MLB Commissioner Pushes for New Stadium in Kansas City

Article ByKyle Garlett

August 18, 2023

Spread the Word:

Posted in: Missouri Gambling News, US Sports Betting News

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred was in Kansas City on Wednesday. He spoke about the economic impact of a potential new stadium for the Royals. Manfred, not surprisingly, backed owner John Sherman’s contention that a new stadium is necessary to further Kansas City’s growth and economic development.

“The fact that in Kansas City, there are two sites of unbelievably high quality that are available for the building of a ballpark is a tremendous opportunity for this community,” Manfred said. “Forget for the Royals – for the community. Both of these sites are outstanding sites for the ballpark. Both of them present the opportunity for entertainment district development around the ballpark.”

Of the two sites the Royals are considering, one is in downtown at 12th Street and Cherry Street, just to the east of the T-Mobile Center. The other is in North Kansas City, across the Missouri river in Clay County. Since the Royals were an expansion team in 1969, they have played in Jackson County.

The Argument for a New Stadium

The Royals play in Kauffman Stadium, which opened 50 years ago. It is the sixth-oldest stadium in Major League Baseball, and it will become the fifth-oldest when the Oakland A’s move to Las Vegas.

Not only is Kauffman Stadium old, but back when it was built, the trend was to place ballparks away from city centers, and closer to interstate access and with lots of available space for parking. So the “entertainment district” that Manfred spoke of, and what has been seen in other Major League Baseball cities, is not viable at the Royals’ current home.

Manfred specifically spoke of the stadium and entertainment district success stories in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

The Argument Against a New Stadium

Kansas City is not Atlanta. Kansas City is the second-smallest market in Major League Baseball. Atlanta is the 11th-biggest.

This will be the fifth straight full season of baseball that the Royals draw less than two million fans, and they currently rank 28th in attendance behind the Miami Marlins and A’s. When the Royals won the World Series in 2015, they drew a franchise-record 2.7 million fans.

Last year, the Atlanta Braves drew 3.12 million fans, the seventh time in their history that they topped three million in attendance. Atlanta is currently fifth in attendance and on pace to top 3.2 million this year.

The Royals opened this season with the 25th-highest payroll at $74.9 million, and only three times have they ended a season with a payroll north of $100 million. The Braves have gone over $100 million in salary 11 times, and in each of the last seven years.

Atlanta has also finished over .500 in the last six years, winning their division in each of those years. The Royals last .500 season was in 2016, and in the six years since then, they are a combined 190 games below .500.

Those win-loss numbers are what is most relevant to Royals fans, who are being asked to pay for more than half of the estimated $2 billion project through an extension of a sales tax, as well as other government financial commitments.

When Sherman was asked why he wanted the public to pick up half of the tab, and not just have his ownership group pay for the entire thing, he responded, “I would probably start to answer that with talking about the partnership, the 52-year partnership that we’ve had with this community, that we have with Jackson County, the city of Kansas City, Missouri. I feel pretty strongly about the fact that we want partners in this business.”

Sherman bought the Royals in 2019 for $1 billion, and his net worth in 2022 was estimated at $1.2 billion.

Sherman said that the team plans to announce its choice of the two sites in September.

The Future of the Truman Sports Complex

Kauffman Stadium has been unique in that during the whole of its existence, it has shared the Truman Sports Complex with Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. The two stadiums opened within eight months of each other – Arrowhead Stadium in August, 1972, and Kauffman Stadium in April, 1973.

If the Royals move, as expected, then the Chiefs will have a number of renovation options to consider. And owner Clark Hunt has said that he would prefer to pay for renovations that extend the life of the stadium by 25 years, as opposed to moving locations.

He also did not rule out the possibility of building a new domed stadium at the current site of Kauffman Stadium, saying, “A benefit of a dome stadium is that you are weather-protected, which does give you the ability to host more events.”

Including, perhaps, a Super Bowl.