Naming rights to Kemper Arena have been purchased by Mosaic Life Care, a move developers hope will jump start efforts to revamp the venerable venue.
Kemper Arena–now known as Mosaic Arena–has plenty of history. It was home to the NBA’s Kansas City Kings, hosted several major NCAA basketball tournaments–one of which was the 1988 Men’s Final Four–and saw some memorable non-sports moments, including the 1976 Republican National Convention.
The venue has fallen on hard times over the last decade, however. Sprint Center became a magnet for major acts after it opened in downtown Kansas City in 2007, and plans for the Kemper Arena to be replaced with a facility for the American Royal Association led nowhere.
Currently, the development of the mothballed arena is in the hands of Foutch Brothers LLC. The group’s plan is to repurpose Mosaic Arena into an amateur sports facility, which would now include a clinic from Mosaic Life Care. That plan, however, depends on several other variables falling into place. More from the Kansas City Star:
An application has been filed to designate Kemper Arena on the National Register of Historic Places, and a determination is expected late this month or in early September. Such designation would help Foutch get historic tax credits for the redevelopment project.
If all goes as hoped, the new Foutch facility could be redeveloped by the end of 2017 at an estimated cost of $25 million to $30 million. The project would add a second floor and more than double the arena’s court space for indoor soccer, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, dance, fitness, a multilane running and bicycling track, and numerous other sports purposes.
The debate over what to do with Kemper Arena has been ongoing for years. While other factors need to be determined, the sale of naming rights brings some movement to the plans to revamp the Kansas City facility.
