Livestrong Sporting Park

[KCMax]

Anyone?

Are the Wizards owners paying for the stadium? I thought they were paying a substantial portion of it, but I could be wrong.

[KCPowercat]

Yes that is the question.  How much of the stadium are the owners paying for?

[LenexatoKCMO]

I believe the silent answer is that it "Should be".

I also believe that the actual stadium portion of these project expenses are relative "chicken scratch" compared to the MLB/NFL projects.  So if there is a owner funded component on a similar ratio, it wouldn't necessarily look like much. 

[KCPowercat]

So is there?  The entire proposal is 400M so I would guess 100M for the stadium and infrasteucture to support it?

[KCMax]

Supposedly the Wizards were paying $70 million of the $110 cost of the stadium at Bannister, I don't know how much that changes at VW. The total project at VW is supposed to be $400 mill, with $220 mill of that privately financed.

[KCPowercat]

Link?  If so, that's awesome.

[KCPowercat]

I found a bizjournal article that states 221M in private funding...seems kinda generic....what kind of funding and from who?

The article also states the stadium is valued at 202M

[KCMax]

An old article about the Bannister project

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/901761.html

The centerpiece of the project will be the $100 million soccer stadium, seating 18,500, scheduled to open late in the 2010 Major League Soccer season or for the start of the 2011 season.

?It?s a really big day for us,? said Robb Heineman, chief executive officer of OnGoal and president of the Wizards. ?It?s huge for us to have this out of the way to make sure the project comes together.

?We?re appreciative of the action the board took, and we think it?s a positive thing for the state of Missouri and for Kansas City, and we?re ready to move forward.?

OnGoal is investing about 71 percent of the capital required for the project, which will include the stadium, 12 tournament-quality soccer fields, 590 hotel rooms, 1.13 million square feet of mixed-use retail, 1.7 million square feet of office space and 18,249 parking spaces. Public taxing districts will provide the additional 29 percent, mostly through TIFs.

OnGoal is spending $60 million on what Heineman called ?eligible costs? such as demolition, site preparation, land acquisition, roads and parking lots in return for the $30 million in tax credits that provide cash value to be reinvested in the project.

Again, I don't know how much that changes now that its in VW.

[im2kull]

An old article about the Bannister project

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/901761.html

Again, I don't know how much that changes now that its in VW.

I can't see how it could cost 200+...if seating remains the same.  An open-air 18,000 seat soccer stadium should be fairly cheap...if every highschool in texas can afford to build nearly the same thing for American Football.

[justin8216]

Why are people in MO so selfish? Nobody wants KC KS to get a few thousand well paying office jobs in their city when KCMO and Johnson County have Tens of thousands. This development will DOUBLE the amount of commercial office space in Wyandotte County. Kansas City, KS needs/deserves this project more than KCMO. I am sorry for South Kansas City, I would like Bannister to be alive again, but given the economic conditions their time just isn't now. But it is a strategic location that I firmly believe will be redeveloped in the future.

These 4 thousand well paying Cerner Jobs will also help make the development gains at Village West more stable and permanent by providing a significant week-day office population to use patronize the many resturaunts.

[KCMax]

I can't see how it could cost 200+...if seating remains the same.  An open-air 18,000 seat soccer stadium should be fairly cheap...if every highschool in texas can afford to build nearly the same thing for American Football.

$200 mill does seem high. I'm wondering if they're including the costs of the youth soccer fields in with that. The original Wizards stadium at Bannister was closer to $100 mill.

Cost of SOS stadiums for MLS:

Columbus Crew Stadium (Columbus, OH) - $29 mill; opened in 1999
Home Depot Center (Carson City, CA) - $150 mill; opened in 2003
Pizza Hut Park (Frisco, TX) - $60 mill; opened in 2005
Toyota Park (Bridgeview, IL) - $100 mill; opened in 2006
Dick's Sporting Goods Park (Commerce City, COL) - $130 mill; opened in 2007
BMO Field (Toronto, ON) - $63 million (Canadian dollars); opened in 2007
Rio Tinto Stadium (Sandy, UT) - $115 mill; opened in 2008
Red Bull Arena (Harrison, NJ) - $180-200 mill; will open in 2010
Union Field (Chester, PA) - $115 mill; will open in 2010
Whitecaps Waterfront Stadium (Vancouver, BC) - $70 mill (Canadian dollars); will open in 2012
Earthquakes Stadium (San Jose, CA) - $70 mill?; will open in 2012?
Prince Georges Stadium (Prince Georges, VA) - $180 mill?; will open ????

[kanasalumn]

I think they should be it a retrackable dome, so KC can be in the running for at least Sweet 16 and Elite 8 March Madness with expansion to 24,000 for the weekend. all we can only dream

[KCMax]

I think they should be it a retrackable dome, so KC can be in the running for at least Sweet 16 and Elite 8 March Madness with expansion to 24,000 for the weekend. all we can only dream

We are already in the running for those games with the Sprint Center. The Wizards stadium would be a much worse version of SC.

[im2kull]

We are already in the running for those games with the Sprint Center. The Wizards stadium would be a much worse version of SC.

+1

No A/C, No Heating, Open air stadium...all the wrong ingredients for a NCAA BB Host site.

[kanasalumn]

+1

No A/C, No Heating, Open air stadium...all the wrong ingredients for a NCAA BB Host site.

My original post said "Retrackable dome"

but anyway it was just a post

[im2kull]

My original post said "Retrackable dome"

but anyway it was just a post

Ah..so enclosed dome? With a retractable roof?  That would make some sense. 

[KCBoom]

I had lunch with a co-worker the other day who happens to live in far souther JoCo and the discussion of the new Wizards stadium came up.  I asked him what he thought about it being moved by the speedway and he replied that he would feel safer taking his kids to the Village West area rather than the Bannister site.  I then asked him what he was so afraid of and he replied that he was afraid of the gang activity.  He went on to say that trying to revitalize the innner citer (Bannister?  Inner city?  Huh?) is a waste and he thinks the city should just continue to grow outward away from the "riff raff" and let the core die.  This guy is also afraid of the the new Independence Events Center and thinks that is a waste.  This is just absolute non-sense to think that people are going to get killed at a soccer game at Bannister and 435.

I happen to live in northern Lee's Summit which is "fairly" central to the metropolitan core and yes I am pretty biased against the "JoCo point of view".  WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN JOHNSON COUNTY?  I realize that not everyone tha lives in JoCo are a bunch of stuck up, babling, KU grads, but come on.  I work in JoCo and most of the people I talk with have a very similar point of view.  This metro area is doomed and will NEVER amount to anything of any importance with that kind of mindset.

Any suggestions on a real and respectable city of similar size I could move to?  I'm thinking Portland.

[KCPowercat]

I am not lying when I say I laugh at those people to their face (unless they are a boss, customer, etc...then I just have no reaction.)

[LenexatoKCMO]

I happen to live in northern Lee's Summit which is "fairly" central to the metropolitan core and yes I am pretty biased against the "JoCo point of view".  WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN JOHNSON COUNTY?  I realize that not everyone tha lives in JoCo are a bunch of stuck up, babling, KU grads, but come on.  I work in JoCo and most of the people I talk with have a very similar point of view.  This metro area is doomed and will NEVER amount to anything of any importance with that kind of mindset.

Your kidding yourself if you don't realize you have plenty of neighbors with similar mental makeup out there in Lees Summit.  Or Blue Springs.  Or Liberty.  Or hell, west Wyco for that matter.  At my JoCo workplace, there are plenty of MO suburbanites that sit there and nod their heads in agreement whenever anyone talks about being scared to walk on the plaza or all of the "gangs in westport".  Its a nationwide lack of understanding - not a single county phenomenon. 

[KansasCityCraka]

Your kidding yourself if you don't realize you have plenty of neighbors with similar mental makeup out there in Lees Summit.  Or Blue Springs.  Or Liberty.  Or hell, west Wyco for that matter.  At my JoCo workplace, there are plenty of MO suburbanites that sit there and nod their heads in agreement whenever anyone talks about being scared to walk on the plaza or all of the "gangs in westport".  Its a nationwide lack of understanding - not a single county phenomenon. 

^^^