I was still in Iowa when the K was renovated, so I’m unfamiliar with the various options that were presented in the mid-00s. I am curious if anyone can explain why Kauffman was renovated instead of this new ballpark being built. I know that baseball is the only thing that has kept Downtown St Louis afloat, so I can only imagine what a ballpark in Downtown would have created in Kansas City. Also, curious to hear if people think the Royals will still wind up downtown in the next 20-30 years once the K ages again.
i would like to also throw into the mix an idea i had regarding kauffman stadium. if we did take a ball park downtown i would say lets strip kauffman stadium of all but the concrete, the chairs the big screen the fountains and lighting, and move it to its new home downtown. there are plenty of ideas for where and what a ballpark should look like but not many that consider what to do with kauffman, so I’m thinking why not turn it into a sweet outdoor performance venue? with american royal headed there now, i can imagine having artists or performers up on a stage where the fountains are now, think about the jonas brothers concert in arrowhead. with standing room on what is now the field and expanding the stadium seating back to its original number, we could be talking capacity near 50,000. plus the room along the outfield for pyro or a big screen or performer tailored effect.
A lot of that would depend on whether the Chiefs remain at Arrowhead. The complex would probably no longer be economically viable at that location without the Chiefs, compared to other highway-oriented uses that could take place at the junction of two heavily traveled interstates.
I do always love a good adaptive reuse project though. Kauffman is definitely a unique structure, but the 1970s aren’t exactly considered a pinnacle of architecture either.
Sam Mellinger @mellinger
Royals chairman John Sherman will also use this afternoon’s press conference to touch on plans and hopes for a downtown stadium, I’m told by sources. Big day for Kansas City.
Drama continues to unfold, now involving the Chiefs.
The Chiefs have not engaged in serious conversations with outside parties about a move across the state line, sources told me, a sentiment confirmed to The Star’s Katie Bernard by Brianna Johnson, a spokeswoman for Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly.
"This partnership has served us well for over 50 years, and we look forward to working with them to enhance the amazing community asset that GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium has become.” Where do those talks stand now? “We have not heard back from the county,” Donovan said.
It is not yet clear with whom the Chiefs should negotiate their new lease: White and his staff, or the Hardwick Law Firm recently presumably hired to handle negotiations, or a newly formed stadium improvements committee within the Jackson County legislature. Separately, each of those entities has voiced a degree of authority over such talks, some even in conversations with The Star in the last two weeks.
