When a winter sports franchise is in financial trouble, Kansas City&rsquo;s Sprint Center often comes up as an option. </p><p>But City Manager Wayne Cauthen says Kansas City may need its own version of Mark Cuban, the eccentric owner of the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Dallas Mavericks, if it hopes to step forward and land a pro sports team for the arena.</p><p>Kansas City was mentioned last month when The Wall Street Journal reported that a potential sale of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes fell through. The NHL stepped in to bid on the team, a move designed to keep the franchise in Glendale, Ariz.</p><p>The report quoted Robert Boland, a professor of sports business at New York University, who said the NHL may have bitten off more than it could chew. </p><p>&ldquo;I think they&rsquo;ll announce next year that they can&rsquo;t do it and will go to Kansas City,&rdquo; Boland said, citing the Sprint Center as a possible home. </p><p>But a spokesman for the Sprint Center said any deal would be so complicated that Kansas City would be unlikely to get involved.</p><p>In another development, Atlanta Spirit, the group that owns the Hawks basketball team and the Thrashers hockey team, has retained Goldman Sachs to bring in outside investors. The teams made headlines after documents filed in federal court showed they lost a combined $174 million over six years, including $40 million in 2002 and $55 million in 2003. </p><p>Michael Gearon Jr., an owner in the group, confirmed to Street & Smith&rsquo;s SportsBusiness Journal that the group had hired Goldman primarily to bring in minority investors and financially restructure the team&rsquo;s ownership and operating rights at Phillips Arena. </p><p>Gearon said the group had &ldquo;no plans to sell the franchises,&rdquo; but he did not discount selling either team if the price were right. </p><p>&ldquo;If someone comes at us with a crazy price, then you&rsquo;d have to consider selling, but that hasn&rsquo;t been the goal in working with Goldman,&rdquo; Gearon said. </p><p>Cauthen has been keeping track of all the chatter. </p><p>&ldquo;I need somebody like Cuban,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the bottom line. We have money in this community, but they earned their money the old-fashioned way. So, therefore, they look at things that are a lot more profitable than owning a team. You have to have a certain ego to do it.&rdquo;</p><p>Cauthen said Kansas City would be unlikely to try to lure a team here that has out-of-state owners. </p><p>&ldquo;If they want to sell their team, for the most part they are getting out of the business,&rdquo; Cauthen said. </p><p>The success of the Sprint Center has made the lack of a major tenant tolerable, he said. </p><p>&ldquo;The Sprint Center has been highly successful in meeting its projections and cash flow,&rdquo; Cauthen said. &ldquo;But I do believe that we&rsquo;re a major-league city. We are one of the largest cities in the nation without a major winter sport.&rdquo; </p><p>Cauthen said he plans to keep a sharp eye out for a potential Mark Cuban. It&rsquo;s just a matter of finding someone with a thick wallet and a big enough ego to do it.