Royals Announce New Ballpark in "The Heart of Downtown KC"

[Couch-Potato]

What do you guys think about the new ballpark?

ESPN:

Spoiler!

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals intend to build their new downtown ballpark blocks away from T-Mobile Center and the Power & Light District, scrapping two concepts elsewhere in the city for a location that puts the stadium closer to existing entertainment areas.

The Royals revealed plans for the $2 billion-plus ballpark project Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium, two days after the Kansas City Chiefs -- whose Arrowhead Stadium shares the Truman Complex with their existing ballpark -- won their third Super Bowl in the past five years, and one day before the city celebrates another Lombardi Trophy with a parade downtown.

"This is going to be awesome!!! Can't wait!" Chiefs quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes wrote on X in response to renderings of the new Royals ballpark.

The parade route Wednesday travels along Grand Avenue to Union Station, or directly past the location of the new ballpark.

"We're the second-smallest city with both an NFL franchise and Major League Baseball club," Royals owner John Sherman said, "and we want to sustain ourselves as a major league city. We want these franchises to thrive here for another 50 years."

The new ballpark -- located in "the heart of Kansas City," per an X post from the team -- will seat about 34,000 fans, or roughly 3,000 fewer than Kauffman Stadium, and the Royals are hopeful it would be ready for the 2028 season. The final design is still under development, but renderings shown Tuesday paid homage to the K's swooping roof lines and iconic center-field fountains.


"The ballpark will have a really great feeling of intimacy," Sherman said.

Kansas City started play at Municipal Stadium in 1969, then moved to Kauffman Stadium in 1973 and extensively renovated the current ballpark from 2009-12.

The Royals unveiled two other locations last fall, one on the eastern edge of downtown and the other across the Missouri River in Clay County, Missouri. Both were met with tepid reaction from fans, many of whom still love Kauffman Stadium, and political infighting ensued over the extension of a sales tax in Jackson County, Missouri, to help pay for the ballpark.

The Royals' ownership group plans to invest more than $1 billion in private funding for the project, but some of the money will come from the 3/8-cent tax, which also will provide funding that the Chiefs plan to use to renovate Arrowhead Stadium.

"I know I'm biased here," Sherman said, "but between what the Chiefs can do out here with an expanded tailgate experience, and what we do down there, we will have two of the best pregame and postgame experiences in all of sports."

The Royals and Chiefs pushed to put the sales tax on the April 2 ballot, and Jackson County legislators initially approved the referendum, only to watch Jackson County executive Frank White -- a five-time All-Star and member of the Royals' Hall of Fame -- veto the measure. Last month, two legislators changed their vote and joined five others in overriding the veto.

That not only put the tax extension on the ballot, it put the onus on the Royals to reveal exactly what voters will be paying for.

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The new ballpark would be situated adjacent to Interstate 670, where the Kansas City Star's former printing press building sits largely vacant, and tie together several disparate neighborhoods into a more cohesive downtown environment.

Just to the north, where new parks would cover the interstate and allow for safe pedestrian traffic, sits Power & Light, the home to many existing bars and restaurants. To the south lies the Crossroads Art District, a trendy enclave anchored by the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. And to the east is the historic 18th & Vine neighborhood, home to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the American Jazz Museum and iconic restaurants such as Arthur Bryant's Barbeque.

"The fact of the matter is, we've always been cognizant of this site. It never went away," said Earl Santee, the founder of the Kansas City-based sports architectural giant Populous. "We looked at other sites over time, and this is my 23rd major league ballpark site, and it's timing that leads you to the end, and this is the right timing for this site."

Santee compared the 17.3-acre site to downtown ballparks built in Denver, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis. There are about 20 property owners in the area and the Royals will need to negotiate with each of them to purchase their parcels of land.

"Development is happening in ways that are engaging," Santee said. "This will amplify the brand of Kansas City."

Indeed, the Royals hope the project continues what Sherman called "a golden era" for the former cowtown on the plains.

Over the past decade, Kansas City has hosted two World Series, baseball's All-Star Game and the NFL draft, while a $1.5 billion airport opened just over a year ago. The Kansas City Current of the National Women's Soccer League will open their new purpose-built stadium next month on the north edge of downtown, and Arrowhead Stadium was recently awarded six games -- including a quarterfinal match -- by FIFA for the 2026 World Cup hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

"This is about a lot more than just a new home for the Royals," said Brooks Sherman, Royals president of business operations, who is unrelated to the team's owner. "This generational project is intended for something great."

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Mecca

There is a non white man walking on my sidewalk the horror!

Originally Posted by Mecca

I mean at this point I might if it would lower my ****ing rent.

That's not how rent works bud, you gotta move deeper into the shithole and embrace those people referenced above.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by Pablo

That's not how rent works bud, you gotta move deeper into the shithole and embrace those people referenced above.

I was just more or less pointing out how what he said was stupid "you live there cause it's all you can afford" yea my rent payment says what?

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I’ll vote Yes. Despite being anti-billionaire and consistently voting with the folks that tend to oppose this type of effort the most.

Despite being a bigger fan of the East Village site (which would have helped further pull up that neighborhood). Still not sure what happened there (suspect the owner of the old Star printing building made the real estate purchases easier and cheaper).

The Royals aren’t staying at the current site. That option doesn’t exist. If this fails, they’ll move to a different county or different city all together.

I don’t like either idea.

Less infrastructure worries at the Crossroads and with Power & Light already there don't have to build another entertainment district. Can just build the stadium and the high rise.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Mecca

I was just more or less pointing out how what he said was stupid "you live there cause it's all you can afford" yea my rent payment says what?

Investment groups have a strangle hold on the KC single family market. Rent will be ****ed forever more.

[Hammock Parties]

If you want to side with the communists at KC Tenants go right ahead.

Give the Clarks whatever they want or Gracie will be cutting way down on the cheesecake photos.

LIKE IT OR NOT YOU ARE A SERF AND LORD HUNT DEMANDS YOUR TRIBUTE

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

If you want to side with the communists at KC Tenants go right ahead.

Give the Clarks whatever they want or Gracie will be cutting way down on the cheesecake photos.

LIKE IT OR NOT YOU ARE A SERF AND LORD HUNT DEMANDS YOUR TRIBUTE

I wish this was a vote to give the Clarks anything they want. They deserve it.

Instead it's tied into a loser franchise that's given the city like 3 seasons of happiness in 40 years.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by Pablo

I wish this was a vote to give the Clarks anything they want. They deserve it.

Instead it's tied into a loser franchise that's given the city like 3 seasons of happiness in 40 years.

The loser Royals will have a new stadium before KC with some of the highest crime rates in the nation will have a jail. Speaks volumes about the rubes who live in this crime ridden shithole

[HonestChieffan]

Originally Posted by Pablo

I wish this was a vote to give the Clarks anything they want. They deserve it.

Instead it's tied into a loser franchise that's given the city like 3 seasons of happiness in 40 years.

Soon as he gets new stadium he will sell it and cash big

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by HonestChieffan

Soon as he gets new stadium he will sell it and cash big

Of course. He knows he's holding onto a walmart bag full of dogshit. Shove that dogshit into a Louis Vitton purse and laugh all the way to the bank.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by HonestChieffan

Like when they have a game no one will be using the 40000 available spots. Its a scam and a total grift.

If people are voting no because they think they won't find a parking spot, then they're butt ****ing morons... who cares if someone says there are 40k spots. They're dumb and the Royals clearly don't need that many anyway.

Someone else has probably done more accurate math by now, but seems like split evenly across ~500k Jackson County adults, comes out to $100 per year or $4000 across 40 years.

End of the day, you add 8 bucks per month to whatever other costs are associated with watching the Royals... it's not a scam and definitely not a grift, you're literally voting on it.

And if your issue is handing over money to rich people, then I have some really bad news about life...

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

If you want to side with the communists at KC Tenants go right ahead.

Give the Clarks whatever they want or Gracie will be cutting way down on the cheesecake photos.

LIKE IT OR NOT YOU ARE A SERF AND LORD HUNT DEMANDS YOUR TRIBUTE

You really gotta stop using the word communists so much.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by Pablo

Of course. He knows he's holding onto a walmart bag full of dogshit. Shove that dogshit into a Louis Vitton purse and laugh all the way to the bank.

If you take a look at Shermans personal worth, a metric shit ton of it is tied to the Royals, every bit of this speaks to a buy the team, get a stadium, sell it for double what he paid for it to bump up his wealth significantly.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

If people are voting no because they think they won't find a parking spot, then they're butt ****ing morons... who cares if someone says there are 40k spots. They're dumb and the Royals clearly don't need that many anyway.

Someone else has probably done more accurate math by now, but seems like split evenly across ~500k Jackson County adults, comes out to $100 per year or $4000 across 40 years.

End of the day, you add 8 bucks per month to whatever other costs are associated with watching the Royals... it's not a scam and definitely not a grift, you're literally voting on it.

And if your issue is handing over money to rich people, then I have some really bad news about life...

Is it that life sucks?

[comochiefsfan]

I’m not a Jackson County resident so this isn’t my fight.

But it does make me cringe when I see people online say dumb shit like “Vote No. Stay at the K.”

Like people understand that’s not an option right? The Royals will either get a new ballpark here or they will get it elsewhere.

This vote is basically, “Vote yes to have Major League Baseball in Kansas City. Vote no to get rid of it.”

Which, if people don’t want baseball here and are fine with losing the Royals then more power to them. I just hope everyone understands exactly what the stakes are.

Yeah it sucks to have to subsidize billionaires, but we don’t live in “Shouldland” we live in “Reality World” where unfortunately that’s the cost of having pro sports teams.

Losing pro sports would be incredibly costly to KC and the region and I think there is more value in being a pro sports city than the anti “sportsball” crowd would ever admit.

Think of how much money and name recognition and prestige the Chiefs have brought to KC in the last decade. It’s enormous and that’s something that’s hard to put a price on.

If I lived there, this would be an easy yes. But again, easy to say when it’s not my money.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by comochiefsfan

I’m not a Jackson County resident so this isn’t my fight.

But it does make me cringe when I see people online say dumb shit like “Vote No. Stay at the K.”

Like people understand that’s not an option right? The Royals will either get a new ballpark here or they will get it elsewhere.

This vote is basically, “Vote yes to have Major League Baseball in Kansas City. Vote no to get rid of it.”

Which, if people don’t want baseball here and are fine with losing the Royals then more power to them. I just hope everyone understands exactly what the stakes are.

Yeah it sucks to have to subsidize billionaires, but we don’t live in “Shouldland” we live in “Reality World” where unfortunately that’s the cost of having pro sports teams.

Losing pro sports would be incredibly costly to KC and the region and I think there is more value in being a pro sports city than the anti “sportsball” crowd would ever admit.

Think of how much money and name recognition and prestige the Chiefs have brought to KC in the last decade. It’s enormous and that’s something that’s hard to put a price on.

If I lived there, this would be an easy yes. But again, easy to say when it’s not my money.

I think people do completely forget how ****ing old those stadiums are, Royals stadium is only behind Wrigley and Fenway for oldest stadium in the league, it is not a historical momument like those.