If Bill Self could, he definitely would vote “yes” Tuesday for funding for a downtown arena and College Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Mo.

As a Lawrence resident and Kansas taxpayer, however, Self is not eligible to cast his vote in person, but he has lent his voice to the issue.

“I see it as a no-brainer,” said Self, Kansas University’s second-year men’s basketball coach.

He made himself available for several radio spots in favor of the arena vote last week, along with Hall of Fame coach John Wooden, plus Kentucky’s Tubby Smith, Illinois’ Bruce Weber, Missouri’s Quin Snyder and others.

“You look at different cities and see how an arena has revitalized the downtown area … Kansas City could use that assistance,” Self said. “To have the opportunity to do something like this, to think what can be here five, seven, 10 years from now and the events that can come to Kansas City is remarkable to me.

“In order to move forward as a city, I think we need to do this because everyone will benefit from it.”

Question One on Tuesday’s ballot will ask Missouri voters if they wish to approve a hotel fee (up to $1.50 a day) and car-rental fee (up to $4 per day) to help support the proposed $250 million Sprint Center and College Hall of Fame, set to open in 2007 at 14th and Grand Avenue in Kansas City, Mo.

Fifty cents of the car fee would go for general convention and tourism marketing. The hotel fee and up to $3.50 of the car-rental fee would go toward the arena, which would seat 18,000-20,000 fans.

Some private businesses, including Anschutz Entertainment Group of Los Angeles, Sprint and the National Association of Basketball Coaches, are ponying up funds for the project, which would guarantee Kansas City the Big 12 Conference and NCAA tournaments in the future — and might even bring an NHL or NBA team to town.

Plans show the Sprint Center, upper right, in this file photo of an artist's rendering. The Sprint Center will be the site for the 2008 Big 12 men's basketball tournament.

Without the new Sprint Arena, look for Dallas and Oklahoma City — maybe even Omaha, which has a brand-new arena — to snare most of the future Big 12 tournaments.

“Even if we don’t wind up with a United Center or American Airlines arena, we could have an arena with the amenities that could make it so fan-friendly that Kansas City could offer just as much or more than any other city could possibly offer in any bid to lure events to their town,” Self said.

He outlined what’s needed in an arena that Kemper doesn’t necessarily provide.

“We need updated skyboxes, updated scoreboards, updated locker rooms, an updated media center,” Self said. “We need a fan-friendly deal where we can lure people to the city. Now we are luring people to the stockyards — not a big revenue-maker for the city.”

The NABC, of which Self is a member, is pushing hard for a new College Basketball Hall of Fame to be built adjacent to the new arena. The group has pledged to raise $10 million toward that project.

“There’s the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., for all of basketball,” Self said. “Right now, there are guys who are not in that Hall, who deserve to be recognized in the college Hall.”

Those individuals, he said, included coaches Eddie Sutton, Norm Stewart and the late Jack Hartman and Cotton Fitzsimmons, and players like Lucious Allen, a UCLA standout out of K.C. Wyandotte, and former Jayhawk All-American Danny Manning.

“This Hall would be something our fans could hang their hat on and be proud of,” Self said, “a great tourist attraction for the people who come to Kansas City. What better place to have it than in an area where Dr. Naismith (James, inventor of game) taught and worked and an area that’s hosted more Final Fours than any other city?”