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."

[Gravedigger]

Originally Posted by Bob Dole

Big empty buildings are great for a city?

And keep caring less, I suppose.

Big empty buildings like the KC Star Mausoleum? I'm not going to tell people to be in favor of supplying funding through taxation for a team that has newly changed owners without any sort of competitive guarantee, but any kind of a new stadium for the Royals or the Chiefs is going to cost money that will be passed onto the fans at some point. It's almost inevitable, and we don't want to become St. Louis when it's all said and done.

[Bearcat]

Enjoyed the suburbanite and boomer comments on FB yesterday... traffic and congestion nightmares, one way streets, cats and dogs living together, won't ever attend another game ever!!!

Hell, it took me an hour and a half to get out of WS game 7 in 2014 and at least an hour to get out of the 2021 AFCCG.... downtown won't be any worse than that.

The one hope though is managing the flow of people and vehicle traffic... Sprint Center events have been annoying in the past because they funnel everyone right in front of the parking garages where no one can leave due to all the foot traffic. Just a little bit of thought towards managing that and traffic lights and so forth would go a long way.

[scho63]

I'm a huge fan of smaller baseball stadiums in downtown areas. Works great. Shared for other things like concerts or motor bike or bike or skateboard events.

35-40K max seating.

Gotta have some mass transit to and from to support.

[Eureka]

Originally Posted by Eleazar

The parking question has to be answered because cities with downtown ballparks either have better mass transit than KC or have some sort of parking facilities that can handle the crowds... in most cases, both.

A parking garage connected to the stadium will probably be necessary.

Image: Not Safe for Work

[nychief]

Ha. KC Residents will never not worry about parking and free refills, nothing ever changes.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by nychief

Ha. KC Residents will never not worry about parking and free refills, nothing ever changes.

No tailgating and a much greater difficulty getting to the stadium seem like issues lots of normal people will care about.

[loochy]

I'd rather they pour some money into the team and get at least a competitive team out there. This is like lipstick on a pig

[Katipan]

It revitalized Denver.
Be mad, I'm just saying.

[Titty Meat]

Voting No

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by Titty Meat

Voting No

The sales tax vote includes funding for the Chiefs as well... you are voting no to Mahomes?

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by loochy

I'd rather they pour some money into the team and get at least a competitive team out there. This is like lipstick on a pig

Do taxpayers typically vote to send money for player salaries to sports teams?

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Eleazar

Do taxpayers typically vote to send money for player salaries to sports teams?

i would


get some damn hitting in here

[KCUnited]

As an out of towner this is great as I typically stay in the Crossroads anyway

As a resident it would be nice if there were more transit options but baby steps I guess

Depending on how the footprint shakes out I do feel for some of the potential impact on businesses. The Crossroads has done a really good job of developing itself in a non-commercial way. It would suck to lose that vibe but that typically means it'll develop in another part of the city

[Bwana]

As long as they bring along the George Brett statue, so the ass kicking can continue, it's all good!

[Couch-Potato]

Originally Posted by Gravedigger

I feel like it's good for the image of the city in the national scale, just like the new airport was something overdue, that section of downtown KC needs some work. It's the hub of travel through downtown, but it's been the same since I was a kid. I feel bad for the businesses that will be bought out or moved, but we need to stop pretending this is being done for the Royals in anyway shape or form. I could care less about the Royals getting a new ballpark, but what it does for the city I think needs to be done sooner or later.

I think this is the right answer.