"He should come to the game": John Calipari invites Patrick Mahomes to scout Arkansas players for future KC pro basketball team
As John Calipari's players went through their warmup in Kansas City's T-Mobile Center, the coach had a brilliant idea to improve the basketball culture in the City of Fountains. Spectrum News' Derek Zimmerman-Guyer questioned Calipari about Patrick Mahomes' efforts to bring a professional basketball team to Kansas City.
In response, the Razorbacks coach invited the Chiefs' quarterback to scout his players and potentially draft some of them to his squad.
"He should come to the game, they play at home and he could watch some kids that he would want to draft," John Calipari said. (0:40)
Patrick Mahomes, widely known as one of the best quarterbacks in NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs history, aims to bring a professional basketball team to the city. From there onwards, he wants to expand into a WNBA franchise. He believes it will be a win-win situation for everyone involved due to the passionate sports fans in Kansas City.
"We want to get basketball to Kansas City in general and then WNBA," Mahomes said to ESPN earlier this month. "The success that they've had this last season and these last few seasons, it's kind of a no-brainer.
"To try to get a WNBA team in Kansas City to this fan base - you see it if you talk about University of Kansas basketball, the Chiefs or whatever it is - the city of Kansas City is going to come out and they're going to fill the stadium."
Patrick Mahomes currently has an ownership stake in the National Women's Soccer League’s Kansas City Current, MLB’s Royals, and Major League Soccer’s Sporting KC.
How did John Calipari decide to schedule Arkansas' game in Kansas City?
Initially, John Calipari was not keen on the idea of playing on Thanksgiving Day. However, his stance immediately changed after learning about the potential of fan attention and spectatorship.
When I was asked, 'Would you play on Thanksgiving Day?', I went 'Well,' John Calipari said. "They said 'It's the highest-rated college basketball game of the year. Who are we playing?.' That was my second comment.
Arkansas will face the Illinois Fighting Illini for the first CBS Sports televised game of the 2024-25 men’s college basketball season. The two teams have matched up six times previously, with Illinois holding a 5-1 advantage.