Downtown Baseball Stadium

[TheUrbanRoo]

I'd hope they could either knock some retail holes in the Cherry st. side or even build outwards towards Cherry St. and make that a ped experience during gamedays.

Not only should that happen — that *needs* to happen on Cherry

[KCPowercat]

I'd hope they could either knock some retail holes in the Cherry st. side or even build outwards towards Cherry St. and make that a ped experience during gamedays.

Not only should that happen — that *needs* to happen on Cherry

good point. Other option could be the retail is built in the stadium but that seems harder to do. It seems it would be pretty easy to push back into the garage.

[DColeKC]

[TheUrbanRoo]

They need to be filling every last available nook & cranny with residential in the vicinity of this stadium.

[DColeKC]

They need to be filling every last available nook & cranny with residential in the vicinity of this stadium.

I like the approach of going after commercial. Proximity to a baseball stadium and being affiliated with the baseball team might just be the hook to get some corporate spaces filled.

Residential is great too.

[TheUrbanRoo]

They need to be filling every last available nook & cranny with residential in the vicinity of this stadium.

I like the approach of going after commercial. Proximity to a baseball stadium and being affiliated with the baseball team might just be the hook to get some corporate spaces filled.

Residential is great too.

I have a theory that they want commercial here more than residential because they can get a lunch crowd to eat at their venues, and they already know the dinner crowd (when residents in the area will be out the most) will already be used by people going to the games anyway. But with commercial they can get the lunch time filled up too easier than with standard residents.

[beautyfromashes]

Probably a dumb question, but is there any chance of putting the main outfield scoreboard onto the side of a building built into the glass? Looking at that last picture and it seems the building would line up well with height and position.

[Imarealperson]

I’d think that in order to get the size of screen you’d want, you’d be eliminating some high value space in the office building, blocking the windows with a screen. Remember the building will be well behind the outfield wall.

[aknowledgeableperson]

One person's comment on a Facebook page. Of course the comment was supported by many.
"Anyone wish to enlighten me and name at least one professional sport stadium moved from a suburb or outskirts into a downtown?
I'll buy that one beer to prove me wrong but I don't think there has been even one! All the downtown stadiums these goomball wannabees on jock radio boast about have always been downtown locations. And parking has been bad and no tailgating. Grew up attending Busch Stadium for Cardinal baseball. Had to arrive very early for parking.
Another point in this whole mess that really ticks me off (trying to be civil which is quite difficult, lol) is all the pundits and Sherman et al keep saying "They will privately fund the Billion dollars for the entertainment village". Analyzing this makes me ask why? So they can enjoy all the profits! And don't think for a minute NKC or KC won't pass a tax free ordinance for the "village"!
If they can spend a billion $$ on the bar and grill scene, they can damn sure spend their own freaking money on a stadium. I would like to see this Save the K movement grow to make a push that the owners of both stadiums start paying for all their own improvements, pay property taxes, sales taxes, earnings taxes (some of the latter 2 they might), and build out the areas around TSC as was promised in 1973! Take that billion $$ and put the village in Lot M between the stadiums. Let Jackson County and KCMO fund, build and collect train fare on a light rail/trolley out to TSC. Could be paid for from the tax revenues the owners would be paying! No more funding the wealthy's hobbies.
Its wonderful to have major league sports teams but not at the cost of proper use and good stewardship of government funds - which by the way folks is OUR MONEY! It simply is not fair to all the small businesses or even many medium to large businesses that sports get such a pass on taxes and funding from taxpayers. The earlier benefits have long since outstayed their welcome and are costing taxpayers and forciing detriment to governmental services and infrastructure.
Sorry for the long rant, but I am so totally angry about all this and the speed at which it is being shoved down our throats!
Sorry to offend anyone if I did. Was not my intention! Well, maybe offending the owners."

[chingon]

One person's comment on a Facebook page. Of course the comment was supported by many.
"Anyone wish to enlighten me and name at least one professional sport stadium moved from a suburb or outskirts into a downtown?
I'll buy that one beer to prove me wrong but I don't think there has been even one! All the downtown stadiums these goomball wannabees on jock radio boast about have always been downtown locations. And parking has been bad and no tailgating. Grew up attending Busch Stadium for Cardinal baseball. Had to arrive very early for parking.
Another point in this whole mess that really ticks me off (trying to be civil which is quite difficult, lol) is all the pundits and Sherman et al keep saying "They will privately fund the Billion dollars for the entertainment village". Analyzing this makes me ask why? So they can enjoy all the profits! And don't think for a minute NKC or KC won't pass a tax free ordinance for the "village"!
If they can spend a billion $$ on the bar and grill scene, they can damn sure spend their own freaking money on a stadium. I would like to see this Save the K movement grow to make a push that the owners of both stadiums start paying for all their own improvements, pay property taxes, sales taxes, earnings taxes (some of the latter 2 they might), and build out the areas around TSC as was promised in 1973! Take that billion $$ and put the village in Lot M between the stadiums. Let Jackson County and KCMO fund, build and collect train fare on a light rail/trolley out to TSC. Could be paid for from the tax revenues the owners would be paying! No more funding the wealthy's hobbies.
Its wonderful to have major league sports teams but not at the cost of proper use and good stewardship of government funds - which by the way folks is OUR MONEY! It simply is not fair to all the small businesses or even many medium to large businesses that sports get such a pass on taxes and funding from taxpayers. The earlier benefits have long since outstayed their welcome and are costing taxpayers and forciing detriment to governmental services and infrastructure.
Sorry for the long rant, but I am so totally angry about all this and the speed at which it is being shoved down our throats!
Sorry to offend anyone if I did. Was not my intention! Well, maybe offending the owners."

This is one of my favorite anti-downtown stadium canards. Truly riddled with stupidity.

[dnweava]

One person's comment on a Facebook page. Of course the comment was supported by many.
"Anyone wish to enlighten me and name at least one professional sport stadium moved from a suburb or outskirts into a downtown?
I'll buy that one beer to prove me wrong but I don't think there has been even one!

It took me 5 seconds to think of San Francisco(went from isolated location to urban) , San Diego (suburbs to downtown) Minnesota (when they moved to Metrodome) and Houston (astrodome to downtown). Denver (downtown adjacent to actually downtown)

Tell him he owes me a beer.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Whether the post is accurate or not there is a lot of anti-Royals downtown stadium sentiment out there among Jackson County citizens. The passage of the sales tax extension, even with the tie-in with the Chiefs, is not a guaranteed passage. A big sales job is going to be needed.

[KCPowercat]

So the post and the comments aren't accurate or representative of the voters but let's extrapolate it's going to need a big sales job. Lol

[Chris Stritzel]

There are lots of assumptions being made right now in regards to the new stadium by the public, and that's fine. But posts, like the one shared by acknowledgeableperson, are alarmist and full of terms and phrases to rile up the opposition. People like that probably look at the Power and Light District and think "it's a crime-ridden cesspool like the entirety of urban Kansas City". To them, anything that goes tp the urban part of the city is a "lost cause". What you lose in suburbanite patronage you will pick up in urban residents, especially those that live within a 15-20 minute walk or bike ride of a downtown stadium (which, as we all know, is far more than what exists around the stadiums currently).

Yes, a portion of the 3/8 cent sales tax will go to the Royals (if they stay in Jackson County), but another portion will go to the Chiefs and we have yet to hear what their full intentions will be (renovate Arrowhead vs build new where Kauffman stands and build a village vs no village).

Yes, it would be nice for a sports team ownership to pay for a new stadium by themselves, but that's super rare. Most all stadiums constructed today have some form of public dollars going towards them. The only new one that doesn't, to my knowledge, is St. Louis City's CityPark.

A fair chunk of the sales tax change will more than likely go towards public infrastructure enhancements. New water, sewer, electrical lines. New sidewalks and streets. New parking facilities. Reorganizing the way highway access works. Public green space and amenities. The entirety of the sales tax is unlikely to go towards just building the stadium. If, and when, the Royals put out exactly how much of the development costs will be covered privately and by sales tax, it's likely you'll see an overwhelming majority of the development costs being handled privately.

Additionally, it's highly unlikely that any sales tax revenues will go towards building the mixed-use district components of either plan (North KC or Downtown). Doing so would mean the county would get to have ownership in any of those components, and I don't see that happening. Especially since Royals ownership will be counting on the revenues brought in by the office, residential, restaurant, retail and entertainment portions of the district to reinvest into a stronger team.

That brings me to a final point. Bitch all you want about this project, but if you want a better team, which is difficult with a small-market team that's rarely broadcasted on TV and has low attendance, then you're going to want to support the sales tax to lead to this development. I think the Royals will have to push the truths of this development pretty hard for people to understand. I also think that they'l have to own up to the poor team performance. But pitch the possibilities in the future extremely hard. Good things will come. It won't be instant, but you'll start seeing improvements when the revenues start flowing.

[aknowledgeableperson]

So the post and the comments aren't accurate or representative of the voters but let's extrapolate it's going to need a big sales job. Lol

As someone says their perceptions are their realities. And for the people who replied to the post it is representative of more than just one voter. Whether a majority of voters or not is to be determined later.

[aknowledgeableperson]

"The entirety of the sales tax is unlikely to go towards just building the stadium."

The sales tax is just for the stadiums. If a portion goes to the other items listed that will not leave much for the stadiums themselves.

"Especially since Royals ownership will be counting on the revenues brought in by the office, residential, restaurant, retail and entertainment portions of the district to reinvest into a stronger team."

Interesting statement. One thing that should be made clear by the team is that the money flows directly to the team and not to the development entity (which could include the team and/or team owners, or maybe other people investing in that development) that develops the surrounding stadium property.

[Rusty Irish]

Same people who probably go on vacation to major European cities and then complain about crime and parking in KC. Absolute mouth breathers.

[Highlander]

Whether the post is accurate or not there is a lot of anti-Royals downtown stadium sentiment out there among Jackson County citizens. The passage of the sales tax extension, even with the tie-in with the Chiefs, is not a guaranteed passage. A big sales job is going to be needed.

I don't know what website you were accessing but caution is advised when trying to determine consensus from a Facebook page. I visited Save Kaufman Stadium's Facebook Page this morning. It has 674 members. Looking at the profile of a selection of members, I'd guess that half or more do not live in Jackson County Missouri. The moderators were from Johnson County and Clay County. There were posters from Colorado, Iowa, Texas, and several other states and Platte, Clay and especially Johnson Counties were well represented as well. The demographics were heavily skewed to plus 50 (maybe plus 60) although a few younger people were represented as well.

Like most FB sites, it's dominated by a few posters and the posters were not unanimously against a downtown stadium (despite the name and purpose of the page) although I'd say at least 4:1 against. But I'd expect that from a forum called Save Kaufman Stadium. I mean, why else would you join. Even if half were actually Jackson County residents (and I doubt if the proportion was that high), that's 335 biased people out of a population of 720,000. Using FB as a poll, the new terminal at KCI would have also failed.

I don't doubt that there are a lot of people in the burbs of Jackson County that don't want the stadium to move, it will mean a longer commute. Clearly the owners will need to engage in a smart and honest campaign to win over voters. That's true for about every project that requires public assistance.

[moderne]

I have heard rumblings that anger over the property tax fiasco will turn into negative votes for stadium tax.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Whether the post is accurate or not there is a lot of anti-Royals downtown stadium sentiment out there among Jackson County citizens. The passage of the sales tax extension, even with the tie-in with the Chiefs, is not a guaranteed passage. A big sales job is going to be needed.

I don't know what website you were accessing but caution is advised when trying to determine consensus from a Facebook page. I visited Save Kaufman Stadium's Facebook Page this morning. It has 674 members. Looking at the profile of a selection of members, I'd guess that half or more do not live in Jackson County Missouri. The moderators were from Johnson County and Clay County. There were posters from Colorado, Iowa, Texas, and several other states and Platte, Clay and especially Johnson Counties were well represented as well. The demographics were heavily skewed to plus 50 (maybe plus 60) although a few younger people were represented as well.

Like most FB sites, it's dominated by a few posters and the posters were not unanimously against a downtown stadium (despite the name and purpose of the page) although I'd say at least 4:1 against. But I'd expect that from a forum called Save Kaufman Stadium. I mean, why else would you join. Even if half were actually Jackson County residents (and I doubt if the proportion was that high), that's 335 biased people out of a population of 720,000. Using FB as a poll, the new terminal at KCI would have also failed.

I don't doubt that there are a lot of people in the burbs of Jackson County that don't want the stadium to move, it will mean a longer commute. Clearly the owners will need to engage in a smart and honest campaign to win over voters. That's true for about every project that requires public assistance.

That's a given about any members of a Facebook group. And much like members here who seem to feel the Royals downtown stadium is a slam dunk for passage because of the Chiefs. However there are some of the members I know who posted and do live in KCMO in Jackson County. Also know others who live in KCMO/Jackson County and they too don't want a downtown stadium. My statement about "guaranted passage" still stands.