Amelia Earhart's Missing Plane - Found!?
UNDATED (NPR/KPR) - Ocean explorers believe they have discovered the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's airplane, which disappeared 87 years ago over the Pacific Ocean. Amelia Earhart, who grew up in Atchison, Kansas, became the world's most famous female pilot, setting a number of aviation records. She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were trying to fly around the world in 1937 when their Lockheed-Martin airplane disappeared, launching the biggest search and rescue effort the world had ever seen. The discovery has not yet been confirmed, but the team that found the plane wreckage seems confident it has located the famous pilot's missing aircraft. (Read more.)
Earhart's fame has endured for nearly a century. Toy maker Mattel even created an Amelia Earhart Barbie Doll.
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Push Underway to Legalize Medical Marijuana in Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR/KNS) - Another push is underway in the Kansas Legislature to legalize medical marijuana. The renewed effort comes as many neighboring states have legalized pot for medical and/or recreation use. Surrounding states, like Missouri, Colorado and Oklahoma, all have some form of legalized pot. And, according to a 2023 poll conducted by Fort Hays State University, most Kansas residents seem to favor the idea. (Read more.)
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Bill Would Prohibit Local Single-Use Plastic Product Bans
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) – Kansas lawmakers are considering legislation that would prevent local governments from banning single-use plastic products, like bags and straws. The Kansas News Service reports that in 2023, Lawrence became the first city in Kansas to ban disposable plastic bags. That will take effect this March. Proponents of such bans say they help the environment and are within the rights of city and county governments. But critics say the bans create extra costs for consumers and put businesses at a disadvantage. The bill would also prevent local governments from implementing extra taxes or fees on single-use plastic products. A similar bill passed in 2022 but was ultimately vetoed by the governor.
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Wichita Woman Suspected in Death of 14-Year-Old Son Is Wounded by Police After Standoff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police have shot and wounded a Kansas woman who is suspected of fatally shooting her 14-year-old son, authorities said.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday that the 43-year-old woman is expected to survive. She was shot early Monday after hours of negotiations.
Officers went to an apartment Sunday night after the father of Claude Hodges called to request a welfare check because the teen had not shown up at a designated exchange spot and could not be reached, authorities said.
No one answered the door, police said. But when officers noticed a bullet hole in the apartment's exterior wall, they obtained a key and went inside. The woman was holding a handgun with a shotgun nearby, so officers quickly left, the KBI said in a news release.
After several hours of negotiations, the woman exited the apartment. Initially she left her handgun on the ground. But the KBI said she picked it up around 1:40 a.m. Monday and began to walk toward the officers while pointing it in their direction.
The KBI said two SWAT officers from the Wichita police department each fired one shot, striking the woman. She was rushed rushed to a hospital, where she underwent surgery and is expected to survive, the KBI said.
Inside the apartment, officers found Hodges dead from a gunshot wound, police and the KBI said.
Police are still investigating the teen's shooting and had not yet submitted their findings to the prosecutor to make a charging decision. The KBI, meanwhile, is investigating the woman's shooting.
(–Additional reporting–)
KBI Investigates Officer-Involved Shooting in Wichita
SEDGWICK COUNTY (KPR) – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is reviewing an officer-involved shooting that took place early Monday morning at an apartment in Wichita. Police officers were called to check on the welfare of a 14-year-old boy in an apartment Sunday evening. Upon entering, officers encountered a woman holding a gun. She was later identified as 43-year-old Kylee Hodges, of Wichita. Officers retreated from the apartment. After hours of discussions, officers convinced Hodges to come out of the apartment and leave her handgun on the ground. Instead, police say she quickly picked up the handgun and pointed it at police. Two SWAT officers fired their weapons, striking her. She was taken to the hospital where she's expected to survive. Once officers reentered the apartment, they discovered the body of the 14-year-old boy, Claude Hodges, in a bedroom, Authorities say he had been shot.
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Missing Jackie Robinson Statue Found in Pieces
WICHITA, Kan. (KMUW) – The Jackie Robinson statue stolen from League 42’s baseball facility in north Wichita has been destroyed. KMUW reports that Wichita police say they found the statue in pieces after a dumpster fire in Garvey Park in south Wichita. League 42 is a youth baseball league at McAdams Park that serves about 600 children in the city’s core neighborhoods. The league’s director Bob Lutz says that the statue is not salvageable. But they’re working to get a replacement. “We’re going to move forward here and not look back. Today is a day where we know what’s ahead of us, and we’re going to confront that head on, ” Lutz added. Police say they are continuing their investigation. No arrests have been made in the case. A GoFundMe link is available to help pay for a new statue. (Read more.)
(–Additional reporting–)
Burned Remnants of Prized Jackie Robinson Statue Found After Theft from Wichita Public Park
UNDATED (AP) – Fire crews found the burned remnants Tuesday of a prized bronze statue of Jackie Robinson that was stolen last week from a public park in Kansas, authorities said.
The Wichita fire department received a call around 8:40 a.m. about a trash can on fire at Garvey Park in the southern part of the city and discovered what appeared to be pieces of the statue, according to police spokesperson Andrew Ford. At a news conference Tuesday, he described it as “not salvageable."
The statue, which was cut at the figure's ankles, went missing Thursday morning. It honors the first player to break Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947.
“If it turns out it was racially motivated, then obviously that is a deeper societal issue and it certainly would make this a much more concerning theft,” said Bob Lutz, Executive Director of the Little League nonprofit that commissioned the sculpture. “We’ll wait and see what this turns out to be.”
League 42, which is named after Robinson’s Dodgers number, paid about $50,000 for the model, which was installed in 2021 in McAdams Park, where roughly 600 children play in the youth baseball league. It also offers educational programs.
The police spokesperson said that with assistance from arson investigators, they have conducted more than 100 interviews. Surveillance video shows two people hauling the sculpture away in the dark, to a truck that was later found abandoned.
“Yes, it's really disheartening to see the remnants of the statue and the disgraceful way in which it has been disrespected,” Wichita police Chief Joe Sullivan said, describing the discovery of it as a “direct indication of the pressure” suspects felt from the ongoing investigation.
He said police are conferring with the prosecutor's office on a regular basis.
“There will be arrests, but we're going to make sure that when we do, we will have a solid case,” he said, adding that for anyone involved in the theft “it is only a matter of time.”
Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers, paving the way for generations of Black American ballplayers. He’s considered not only a sports legend but also a civil rights icon.
Lutz, the nonprofit director, said there will be a new statue installed that will look exactly like the old one, which was made by his friend, the artist John Parsons, before his death. He said the mold is still viable and anticipated that a replacement could be erected within a matter of months.
“I'm trying to keep it together," he said, adding: “The statue that reappears at McAdams Park will be the work of John Parsons.” He stressed that “we are ready for some joy.”
The theft was discovered shortly before Black History Month. But Lutz said in an interview after the news conference that he was hopeful the motive wasn't racial, but that the thieves just saw the bronze as monetarily valuable.
Council Member Brandon Johnson described the statue as a “symbol of hope” and said donations for the replacement are coming from local businesses and through an online fundraiser.
“This now lets us know that we need a new statue,” he said of the destroyed remains. “We’re no longer looking for a complete intact statue. We know we need to raise the money to replace it, and we will do so.”
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KU Study Shows Program Treating PTSD, Depression, Holds Promise
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KNS) – A pilot study by the University of Kansas finds that Warriors’ Ascent, a program for veterans and first responders, shows promise in treating issues like post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. The Kansas News Service reports that when longtime Kansas resident Matt Hastings retired from the U.S. army in 2016, he says he felt like he lost his purpose. In 2022 when Hastings says he was at his lowest point, he heard about Warriors’ Ascent. The 5-day retreat combines multiple treatment methods for issues that many veterans struggle with, like PTSD, depression and substance abuse. Hastings says bringing people with similar experiences together is powerful. “We all thought we were the only ones thinkin’ the way we were thinking. And found out that every single one of us was thinkin’ exactly the same," he added. The KU study found about 3% of participants drop out of the program, compared with the 36% veteran dropout rate in other PTSD treatments.
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Dying Thief Who Stole 'Wizard of Oz' Ruby Slippers from Minnesota Museum Avoids Prison
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — A dying thief who confessed to stealing a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz” because he wanted to pull off “one last score” was given no prison time at his sentencing hearing Monday.
Terry Jon Martin, 76, stole the slippers adorned with sequins and glass beads in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. He gave into temptation after an old associate with connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value, his attorney revealed in a memo to the federal court ahead of his sentencing in Duluth.
Martin showed little emotion as the judge handed down the sentence and was physically unable to fully rise from his chair as the judge adjourned the hearing. He declined to address the court. But defense attorney Dane DeKrey said the resolution of the case should bring a measure of closure to the government, the museum, the slippers' owner and to Martin himself.
The government was able to hold one person accountable, DeKrey said, while the museum and the collector who owns the slippers got to find out what happened. And Martin was able to close this chapter in the final months of his life instead of taking his secret to his grave. “They will never be made whole in this case,” the attorney said of the victims. “But they're more whole than they had been in the last 18 years.”
The FBI recovered the shoes in 2018 when someone else tried to claim a reward. Martin wasn’t charged with stealing them until last year. Prosecutor Matthew Greenley said in court Monday that investigators used phone records to zero in on Martin, and used his wife's immigration status as leverage to search Martin's home and get him to confess.
He pleaded guilty in October to theft of a major artwork, admitting to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum door and display case to take the slippers. But his motivation remained mostly a mystery until DeKrey revealed it in a court filing this month.
Martin, who lives near Grand Rapids, said at the October hearing that he hoped to remove what he thought were real rubies from the shoes and sell them. But a person who deals in stolen goods, known as a fence, informed him the rubies weren't real, Martin said. So he got rid of the slippers.
DeKrey wrote in his memo that Martin's unidentified former associate persuaded him to steal the slippers as “one last score,” even though Martin had seemed to have "finally put his demons to rest” after finishing his last prison term nearly 10 years earlier. “At first, Terry declined the invitation to participate in the heist. But old habits die hard, and the thought of a ‘final score’ kept him up at night,” DeKrey wrote. “After much contemplation, Terry had a criminal relapse and decided to participate in the theft.”
Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz accepted the recommendation of both sides that he sentence Martin to time served because he is housebound in hospice care and is expected to die within the next few months. He requires constant oxygen therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and had to be brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair. The loud hum of his oxygen machine echoed through the courtroom.
Schiltz told Martin he probably would have sentenced him to 10 years in prison if it was still 2005. The judge also accepted the recommendation from both sides that Martin should pay $23,500 in restitution to the museum and ordered him to pay $300 a month. “I certainly do not want to minimize the seriousness of Mr. Martin's crime,” the judge said. “Mr. Martin intended to steal and destroy an irreplaceable part of American culture.”
According to DeKrey's memo, Martin had no idea about the cultural significance of the ruby slippers and had never seen “The Wizard of Oz.” Instead, DeKrey said, the “old Terry” with a lifelong history involving burglary and receiving stolen property beat out the “new Terry” who had become “a contributing member of society” after his 1996 release from prison.
After the fence told Martin the rubies were fake, DeKrey wrote, he gave the slippers to his old associate and told him he never wanted to see them again. The attorney said Martin never heard from the man again. Martin has refused to identify anyone else who was involved in the theft, and nobody else has ever been charged in the case.
The FBI never disclosed exactly how it tracked down the slippers. The bureau said a man approached the insurer in 2017 and claimed he could help recover them but demanded more than the $200,000 reward being offered. The slippers were recovered during an FBI sting in Minneapolis the next year.
Federal prosecutors have put the slippers' market value at about $3.5 million.
In the classic 1939 musical, Garland’s character, Dorothy, had to click the heels of her ruby slippers three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home,” to return to Kansas from Oz. She wore several pairs during filming, but only four authentic pairs are known to remain.
Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw had loaned one pair to the museum before Martin stole them. The other three are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of American History and a private collector.
According to John Kelsh, founding director of the Judy Garland Museum, the slippers were returned to Shaw and are being held for safekeeping by an auction house that plans to sell them after a promotional tour. He told reporters he doubts they will ever come back to Grand Rapids.
Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922. She lived in Grand Rapids, about 200 miles north of Minneapolis, until she was 4, when her family moved to Los Angeles. She died in 1969.
The Judy Garland Museum, located in the house where she lived, says it has the world’s largest collection of Garland and “Wizard of Oz” memorabilia. The museum's executive director, Janie Heitz, said in court that the theft cost it “a significant amount of credibility” and made it harder to borrow other objects connected with Garland and the movie, as well as hurting attendance.
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K-State Women Rise to No. 2 in AP Poll as South Carolina Keeps Grip on No. 1
UNDATED (AP) – South Carolina remains the clear No. 1 team in the country and No. 2 Kansas State matched its best ranking ever after a chaotic week that saw nearly half of the AP Top 25 lose at least one game. Five of last week's top 10 teams lost. Overall, a dozen ranked teams had at least one defeat. Kansas State has its highest ranking since 2002. Iowa is back up to third as Caitlin Clark nears the all-time scoring record in women's basketball. Stanford and North Carolina State round out the top five.
(–Related–)
Without Injured Star, K-State Continues Its Climb to Program-Best No. 2 in AP Top 25
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — It would take some searching anywhere beyond the Flint Hills of central Kansas to find anybody who thought the Kansas State women's basketball program would become a top-10 mainstay this season.
Might need even more luck to find someone who would have predicted this: After the Wildcats lost All-American forward Ayoka Lee to an ankle injury, which will keep her out about three more weeks, they have kept on winning.
With their hard-nosed victory over Big 12 newcomer BYU over the weekend, Kansas State climbed to No. 2 in the latest AP Top 25, matching the best ranking in school history. The Wildcats are the first team in the history of the poll to go from unranked in the preseason to No. 2 at any point, according to Stats Perform.
The Wildcats are riding a 14-game winning streak since their lone loss to Caitlin Clark and No. 3 Iowa that likewise ties a school record, and could be considered 15 straight if a forfeit from TCU for not having enough players is included in the tally.
“I think everybody has had to step up their game in ways that maybe we weren't doing before,” said fifth-year senior Gabby Gregory, the Wildcats' third-leading scorer, and one of the spark plugs for a team that was relegated to the NIT last year.
The 6-foot-6 Lee, a cornerstone both offensively and defensively, missed that entire season with a knee injury.
“Obviously it's shifted the way we play slightly, and I think we've all had to focus in defensively helping in the post, rebounding, and then offensively, we're not able to rely on (Lee) for points inside,” Gregory said of her teammate's latest injury. “We've had to move the ball, get more drives downhill, shots. I think it's really just having to step up our game.”
It helps that the Wildcats (20-1, 9-0), who visit Oklahoma on Wednesday night, are among the deepest teams in the nation. They have eight players averaging at least 15 minutes a game, and seven of them are averaging at least six points.
“We're just a hardworking team,” Kansas State guard Jaelyn Glenn said.
Yet it's hard to overstate just how much Lee has meant to the Wildcats.
The three-time All-Big 12 forward set the NCAA single-game scoring record with 61 points in a 94-65 win over the Sooners a couple of years ago, and she is fourth in school history in scoring and second in rebounds. Lee's ability to patrol the paint has made Kansas State a nightmare to score against, and her leadership on a veteran team is almost unrivaled.
So when the school announced Jan. 19 that she had undergone surgery to repair a small fracture in her ankle, and would miss a month or so, there was cause for concern — especially given how tough the Big 12 has turned out to be this season.
But the Wildcats have managed to overcome the adversity. They beat rival Kansas in their first game without Lee, then knocked off No. 13 Baylor on the road, before rallying from a halftime deficit to beat BYU Saturday.
Gisela Sanchez scored 18 points against the Cougars. Serena Sundell had 14 with a season-high eight assists.
“We knew Ayoka's 15 or 20 touches were going to be distributed, so we needed to get more scoring from everybody, and you're seeing that,” said Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie, whose team is relishing the best start in school history.
“The benefit of this is when Lee comes back,” Mittie continued, “we can have a much stronger, deeper team.”
If her prognosis is correct, Lee would be back about the time Kansas State plays No. 23 West Virginia on Feb. 21. That would mean navigating a tough stretch coming up: After the Wildcats play the Sooners on the road, they visit No. 12 Texas, then play Oklahoma State and visit Iowa State before wrapping up the run with a game against UCF.
It's a daunting road, to be sure, but one that Kansas State has shown it can handle...with and without its star forward.
“It's a testament to how hard we work,” Gregory said. “You know, I don't think a lot of teams thought we could win these big games without Ayoka out here, but everyone had to step up their game, and everyone has to play at a higher level without her out here. But we're just going to fight as hard as we can all 40 minutes and that's the best we can do.”
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KPR Community Spotlight Shines on Foster Village Lawrence
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) - Foster Village Lawrence is in the KPR Community Spotlight this month. Jenny Lichte says her non-profit organization helps bridge the gap between foster families and those who want to help them by meeting practical needs. "The most common thing we do is provide welcome packs for families when children first come into placement in the homes. And each welcome pack - for sure - will have a water bottle, a stuffed animal, a blanket, a book and then it depends on the children's ages... usually a hygiene kit," she said. Foster Village Lawrence is a non-profit aimed at helping foster families and foster children in Douglas and surrounding counties. (Read more.)
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Big 12 Reveals Football Schedule, the First Without Texas and Oklahoma
IRVING, Texas (AP) — The Big 12 has revealed its football schedule for the 2024 season, its first without Southeastern Conference-bound marquee programs Texas and Oklahoma. The slate incorporates new members Arizona, Arizona State and Utah and marks the return of Colorado to the now 16-team league. Each league team will continue to play nine conference games without being separated by divisions. Some will renew old rivalries lost during prior realignment and other prescheduled matchups will be played as nonconference games.
Among the notable matchups, BYU will travel to Utah on Nov. 9 for the 101st meeting of the intense rivals. It will be the first time since 2010 that the schools will face off as conference foes.
Arizona will host Arizona State on Nov. 30 for the Territorial Cup in a rivalry that began in 1899. Baylor will visit Houston on Nov. 30 for the first time since they were both Southwest Conference members in 1995 and Kansas will visit Kansas State in the Sunflower Showdown on Oct. 26.
Previously scheduled games between Arizona and Kansas State and Baylor and Utah will be played as nonconference games to fulfill those commitments.
The 29th season of Big 12 football will kick off conference play when UCF visits TCU on Sept. 14. Dates for several scheduled games have not been determined as yet, leaving them in play to be televised nationally on Thursday or Friday nights. Conference play will conclude Thanksgiving weekend with eight games slated.
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KU Announces Venues for 2024 Home Football Games During Memorial Stadium Reconstruction
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KPR) – The University of Kansas Jayhawks football team will play their 2024 home games in the Kansas City area. The Jayhawks’ first two non-conference games will be at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas as Memorial Stadium in Lawrence is undergoing a major renovation. Those two games will be against Lindenwood University and UNLV. KU’s Big 12 home games will be at Arrowhead Stadium beginning in September, against TCU. There will also be one Arrowhead game in October and two in November. KU’s reconstructed Memorial Stadium is expected to be ready for the 2025 season.
(–Additional reporting–)
Kansas to Play Entire College Football Season on the Road Amid Stadium Construction
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will spend next college football season playing on the road.
At least the Jayhawks' home games will be only a bit down the road.
With their old stadium being razed, and a new stadium anchoring a massive development project expected to open for the 2025 season, the Jayhawks had to find an alternate location for their home games. They decided to split them with its nonconference games being played at Children's Mercy Park, the home of MLS club Sporting Kansas City, and its four conference games being played across the state line at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
Both of the stadiums are less than an hour drive from the Kansas campus in Lawrence.
The school initially thought it could play part of the season at Memorial Stadium while construction was ongoing. But that did not prove to be feasible, so Kansas moved all its home games in order to keep the progress on its new stadium on track.
“While we are disappointed we can't play in Lawrence, ultimately, we want to create the best possible experience for all involved,” Jayhawks athletic director Travis Goff said. "This decision allows that construction to continue on a necessary timeline while also benefiting the overall budget of the project and the 2024 fan experience.”
The Jayhawks will play Lindenwood and UNLV at the soccer stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, but the much smaller capacity of about 18,500 means that the school will not sell individual tickets for those games. They will only be part of season-ticket packages.
Their Big 12 games scheduled for Arrowhead Stadium will be against TCU, Houston, Iowa State and Colorado.
“I'm confident our fans will be able to create a home field that our players will be energized to play in,” said Kansas coach Lance Leipold, who led the Jayhawks to a 9-4 record with a victory over UNLV in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl this past season.
The new stadium is the centerpiece of a new campus gateway that will include multi-use spaces designed to generate revenue throughout the year. That includes a conference center, dining and retail space, office space and housing.
“While we had hoped to play these games in Lawrence, the move to alternate venues is needed to ensure that our fans, student-athletes and all constituents have the best possible gameday experience and that we stay on schedule to complete construction for the 2025 season," Kansas chancellor Doug Girod said. "We recognize this move is not ideal for some members of the Lawrence community, and we hope they will understand this is a necessary one-year move to ensure the Gateway District can begin benefitting Lawrence as soon as possible in 2025.”
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Chiefs Return Home, Begin Super Bowl Preparations
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCUR) – The Kansas City Chiefs are back home after their AFC Championship win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. KCUR reports that the team will now begin to prepare for the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 58. It will be a rematch of number 54, when the Chiefs won their first NFL title in 50 years. But this year, the Chiefs have a much-improved defense. Coach Andy Reid says it’s one of the best units he’s coached in his career. "The guys have been doing a great job. They’re doing a great job with their eyes right now. That’ll be real important in a couple weeks here when we play the 49ers," he added. The defense will face Forty-niners quarterback Brock Purdy, who can run the ball when he’s out of passing options. The Chiefs resume practice on Thursday before leaving this weekend for Las Vegas. The Super Bowl is February 11th.
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Chiefs' Reid: Toney's Injury 'Not Made up by Any Means' After WR Accuses Team of Lying
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs coach Andy Reid denied providing inaccurate injury information on Kadarius Toney on Monday after the wide receiver went on an expletive-laden social media rant in which he appeared to accuse the team of lying about his health. Toney was ruled out of Sunday’s AFC championship game in Baltimore because of a hip issue and for personal reasons following the birth of his daughter. But in a post on Instagram Live, the 25-year-old Toney insisted that “I’m not hurt.” Teams and coaches can be fined by the NFL for issuing inaccurate or misleading injury reports. The Chiefs return to practice Thursday to begin preparing for the Super Bowl against San Francisco on February 11 in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas Super Bowl Tickets Fetching Record Prices on the Secondary Market
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tickets on at least one secondary-market site were the most expensive in Super Bowl history on Monday, underscoring the anticipation of the game's Las Vegas debut between the defending champion and what likely is the most popular team in the West. Oh, and the great possibility Taylor Swift will be on hand when the Kansas City Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 11.
The average purchase price on TickPick was $9,815 on Monday morning. That's nearly double the final average price of $5,795 for last year's game between the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles in Glendale, Arizona, although current prices could decline. It's also more than the previous high of $7,046 for the 2021 game in Tampa, Florida, between the Buccaneers and the Chiefs. The stadium was at 33% capacity because of COVID-19 restrictions, increasing the demand for each ticket.
TickPick's highest non-COVID Super Bowl was in 2020 at Miami Gardens, Florida, when the Chiefs and Niners met for the first time in the championship game. That average price was $6,370. The cheapest ticket on TickPick for this year's game was $8,188 on Monday, more than the $5,997 low price at this point last year. “Location has always impacted demand for a Super Bowl, but Vegas takes things to a whole other level,” TickPick co-CEO Brett Goldberg said in a statement to The Associated Press. "It’s already the entertainment capital of the world, and could very well become the sports capital of the world after the Super Bowl. “With both teams having made at least one Super Bowl appearance in the past five years, we would typically expect there to be slight fatigue from fans, in turn causing prices to dip. Instead, we’re seeing demand hit record highs and a big driver being that fans want to experience their team winning a Super Bowl in Vegas.”
StubHub was experiencing similar demand with an average price of tickets sold at $9,300 on Monday, though that trails the Super Bowl two years ago. The average at the same time was $9,797 for the game in Inglewood, California, when the hometown Los Angeles Rams were preparing to play the Cincinnati Bengals.
The lowest-priced ticket on StubHub for this year's game was $6,500. Sales on that website are 90% greater than last year at this time and 147% greater than the 2020 meeting between Kansas City and San Francisco. The convenient location for 49ers fans is helping drive demand, with California residents accounting for 26% of tickets sold on StubHub. That's more than the combined tickets sold to those who live in Nevada (8%) and Kansas or Missouri (7%). “As predicted, the first Super Bowl in Vegas is seeing strong numbers — sales are nearly double this time last year and early demand has far surpassed the last time Kansas City and San Francisco met in Miami,” StubHub spokesman Adam Budelli said in a statement.
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Royals Finalize $4.5 Million Deal with Utilityman Adam Frazier to Add Versatility to Lineup
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals finalized a $4.5 million, one-year contract with utilityman Adam Frazier on Tuesday, rounding out a vastly overhauled club by adding a left-handed bat and some versatility to their lineup.
Frazier will make $2 million this season as part of a deal that includes an $8.5 million mutual option for 2025 with a $2.5 million buyout.
The 32-year-old spent last season with AL East champion Baltimore, hitting .240 with career highs of 13 homers and 60 RBIs across 141 games. And while he primarily played second base with the Orioles,the Royals plan to use him a variety of spots, and even made sure he was OK with that outlook before agreeing to a contract with them.
“We needed somebody who provided us versatility given the players we have coming back," Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said. “We just wanted to make sure a veteran player was OK with playing multiple positions, which was important to us. We're trying to put together the best 13 players we can so we have depth and versatility to compete across 162 games.”
Frazier, an All-Star in 2021, has played shortstop, third base and all three outfield positions.
“The versatility piece, it adds so much value to a team to be able to have the right matchups in different spots in the lineup,” Frazier said. “Multiple guys can bounce around the field and have that versatility. It puts the team in an advantageous position.”
The Royals have Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop, Michael Massey at second base and Maikel Garcia at third, and all of them are young players that are considered important pieces of the future. They also added Hunter Renfroe in free agency to provide some pop to the lineup and solidify the outfield, while Drew Waters, Kyle Isbel and MJ Melendez will compete for at-bats.
But the Royals are not concerned with where Frazier will fit in because, well, he could fit just about anywhere. And given the possibility of injuries anywhere in the lineup, the Royals will head to spring training in Arizona feeling a bit more comfortable.
“The season is going to bring a lot of bumps in the road,” Piccollo said, “and the big one I think about is injury. You lose a guy for a month, that could be the difference in the playoffs or not. The versatility was very important in this case.”
The Royals have spent lavishly in free agency to turn around the fortunes of a club coming off another 100-loss season. Along with Frazier and Renfroe, they signed fellow utility man Garrett Hampson to fortify the lineup and almost completely revamped their pitching staff, beginning with deals for starters Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha.
They also signed left-hander Will Smith to a $5 million deal to close out games and right-handed reliever Chris Stratton to a $4 million deal to hold onto leads, while acquiring rehabbing starter Kyle Wright as they look ahead to 2025.
“They're clearly committed, based on the amount of money that has been spent this offseason by Kansas City,” Frazier said. “Two of the guys they brought in were my college teammates. I played with Stratton in Pittsburgh, played against Lugo and Wacha as well, even Will Smith. I think you see those guys, they've got great reputations around the league. Competitors, winners, guys that have been doing it a long time. I think their track record speaks for themselves.”
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