A $250-million downtown arena is on its way to after Kansas City residents passed Question 1 on Tuesday. The ballot issue proposed a user fee of up to $1.50 per day on hotel rooms and up to $4.00 per day on rental cars, which will go towards construction of the arena at 14th and Grand Blvd. in downtown Kansas City. The user fees are expected to generate about $123-million dollars towards construction of the building. Anschutz Entertainment Group is going to invests $50-million and the National Association of Basketball Coaches, which will headquarter its operations in the arena, will raise $10-million. Sprint, which will have its name on the building will pay $2.5-million per year. Proponents of the arena hope it will attract an NHL or NBA franchise to the city and have been told by both leagues that building it will put them at the top of the list for expansion or relocation. Former NHL owner Howard Baldwin has gone on record to say that he wants to bring a team to Kansas City. It’s also believed that the new arena will allow Kansas City to host the Big 12 Basketball Tournament and NCAA regionals on a more frequent basis.
