Kansas City News Blog

Tonight’s installment of KCPT Channel 19’s Week in Review involves yours truly, along with my media colleagues Micheal Mahoney from KMBC Channel 9, Dave Helling from the Star and Jim Davis from the Business Journal. Host Nick Haines had a lot for us to talk about, and we blew through quick punditry on the Sprint Center ticket madness (i.e., Kansas City discovers that big-name concerts sell out fast and are very, very expensive); various discomforts related to parks board and Minuteman member Frances Semler; Matt Blunt’s craven political pandering – uh, excuse me, big-hearted effort – to restore health coverage to poor people (which he took away a couple of years ago); and the possibility of casinos around the Kansas Speedway. The show airs at 7:30 tonight and again at 11 a.m. on Sunday, September 30.

The discussion was moving so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to say this about the Sprint Center ticket craziness. It’s an extremely painful point to make, but here it is: Hearne Christopher Jr. is doing the Star’s best reporting on the issue so far. (My fingers exploded as soon as I wrote that, so now I’m typing with my chin.)

On September 24, Christopher reported on the contents of a company e-mail sent to Sprint employees noting that they had early dibs on tickets to the December 6 Billy Joel concert. “As an employee of Sprint, you are being offered a chance to purchase tickets for this concert before they go on sale to the general public,” the e-mail read. “There is an 8-ticket limit per person for this offer. This offer is nontransferable. Tickets are $95, plus applicable service charges. Exclusive offer expires September 28th 5:00 p.m.”

Today, he followed up with word that QuikTrip and UMB Bank employees could get in on the action, too. Christopher quotes an e-mail to UMB employees noting that, “As an associate of UMB, you are being offered a chance to purchase tickets for the upcoming Billy Joel concert at Sprint Center in Kansas City before they go on sale to the general public. … There is a pool of tickets set aside for Sprint Center Founding Partner companies, and they are available on a first-come, first-served basis.” Same thing for QuikTrip workers.
Meanwhile, Christopher’s colleagues are writing big stories about how KC locals can’t get tickets to Elton John and Hannah Montana because, well, the ticket industry’s just jacked up and the Internet’s jacking it up more. I hate it when Hearne Christopher’s doing the best reporting at the Star. – C.J. Janovy