Must-see TV: Incoming change to KC pro sports teams will be a bit jarring
· Yahoo Sports
It seems crazy that the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals will be calling new locations and stadiums home in the somewhat-near future.
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For the Chiefs, of course, it will be in a new state as they cross the border into Kansas to build this stadium near the Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County.
It’s going to be a beauty. A fully enclosed roof that they say will include translucent ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) panels. It’s a $3 billion project. It will seat 70,000 people and have over 20,000 parking spaces.
Sounds like everyone needs to ride with three or more in their vehicle to have enough parking spaces when the stadium is full.
Joking aside, it is going to be brilliant. But brilliant things come at a cost — and a cost to you. It’s only a wonder how much season tickets will rise with the brilliance of the new stadium coming. Heck, let alone season tickets, for the regular football fan like I am, I may have to spend half my paycheck to get a decent seat to watch the Denver Broncos whoop up on the Chiefs in 2031.
The Royals are moving into downtown Kansas City in the Crown Center area and are expected to have this stadium ready by 2030. Kauffman Stadium, which was named after Ewing M. Kauffman in 1993 prior to his death, will have been home for 57 seasons. It was known as Royals Stadium for the first 20 seasons.
Arrowhead Stadium opened the year before Royals Stadium and seems it will go a year longer as the expected opening of the new football stadium is for the 2031-32 season. This means that the Chiefs will be saying goodbye to 59 years of service at Arrowhead.
Our area Chiefs and Royals fans have a few years to soak it all in and enjoy. Catch a few more of those final games and reminisce all the fond memories at each ballpark. You saw championship teams recently and some of the older fans may have some from the very beginning in Arrowhead. Some may also remember the 1985 title in Royals Stadium before it became Kauffman.
I think it will be hard for some of our fans. I can see the irritation of home-grown Missourians who have cheered for the Chiefs their whole lives and feel somewhat betrayed by the move across the border. But I’ve also heard some of those folks tell me they’re glad it isn’t coming from their “taxpayer money.” As the public will be funding approximately 60% of the money to that Kansas stadium — $1.8 billion of the $3 billion — according to multiple reports.
But on the other side, the new ballpark for the Royals and the surrounding area will come to be a $3 billion deal in which the public is going to fork out around a third of the cost for the overall project.
It’s less, but they're still paying their taxpayer money for it. I guess that’s a win.
And for those Missourians who feel betrayed, we’ll have some Kansans who love that the team they’ve cheered for their whole life is going to reside in their home state in five years or so.
Something worth talking about for both teams is the fact that they’ll be in new and improved, updated and nicer areas. For what it’s worth to you Chiefs fans out there, the area out there at Truman Sports Complex wasn’t the nicest. It was starting to look a little rough. There just wasn’t much to offer in that area.
With the Chiefs moving nearby Kansas Speedway and into a nicer location there will be more going on and more to do on game day or the weekend of game day. Its the same for the Royals. Moving into the downtown area provides a stronger game-day experience. With all of the new builds surrounding the stadium and the immediate access to downtown, there’s a chance of drawing in many more fans on a nightly basis.
It’s like Clark Hunt said in a statement on Wednesday when the team released renderings of the new stadium: “From the beginning, our goal has been to build something that improved the gameday experience for every single fan. This new stadium will do just that.”
Hunt is right. But improvement means more cost. What on Earth will it cost to go to a ballgame? That’s my biggest takeaway from these changes. I think the move across the border and leaving the history behind are things that can be adjusted to and taken to new places. But the increase in the cost of these football tickets just might be something that keeps some fans from enjoying the experience.