Arena Football League (2006-2008) Born: October 3, 2005 – Arena Football League expansion franchise Folded: August 2009 First Game: January 29, 2006 (L 58-44 @ Dallas Desperados) Last
The Kansas City Blades were the fourth and longest-lasting pro hockey team to make their home at the Kemper Arena. The Blades followed the NHL’s short-lived Kansas City Scouts (1974-1976) and the minor league Kansas City Blues (1976-1977) and Kansas City Red Wings (1977-1979) of the Central Hockey League.
The Attack, who patrolled Kemper Arena (and briefly Municipal Auditorium) from 1991 to 2001, never recaptured the wild popularity enjoyed by Kansas City’s previous indoor soccer team, the Comets. At the peak of Comets mania during the mid-1980’s, the team routinely packed Kemper Arena and helped drive the NBA’s less popular Kings out of town. The Attack could never claim such influence, but they did ultimately last just as long as the Comets (10 seasons) and they accomplished something the Comets never could: winning a league championship (twice, in fact).
Imagine if some upstart sport – a junk sport as some of the old cranks in the sporting press would call it – went into an big city arena next fall and outdrew the local NBA team. Not just outdrew it, but nearly doubled their average gate for each game and eventually drove the NBA out of town. It’s inconceivable that a sport like indoor lacrosse or arena football could blindside a city like this today. But this is exactly what happened in Kansas City in the early 1980’s with the arrival of the Comets and the Major Indoor Soccer League.
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