How easy can the Sprint Center be expanded?

[KansasCityCraka]

I was just wondering but if we land a NHL/NBA team and DT is thriving once again the arena will be sold out for a lot of events if the projected seating numbers are correct at 18,500. How easy would it be to add more seating to the Sprint Center in the future? It's a glass bowl I just don't see how it would be possible for such an expansion.

[GRID]

Why would you need to expand it?  You don't want to get larger than 18-19k.  Supply and demand. Same reason the Speedway doesn't build more seats.  You want the arena to be sold out or close to sold out.  All the new arenas are about the size of the Sprint Center.

[Maitre D]

Why would you need to expand it?  You don't want to get larger than 18-19k.  Supply and demand. Same reason the Speedway doesn't build more seats.   You want the arena to be sold out or close to sold out.   All the new arenas are about the size of the Sprint Center.

But didn't you advoate the K adding seats where the bullpens now are?

[GRID]

But didn't you advoate the K adding seats where the bullpens now are?

Yea, because there will be the same amount, if not more seats displaced when the press box moves to the upper deck.  Kauffman's capacity will actually go down a bit...as it should.  Most of the new baseball stadiums have around 35k.

[GRID]

1

[Maitre D]

How many games will the Royals sell out this season, do you think?

[Maitre D]

So you would like to expand seating....for only 1 game?

Why not just raise the price of Opening Day, ifyou want more revenue?

[eliphar17]

Yea, because there will be the same amount, if not more seats displaced when the press box moves to the upper deck.  Kauffman's capacity will actually go down a bit...as it should.  Most of the new baseball stadiums have around 35k.

I think Kauffman's capacity should go down too, although the question of reducing capacity to increase intimacy is best left to the new stadium debate. There's not much you can do to make an existing venue more intimate.

But you're not quite right about new stadiums having less than 35,000 capacity. In fact, Boston (36,000), Pittsburgh (38,000) and Wrigley Field (38,000) are the only ones in all of MLB under 40k. Cisco Field, proposed by the Oakland A's, has an estimated capacity of 32k-35k, but it's the only current or proposed stadium that small.

[schugg]

How many games will the Royals sell out this season, do you think?

3

[GRID]

So you would like to expand seating....for only 1 game?

Why not just raise the price of Opening Day, ifyou want more revenue?

can you read?, the stadium seating will not expand, only move around.  I have always thought the two old GA areas should be connected an the fountain areas be more interactive with the fans etc.  I think doing more with with the outfield (without getting carried away and getting tacky) is a good idea.

[Theiler]

3

Opening day and...

2 of the 3 against the cards??? 

[KCMax]

The Cards series is in the middle of the week this year, so I question whether they'll sell those out.

[kard]

Unless the Royals are having an awesome season then I doubt they'll sell out any of the Card's games this year.  On weekend years they usually only sell out Saturday.  The others are still pretty full (70 - 90%), but not sold out.

[Maitre D]

can you read?, the stadium seating will not expand, only move around.  I have always thought the two old GA areas should be connected an the fountain areas be more interactive with the fans etc.  I think doing more with with the outfield (without getting carried away and getting tacky) is a good idea.

But that's my whole point - if we can't even sell out TWO games, why even keep the 41K seats we currently have?  Your idea of "swapping them around" makes no sense, if we're not selling out ANYWAY.

Can you comprehend?

[LenexatoKCMO]

Why would you need to expand it?  You don't want to get larger than 18-19k.  Supply and demand. Same reason the Speedway doesn't build more seats.   You want the arena to be sold out or close to sold out.   All the new arenas are about the size of the Sprint Center.

Thats the current trend.  The sad thing is that in five years sports owners may reverse course and decide that it takes a 25k arena to make a buck.  If there is one infalible truth about sports owners its that they shouldn't be relied upon to stay consistent about what they need in a facility.  It seems there is a new fad and a new way of thinking at least every decade. 

[KCPowercat]

TV money will always outdo ticket sales....only thing you might see is higher pricer per ticket based on amenities but can you really see a need for 25k seats sold for basketball or hockey again?

[dangerboy]

The only reason to expand the Sprint Center is to attract a Final Four.  That issue was settled years ago when we chose to build an arena instead of a dome.  This discussion has already occurred and is over.  Let's move on, please.

[KansasCityChiefs]

The new Busch Stadium seats 43,975.

[mykem]

I don't know if you would really want to expand the seating bowl of the sprint center. But some thing to consider is that this arena is small compared to most of the others that have been built in the past 10 years that are NBA/NHL compatable. Some examples are the staples center, american airlines center, and the united center are all over 900,000 sq. ft. nearly a 1/3 larger than the sprint center. Even the toyota center is 750,000sq. ft. The question is how well did the dtadt maximize the area of the sprint center? How much space within the walls did they leave for future expansion? (Probably not much) So I'm sure they have designed the arena to accomadate future expansion for things that are yet unheard of.

[CyDanny]

But that's my whole point - if we can't even sell out TWO games, why even keep the 41K seats we currently have?  Your idea of "swapping them around" makes no sense, if we're not selling out ANYWAY.

Can you comprehend?

So you think we should scale the K down to 13K seats or whatever the average has been lately, then?  I suppose it depends on the team, but Kansas City has been willing to fill up the stadium when the team is good, even if that was 20 years ago.

The whole seating issue is more due to the changes happening to the field.  The trend in baseball stadiums now is to go with on-field bullpens, so they had to do something with the current bullpen area in the outfield.  I would rather see it turned into seats anyways than more grassy knoll.  They may have to hand out umbrellas to the people sitting in those seats or they'll be soaked by the fountains, but that could be part of the mystique of the outfield seats.