 - have poked holes in my comparison, I'll take this opportunity to quibble with your characterization of Bluhawk & Mentum being "two arenas that have the same capacity looking to fulfill the same niche despite not having announced anchored tenants like in Kansas City." If you don't recognize Lamar-Jr.'s company having the arena management contract for the Olathe arena plus his relocation of the Pilots to the KC area as the de facto announcement of its future tenants, then further discussion is fruitless. And we all know none of us in this recent exchange are prone to let dead pucks lie.
