July 28, 2004

Another Horrow show

Already on board Norfolk's quixotic campaign to lure a baseball team, stadium Music Man Rick Horrow has hired on (at a modest $15,000 a month) to help Kansas City negotiate its proposed arena deal with Anschutz Entertainment. Horrow, who spent the better part of the '90s trying to sell small cities on sports facilities funded by a 1% sales tax hike, summed up his philosophy to the Kansas City Star:

"My facility-development business life has always been about overcoming the presumption of failure and the perception that a community is not major league. To me, regions like Oklahoma City, Charlotte, Jacksonville and Columbus have made that leap. I'm hoping the Kansas City region sees the vision, embraces it and benefits from it over time."

All those who think of Oklahoma City (a former Horrow client, incidentally) as "major league" and not Kansas City, please raise your hand. No, just one hand at a time, Mr. Horrow.