Thoughts on the Downtown Royals Stadium

An evening view facing North of the Crossroads Royals Stadium. Rendering provided by the Royals and Populous.

The past few days, I’ve taken time to reflect on the vision for a Downtown Ballpark put forward by the Royals and Populous (architect) to the public for review and discussion.

A lot of the discussion has been charged one way or another. I fall on the side of wanting this to definitely happen, but feel for those who are cautious about the project in general and have questions they’d like answered. I don’t feel for those who are adamantly opposed to the stadium simply because of the location or the usual “we don’t need it, the K is fine as-is” crowd.

Having been to Kauffman (lovingly nicknamed "The K") for a Royals game, it’s clear that it’s a special place. People like the stadium and some feel they have a deep connection to it. For many Kansas Citians, it’s the place where they’ve seen their first professional baseball game. Memories have been made in the stands. Victories have been celebrated and the losses have been dreaded. But the K remains an icon both within local sports culture, but also in the MLB. 

For someone like me who didn’t grow up in Kansas City, it always seemed odd to me that the City’s major sports teams sit outside of Downtown, off the side of a highway, in areas that are hostile to anyone on foot, with absolutely nothing to do around them besides to park and drive.

Sporting events are known for bringing people together. You almost always see fans drinking beer, chatting, and be friendly towards each other at a game. That’s been the case the countless times I’ve been to Busch Stadium (both 2 and 3), Enterprise Center, and CityPark in St. Louis. The same remains the case at the K. However, the freedom to actually enjoy more than a few beers, hang around at a restaurant (or bar) before and after a game, or explore a downtown area before/after a game is non-existent in Kansas City and it's something I feel that baseball fans here are, unfortunately, missing out on.

The current home of the Royals - Kaufmann Stadium (lovingly known as "The K") seen here during a late 2022 season game.

When you think of some of the greatest baseball franchises in the country, you might think of the Cardinals, Cubs, Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, or maybe even the San Diego Padres. We recall their stadiums and the context they’re in. Wrigleyville in Chicago is called to mind for its eclectic mix of neighborhood taverns and rooftop bleachers as people watch a storied franchise play on one of the MLBs oldest fields. In Boston, the Green Monster is just one highlight of an old stadium that still holds its place in the City where the American Revolution started and the neighborhood around it has blossomed into a dense neighborhood active all-year. In St. Louis, the Cardinals play their exciting games against a backdrop of the iconic Gateway Arch. 

Meanwhile in Kansas City, the K’s backdrop is the famous crown screen, fountains, a vacant Adams Mark hotel, and... Interstate 70?

As a young man, who’s going to be 24 later this year, I feel a deeper connection to baseball in the stadiums I named above than the K. The game feels more authentic, the City is within reach of your pre- and post-game entertainment and enjoyment. I enjoy being able to access the above mentioned stadiums by not being required to drive, pay to park, and sit in traffic to leave. I like multi-modal access. 

If anything, the entirety of the Truman Sports Complex has proven to be an outdated model that turns younger fans away. Driving, sitting in traffic in the one entrance to the parking lot, paying to park, walking through a large parking lot, into a stadium, only to do the same thing again on the way out is a downright depressing experience. And I’m not the only one who thinks this. We need a new home for the Royals that can meet the needs of today’s baseball fans and market.

We need a stadium that allows new memories to be made to where, one day, the new stadium will be just as loved as the K. That time is now.

An aerial view showing the stadium's context with Downtown and the Crossroads. Image provided by the Royals and Populous. 

Downtown Kansas City has been on the move in recent years. You can feel it whenever you go Downtown. You can feel it when you go for a show at the Midland, Folly, Concert Hall, Kauffman Center, KC Live!, or T-Mobile Center. You can feel it when attending an event at the Municipal Auditorium. You can feel it when attending a convention or attending a First Friday weekend in the Crossroads. If you’re like me, and are a resident of Downtown, you can feel the energy of people walking around in a constantly evolving neighborhood on a nice evening throughout the year.

Downtown is alive and doing very well, but it needs that extra "kick" to propel it forward.

Yes, I’ll admit that the site chosen in the Crossroads was not my preferred site for this venture (East Village was my preferred), but I’ll take it. This area of the Crossroads feels more like a forgotten hole amongst a changing City. The vacant Kansas City Star printing press looms over the neighborhood as a dark mass that walls off the eastern half of the Crossroads from the evermore vibrant western half. Additionally, the eastern half of the Crossroads is predominantly industrial surrounded by crumbling sidewalks, little areas of activity, and just a general feeling of being forgotten about. The future of the Crossroads will be determined by what happens in this eastern half.

During my time living in Downtown, I’ve made an effort to walk every single street and block in the area from the State Line to the Paseo and from the Riverfront to 31st Street. This area collectively makes up “Greater Downtown” and of all the blocks I’ve walked, I was left befuddled at the lack of apparent care in this section of the Crossroads. It’s one of those areas where I have to check over my shoulder if I’m passing through the area at night. A few businesses have opened here, but they don’t generate the foot traffic necessary to put the creepy feeling to rest. This area needs a jolt of activity and what better way to do that than to build a new home for the Royals.

I’ve seen people complain that the Royals Stadium will only be active a minimum of 81 days per year (whereas the Star printing press is active zero days a year and borders parking lots and some buildings without restaurants/bars in their prime spaces). That minimum 81 days of activation is only true if the team doesn’t make it to the Post-Season and if concerts aren’t scheduled throughout the year. Busch Stadium has become a premier concert venue, so there’s no reason to believe a new Royals Stadium won’t be. Additionally, the Royals's previous plans for the East Village showed that they were considering including some retail/restaurant spaces on Cherry Street to keep the neighborhood activated year-round. Now, over in the Crossroads, it’s imperative they keep that same concept in mind when addressing both Grand and 17th. Looking at a rendering of the 17th Street side, it appears they retain that concept, but we don’t yet see what’s happening on Grand’s street level.

1531 Holmes, a project planned by Grayson Capital, is set to occupy a city-owned parcel on Holmes between Truman and 16th. The project includes 184 apartments and 6000sf of retail space. Rendering by Draw Architects.

For the new mixed-use buildings that’ll be built on the blocks bound by Truman, Locust, 17th and Oak, these structures have the ability to set the tone for what development east of here looks like. If you factor in Grayson Capital’s project at 1531 Holmes, or the yet-to-be-revealed mixed-use building at the southeast corner of 17th and Locust, you’ll have a roadmap for buildings of varying size and usage to be developed on the industrial parcels in the coming years.

Let's dive a little deeper into this as well. Let's talk connectivity.

Going back to what I said about Busch, Wrigley and Fenway being in areas close to things to do, the new Royals Stadium will be in the heart of everything guests would want access to. 

• You have the microbreweries a few blocks away on 18th

• The bars and restaurants at the Power and Light District.

• The numerous restaurants in the southern portion of the Crossroads and down Southwest Boulevard.

• Additional restaurants are accessible in the River Market and, by extension, Columbus Park. 

All of these are extremely close by and are there for you if you want them.

Thanks to the KCStreetcar, you can hop on and get closer to these options without the need to walk as much. The Streetcar also puts you a few stops away from additional options at Martini Corner, Westport, and the Plaza. In many respects, a Crossroads stadium will blend the best of Chicago's Wrigleyville with the best of what the City has to offer. That’s an experience that only a few big cities with baseball teams can claim. It’s an experience that instantly makes your game day outing that much better. Trust me on this. And if you don’t trust me, I encourage you to experience a game at Busch, Wrigley, Fenway, or Petco Park. You won’t regret it.

Bouncing back to Grand Boulevard and my hope of street-level activation, the Royals seem to have enhancements in mind in the form of a street diet (which is appropriate considering Grand’s width) and the widening of sidewalks. The conceptual renderings show a nice landscaped buffer that reminds me of St. Louis City SC’s CityPark on Market Street. That elevation of CityPark is welcoming despite being pushed back from the street thanks to the incorporation of landscaping and small pieces of artwork honoring the lost Mill Creek Valley neighborhood. That connection to the past is something that might serve the Royals to do here since the site they’re building on will result in the demolition of several buildings. 

A site plan of the Crossroads Royals Stadium showing the proposed South Loop Park possibly being extended to Locust from its current planned terminus at Grand. Image provided by the Royals and Populous. 

Additionally, the connectivity to main Central Business District (north of 670) through the potential extension of the proposed South Loop Park is a massive victory for those wanting a better downtown. Covering the 670 trench will mean a massive decrease in traffic decibels at all times and lead to a much more pleasant, and apparently seamless stroll, through the neighborhood. This is something that hasn’t existed since before the interstate went in. Think on that for a minute. While this is just a concept, a continuous park, bisected only by a handful of north-south streets from Wyandotte to Locust (a total of 7 blocks), will become a massive public amenity from the moment it opens. The South Loop Park will become the place to hang around at before and after games, or just be a place to relax, walk through, or attend neighborhood events at throughout the year. In my opinion, no other highway park in America would come close to urban feeling the South Loop Park would provide guests if constructed and surrounded with developments that embrace the park.

Should some components of this plan change? Certainly. But having worked in real estate, even the smallest projects can change from their initial reveal to the start of construction. It's important to keep in mind that the plans we see here will likely change between now and construction. In comments that I submitted through the KC Ballpark District website, I stated that the removal of the P&L District pedestrian link bridge and reopening Oak to traffic were my two ideas to make this project just a little bit better. A lot of people have their own ideas to make this plan better, and that's great. Submit your comments to the Royals to push for a better project. Positive change should be the goal here.

We can all admit that change is hard, but change is something that we should embrace as long as we look at the bigger picture. I touched on the bigger picture of creating new memories, being linked with the continued revitalization of downtown, the subsequent energy created by that resurgence, the connectivity with the rest of downtown, connectivity to the City thanks to the Streetcar, and the overall change in experience one will have when attending a baseball game at a new Royals Stadium.

Cities evolve. What we take for granted today was once deemed unfathomable by residents who lived in their respective cities at the time. Are we really going to arbitrarily declare that this project isn’t worth the time or effort only to regret that decision in the future? Or are we going to work together to build the best neighborhood with the best stadium with the best stadium experience in the country? It’s time for Kansas City to shine and get a ballpark that people decades from now will love and enjoy attending games and concerts at.

It’s time for us to build the future of our City.