Downtown Baseball Stadium

Discussion about new sports facilities in Kansas City
herrfrank
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by herrfrank »

mgsports wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2019 8:21 pm Shawnee Mission Parkway where KMART use to be becausevnear I-35 or some where in Mission and can be called Mission Royals because had Mission Reds before. Also Street Car all the way to Shawnee Mission Parkway.
Lolz. What about the Indian Springs Mall site in KCK -- it's near a highway too. They could re-name the team the Wyandottes. They could run a streetcar down Parallel Parkway and revitalize the whole area.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by mgsports »

I bought that up.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by brewcrew1000 »

I may be wrong but will the new Royals owner be the poorest of the 30 others?
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by smh »

beautyfromashes wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2019 6:49 pm I just don’t see the justification for EW streetcar at any of the places mentioned and if the stadium isn’t going to be on a streetcar line, it might as well stay where it is. The whole point is to connect it with existing entertainment infrastructure and make using mass transit to get to the game a reality.
The Troost MAX goes straight from 12th and Grand to 18th/Charlotte. A 3-ish block walk for those so motivated to connect entertainment districts and stadiums.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by WSPanic »

brewcrew1000 wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2019 2:13 pm I may be wrong but will the new Royals owner be the poorest of the 30 others?
First and foremost, Sherman is clearly worth more than Glass, so that's all that REALLY matters. Everything I've found on the Internet lists Sherman's net worth at $1-$1.5B.

I don't think anyone can say for sure because of how these ownership groups are structured, but Sherman has a higher net worth than a lot of guys listed here: https://moneyinc.com/the-20-richest-mlb ... the-world/ - this shows the "top 20" mlb owners, and #19 and #20 are under $1B.

So, in theory, he could be around #17 or so.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by shinatoo »

WSPanic wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2019 2:42 pm
brewcrew1000 wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2019 2:13 pm I may be wrong but will the new Royals owner be the poorest of the 30 others?
First and foremost, Sherman is clearly worth more than Glass, so that's all that REALLY matters.
Not any more.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by chaglang »

It’s not like he’s going to pay for the stadium. We are.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by tskev »

earthling wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:50 am ^It could also fit in the casino spot, with casino/hotel built into the stadium. The stadium should go where a streetcar is already planned with other justifications, not drive a dedicated streetcar line. And would orient stadium view toward DT skyline. Free metro bus should also allow cutting down on parking.
Any location north or east of the CBD will not have downtown views. Pretty sure the stadium has to basically face northeast (when standing at home plate, facing the outfield)
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by beautyfromashes »

tskev wrote: Wed Sep 04, 2019 8:49 pm Any location north or east of the CBD will not have downtown views. Pretty sure the stadium has to basically face northeast (when standing at home plate, facing the outfield)
Makes sense. I guess it’s time to kick the bougie Californians out of the Westside so we can tear down their houses and build a stadium.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by KCDowntown »

tskev wrote: Wed Sep 04, 2019 8:49 pm Any location north or east of the CBD will not have downtown views. Pretty sure the stadium has to basically face northeast (when standing at home plate, facing the outfield)
I looked at a bunch of newer ballparks on Google Maps... while NE-facing was most prevalent, there were stadiums that pointed anywhere from due north to almost due south. All of the stadiums I looked at pointed anywhere from 12 to 6 on the clock, but nothing faced even the slightest bit west. I found this page with stadium orientations after the fact.

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Last edited by KCDowntown on Thu Sep 05, 2019 9:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by normalthings »

beautyfromashes wrote: Wed Sep 04, 2019 11:49 pm
tskev wrote: Wed Sep 04, 2019 8:49 pm Any location north or east of the CBD will not have downtown views. Pretty sure the stadium has to basically face northeast (when standing at home plate, facing the outfield)
Makes sense. I guess it’s time to kick the bougie Californians out of the Westside so we can tear down their houses and build a stadium.
The IRS Facility would have been a great location for baseball
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by FangKC »

East Village Developer Ready to Play Ball on Potential Downtown Stadium

https://cityscenekc.com/east-village-d ... n-stadium/
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by flyingember »

normalthings wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:58 am
The IRS Facility would have been a great location for baseball
To put a stadium where the IRS is would have meant tearing down the historic postal building. The site wasn't big enough otherwise.

Remember, the stadium today is about the size of 6 city blocks. Without the surrounding sidewalks.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by shinatoo »

The new stadium in Atlanta faces south. The main concern is that the sun not be distracting to the batter or pitcher in the evening. A northwest facing would work perfectly fine, Southwest could work. In MLB stadiums the stands can be designed block most of the evening sun anyway.

Problem with facing south is almost no shade for the expensive seats.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by shinatoo »

flyingember wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 8:14 am
normalthings wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:58 am
The IRS Facility would have been a great location for baseball
To put a stadium where the IRS is would have meant tearing down the historic postal building. The site wasn't big enough otherwise.

Remember, the stadium today is about the size of 6 city blocks. Without the surrounding sidewalks.
Right up the Hill from the IRS is a great place for a stadium, right where the ballfields are now. Little tight but nothing that couldn't be overcome. And the views would be fantastic. Also only a 3 block walk from the streetcar.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by flyingember »

shinatoo wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 9:15 am
flyingember wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 8:14 am
normalthings wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:58 am
The IRS Facility would have been a great location for baseball
To put a stadium where the IRS is would have meant tearing down the historic postal building. The site wasn't big enough otherwise.

Remember, the stadium today is about the size of 6 city blocks. Without the surrounding sidewalks.
Right up the Hill from the IRS is a great place for a stadium, right where the ballfields are now. Little tight but nothing that couldn't be overcome. And the views would be fantastic. Also only a 3 block walk from the streetcar.
It's an insanely bad location.

1. it's a 100 foot rise hill. the stadium needs a flat surface so a large portion of the entrances will be dramatically above the field. I would bet the field starts 10-20 feet above the lowest point on this site. Kauffman Stadium is 150 feet tall, so most of the highest cost close-in seating wouldn't be able to see over the IRS parking garage.

That seems ok except if we do that it means there's only one side of the stadium for 100% of vehicle access, Kessler. I don't know if you've driven on this road recently but you're talking about a MAJOR traffic impact on streetcar operations down the line since there's two ways into the site and they're Broadway and Main.

The IRS will never allow massive amounts of vehicles that close to their secure garage entrance, Broadway could be redone to provide but most of the frontage it's practically a freeway onramp and remember the lane capacity will be in demand to get people to the stadium. Kessler barely counts as a two lane road so it's going to be bad.

There's nothing wrong with treating it as a walking stadium but the streetcar is not remotely a solution to parking. It can move ~2400 people per hour and the smallest MLB Stadium is 10x that, the average 15x. The bus system can't handle the load either.

The site would be 0.5 miles away, minimum. That's 5 blocks, not three. And it's up one of the steepest hills downtown.

And think back to an event like Rockfest. We're back to figuring out how to keep people from parking in neighborhoods.

There's much better spots than this one.
Last edited by flyingember on Thu Sep 05, 2019 10:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by chingon »

Overthinking. Rebuild a replica of post-grass/pre-remodel Kauffman on 18th between Paseo/Troost. Maybe make it 10-15K seats smaller. Consider air conditioning.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by earthling »

East Village Developer Ready to Play Ball on Potential Downtown Stadium

https://cityscenekc.com/east-village-de ... n-stadium/
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by GRID »

If the stadium were placed in east village, which way would it face? Don't most stadiums look toward the northeast? I mean, that would be a pretty bad view unless they built up the east loop. Not that the view should be a huge priority just curious. Would certainly have plenty of room to build up the area beyond the stadium.
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Re: Would you like to see the Royals move to a downtown stadium?

Post by KCtoBrooklyn »

Apparently, it is actually a written rule that the "desirably" orientation is East Northeast. I'm not sure how much that is enforced by MLB.

It looks like all outdoor stadiums generally face east, although some face southeast or even south southeast. But facing west or southwest may be out of the question.

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/stadiu ... W_AL.shtml
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