The Royals announced plans for a new ballpark in downtown Kansas City, specifically in the Crown Center neighborhood. A joint venture with Hallmark Cards, the project will also featured mixed-use elements, including new headquarters for both the club and the company. It is expected to cost about $3 billion in total with the stadium itself accounting for about two thirds of that. It will be funded with a mix of private and public sources. Kacen Bayless and Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star and Dave Skretta of the Associated Press were among those to provide further details.
John Sherman purchased the Royals in 2019 and has been focused on getting funding for a new stadium for much of the interim. Kauffman Stadium opened in 1973 and is one of the five oldest ballparks in the league, with only Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium being older.
The path to a new stadium hit a setback a few years ago. The Royals and the NFL’s Chiefs were hoping to get public funding for new stadiums from Jackson County, where Kansas City, Missouri is located. However, voters rejected a sales tax measure in April of 2024. That seemingly played a part in the Chiefs leaving the state, as they plan to play in Kansas City, Kansas starting in 2031.
Unlike the Chiefs, the Royals are going to stay in Missouri. It’s still not clear if Jackson County will provide any of the funding but the project has money coming from other sources. The Royals announced that they would be the primary funders, with over $2 billion in private funding in total. The state of Missouri and the city of Kansas City are also providing some. Missouri passed a law last year which allows the state to fund up to 50% of major stadium construction projects. Last week, the city passed an ordinance authorizing the city manager to negotiate a deal with the Royals worth up to $600MM.
Some details are still not clear. The specific timing of the planned moved hasn’t been announced. The team’s lease at Kauffman runs through 2031, so they have time in that regard. As mentioned, it’s unclear if Jackson County will provide any funds. The exact amount contributed by the state of Missouri hasn’t been reported. Kansas City council still has to give final approval and it’s possible the council could push for a public vote.
“We are so far away from a done deal,” councilman Johnathan Duncan said to the Star this week. “We still need a development agreement. We need a TIF (tax increment financing) plan. We need a CID. And we need some type of actual plan from the Royals that says this is what we’re going to be using the $600 million of bonds for.”
A formal club announcement doesn’t necessarily mean everything will proceed as planned. For instance, the Rays previously announced plans for a new stadium in St. Petersburg on the same site as Tropicana Field. But hurricane damage to the Trop led to fighting about repairs and ultimately squashed the deal. That’s a rare example and it’s unlikely something like that will happen in Kansas City but it illustrates that they still have to dot some i’s and cross some t’s.
Photo courtesy of William Purnell, Imagn Images
F off baseball! You make the A’s leave? Go f yourself
WATCH THAT MOUTH!
You seem upset.
Hey! No, watch your mouth.
The NFL team that sleeps on Stan Kronke’s couch had lots of renderings for a downtown San Diego stadium.
True but the City and County of SD could never get it together on who was going to pay for what and how much. They did a real dis service to Chargers fans who supported that franchise. Plenty of blame to go around.
Absolutely shameful. Top three stadium in MLB.
Kauffman is the best stadium for wheelchair access I’ve been to.
Truman Sports Complex is in Jackson, not Jefferson, County.
Would be pretty hard to be called the kc royals if there new ballpark is going to be in the suburbs of Stl. (Jeff co. Is right under Stl co)
Poor Kauffman Stadium. Shame on the Royals and MLB.
If fans make their voice heard then maybe Kauffman can be saved like what happened to Fenway in 1999
Looks like a nice stadium. Nice they kept the fountain. Others can do it but KC has always been the best to me.
I understand one of the names in consideration is “ Meh Field”.
I’ve never been to Kauffman but I’ve also never seen many if any complaints about it. Unless it’s falling apart, what’s the rush?
OK, I’ll bite.
1. Any 53-year old building that is not falling apart requires a ton of maintenance to keep it from falling apart, and at some point it’s more economical to move.
2. Suburban drive-to stadiums are increasingly inconvenient in a society that enjoys driving less. New stadiums are being built closer to population centers in an effort to keep fans.
3. Older stadiums aren’t set up for modern revenue maximization, which include luxury suites and club seating. The Dodgers have spent $ hundreds of millions over the last 10-15 years retrofitting those features into Dodger Stadium, something that was possible only because there was a lot of unused space and the stadium structure was so overbuilt that the additional weight wasn’t a problem.
This is not to say that the good people of KCMO should open their wallets to help, but moving makes plenty of sense to the owners.
Dodgers stadium was built into the earth with the thought in mind they could add suites in the future. Privately financed too by the O’Mallys. Originally the Giants were going to move to LA and the Dodgers to SF.The Angels played at Dodger stadium for 2 years while Anaheim Stadium was being built. Originally they was wanted several cities in Orange County to help finance the construction. But none of the other cities in Orange County offered to so the City of Anaheim went at it alone.
If you look at it like an older automobile. Sure it look nice and shiny on the outside. But what about the infrastructure?
Welfare queens
Is that you Ronald Reagan?
They actually plan to foot the majority of the bill themselves. That’s rather generous of them compared to most new stadiums in this century.
No true at all. City is on the hook for $600+ million and more like 1 billion with interest on the bonds/loan.
And the city get a 1% earnings tax from every player (home and visitor).
Giving a billionaire more billions. What a total crock of $#?+!
New to sports? If they don’t build it, someone else will.
No, seth, I’m not new to sports, just tired of sports reflecting the rest of society by taking from those most in need and giving to those who need it least.
If sports are so profitable even private equity funds want in, there’s no reason not to make them pay for their own damn stadiums.
And those same millionaires and billionaires pay more tax in a year than most pay in their lifetime.
kcmark,
1. Are you sure they pay that much? There are so many loopholes designed specifically to benefit the wealthy, I don’t how often that’s true.
2. Even if they do, their remaining disposable income vastly exceeds that of many millions of others. One individual having wealth equal to over half the population is sickening.
3. There’s still no justification to gift them a stadium costing billions of dollars.
And they still pay an effective tax rate much lower than most Americans
No one buys a ticket to see a empty stadium
It’s a paradox
Dolemite,
Are you saying owners won’t own teams and fill rosters if they’re not given stadiums? That they can only afford one or the other?
Not all teams.Dodgers built thier own ballpark It’s cost prohibitive for an owner to buy a team and build a ball park in 2026 There’s only 3 owners that have outside of Walter O ‘Malley. Rams owner Stan Kronke. Original Lakers and Kings owner Jack Kent Cooke and Jerry Jones. I’m sure there are others
Is it cost prohibitive, or have cities (foolishly) set the expectation that some locale will pony up for a new facility, so owners just hold onto their money and wait for a set of politicians to blink?
Not really lmao
There’s definitely a common denominator with a chunk of all franchises across the big 3 sports.
The location is interesting. If I recall correctly from visiting KC, it would replace the Hallmark headquarters, which is on the side of a pretty big hill. I wonder if the stadium might be dug in to the side of the hill like Dodger Stadium and not totally free-standing.
I’ll put it this way. The Royals to the Hall family “we want your land”. The Hall family responds “ ok, what do we get?” The Royals respond with “we’ll build you a new headquarters with less office space because people don’t care about hallmark cards anymore.” The hall family respond with “ you have a deal”.
The city bailed Hallmark out because they’re hemorrhaging money but used the stadium issue as a disguise. Half of the office space they own on site is empty
You sound like a person that doesn’t get birthday cards
eCards.
This will get built before the Las Vegas stadium lol
Really? The Las Vegas construction has been on going for over a year.
It’s a really beautiful stadium. I wish they would stay. It’s one of the last mid century modern ones left. When it’s gone I think Chavez ravine will be the last.
It’s from the same era as Angels Stadium. Only two left from the 60/70s. Yes Dodgers stadium would be the next closest in age. The K is fine but location is awful and the Chiefs are about to abandon the complex as well
Not really.Dodger Staduim opened in 1962. Anaheim Stadium 1966. Royals Stadium 1972.
The Royals ballpark was modeled after Anaheim Stadium.
Ah I often forget Anaheim has a team. I am quite fond of that stadium as well.
How could you forget something your fond of?
Knowing the Royals, I’m sure it will be made out of the best recycled cardboard available and paid for with revenue, shared with teams like the Yankees and Dodgers.
For goodness sakes. For those that complain that mlb teams should cover the cost 100% are naive or ignorant on what benefit it is the the city, county and state to have a draw to their community.
55% of the season ticket holders at Kaufman Stadium are from Johnson County Kansas. Many of their opponents also have fans that follow teams on the road. In face the Royals themselves have the highest out of state to in state attendance in the MLB. 6 to every 1 attendees are not from Missouri, according to statgeeks.
It’s not greedy when it’s beneficial to all sides.
It’s Jackson County, but yes, it’s refreshing that the Royals are actually paying for the majority of it themselves. Most teams don’t pay anywhere near that much for their new stadiums.
Although, to be fair, it’s much easier to rank high in out-of-state attendance ratio when much of the metro area of the market is actually located in a second state.
What is Jackson County?
That’s the county in KCMO. Johnson Co is the suburbs 15-30 min away
Imagine being able to flip .00001¢ worth of card stock and an envelope into $7 for every birthday for a billion people a year.
Now put the Royals games on the Hallmark Channel.
Where are the Chiefs going ?
The Chiefs are building a domed stadium across the state line in Wyandotte County, which has a unified government with Kansas City, KS. It’ll be very near the NASCAR track and MLS stadium. There should be plenty of space to continue the tailgating tradition, albeit next to an expensive, flashy, soulless, new gridiron cathedral.
Every stadium now is a mixed use h 6th v my hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm