The Boys are Playin’ Some Ball! – Downtown KC Baseball Update
By Bill Dietrich, President & CEO at Downtown Council of Kansas City
Bobby Witt Jr. delivered many key hits for the Kansas City Royals this season, both on and off the field. His best off-field hit was the statement that became the team’s rallying cry, “The Boys Are Playin’ Some Ball!” They did indeed as they became only the second team in history to lose at least 100 games and then make the playoffs the next season. Sweeping the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Wildcard and then taking the New York Yankees to Game 4 of the ALDS brought back the memories and magic of the Royals from 2014 and 2015.
The offseason will once again be a time for the team to rebuild and look to the future.
Not only will they have decisions to make about future personnel, but they very well could decide the location of their next ballpark. The Royals majority owner, John Sherman, has indicated that he wants the team to be playing in a new ballpark when their lease expires at the Truman Sports Complex after the 2030 season. The Downtown Council has long welcomed and promoted the idea of a downtown baseball stadium and ancillary development. In fact, a downtown ballpark is one of the catalytic projects that came out of the Imagine Downtown KC 2030 strategic plan that the Downtown Council released in 2021.
At the recent ribbon cutting for the new Buck O’Neil Bridge, Mayor Lucas told KSHB Ch. 41 in this interview that he is hopeful plans and next steps will be announced by the end of this year. Many locations have been proposed and are viable for a downtown location, a recent alternative proposes the Royals stadium using the footprint of the current Blue Cross Blue Shield building, parking lot, and Washington Square Park. There is a website where one can find more information about the proposed site including highlights of the location. In addition, the website allows businesses, residents, and fans of a downtown ballpark to sign a pledge to show their general support for downtown baseball.
If you or your company would like to sign the pledge, please click here.
The Downtown Royals Ballpark and District
The Downtown Royals Ballpark and District would have synergy with other key amenities; they mutually support each other. New office, residential, and retail that are part of the ballpark district will have the support of other activity generators to keep the district vibrant, successful and growing the remainder of the year when games aren’t being played. That relationship is mutually supportive, up to 3,000,000 Royals guests will walk through all the amazing offerings Downtown provides, supporting and experiencing our neighborhoods rich with diverse heritage, great entertainment venues, restaurants, and retail.
Unique assets build upon each other; in vibrancy, experience, and economically. Imagine the Downtown KC Ballpark District in a constellation of venues: the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts, T-Mobile Arena, the Power & Light District, the convention center and hotel complex, the Crossroads Arts District, the new professional women’s soccer stadium for the KC Current on the riverfront, City Market, a ferris wheel at West Pennway, a 4.5-acre park over I-670 connecting the Crossroads Arts District and Central Business District, the Greenline: a 10-mile walking and biking trail connecting neighborhoods and destinations and, free to the public, a streetcar connecting it all. An exciting vision, opportunity and legacy for our city.
