Downtown Baseball Stadium

[mister816]

Saw this on the Twitter feed for Tom Martin, formerly a sports reporter at KCTV5

so today I heard the Royals to downtown is happening. Announcement date TBD. Could be next month, could be next spring But it’s happening.

KCDowntown

Plz no gov. support

Lol. thats cute

[earthling]

Downtown in which city?

Public help will be a given if it happens but tax payers should demand the project must have broad publicly accessible use, ideally closer to 24x7, not become a dead spot outside baseball games. The project could be primarily something else targeting wide array of public use that secondarily happens to have a ballpark seamlessly fused in, as mentioned earlier in thread.

[WoodDraw]

It's going to be east village if everything plays out the way it's playing.

They're not dumb enough to announce during covid.

But the royals intend to move downtown.

[dukuboy1]

I agree East Village is most likely spot. Too many dots leading that way, especially with JE Dunn peeps as part of the ownership group. I believe they control land in the East Village and or have relationships with the group who does. This would be a huge catalyst for development on the East side of downtown, and hopefully continuing to spread East.

Around 18th and Vie would be cool but they have all that new Baseball Academy stuff that took up a bunch of real estate recently in that region. I guess you could look South from there, but East Village seems like the slam dunk in the heart of downtown.

Personally I would have loved something around Grand, in the general area of old Bob Jones Shoes and the unused space there but that is all starting to fill in now. To situate it there looking north would have awesome skyline in outfield.

[brewcrew1000]

I kind of wish they would get rid of Penn Valley Park and somehow make it fit there, it would look pretty sweet with some awesome views

[shinatoo]

I kind of wish they would get rid of Penn Valley Park and somehow make it fit there, it would look pretty sweet with some awesome views

Thats my favorite spot for it.

[KCPowercat]

Saw this on the Twitter feed for Tom Martin, formerly a sports reporter at KCTV5

so today I heard the Royals to downtown is happening. Announcement date TBD. Could be next month, could be next spring But it’s happening.

KCDowntown

Plz no gov. support

In any form? Like no additional ordinance should be passed to move a MLB downtown to invest in downtown?

[TheLastGentleman]

Bumping this post up from a few years ago

I've been thinking a lot about the downtown stadium ideas, in particular having it near 18th and Vine. The city's been struggling for years to get that area working and has poured loads of money into promoting it, so they have a vested interest in its success. A stadium would serve as an anchor. It would also fit in great in context, particularly with the baseball museum right there, and would place it within blocks of municipal stadium's former site. Having something as high profile as a stadium would also help clean up some of the industrial parks dividing the area from the crossroads. It would also be near Arthur Bryant's, which could serve as a big draw for out-of-towners, being a place visited by presidents and such. "World famous" and all that.

I have two particular sites in mind. I used St. Louis's Busch stadium as a reference, shown more or less in scale.

Site 1


Potential view from stands


Site 2



Potential view from stands

[DColeKC]

The biggest drawback is that the MLB strongly recommends a home plate through pitchers mount orientation of north northeast which makes downtown skyline views very difficult from most of the proposed sites.

EDIT: One of the newest baseball specific stadiums to be built actually has a south southeast orientation in Atlanta, so maybe there's hope after all!

[KCPowercat]

the outfield skyline view is the least of our reasons for a downtown park. Build it the preferred orientation.

[DColeKC]

What would the chances of it going in this location? How full is the ATT building and isn't there a plan to demo the jail?

I think the views are important considering we would be tearing down a decent stadium and one of few complaints is the terrible view from behind home plate. Ball clubs care about the view as part of the experience.

[DColeKC]

the outfield skyline view is the least of our reasons for a downtown park. Build it the preferred orientation.

[normalthings]

What would the chances of it going in this location? How full is the ATT building and isn't there a plan to demo the jail?

I think the views are important considering we would be tearing down a decent stadium and one of few complaints is the terrible view from behind home plate. Ball clubs care about the view as part of the experience.

I think that land is split between County, Private, State, and maybe federal owners.

[Riverite]

the outfield skyline view is the least of our reasons for a downtown park. Build it the preferred orientation.

I like the East village site, primarily for its proximity to the streetcar and the propensity to drive further development. Especially if they build it mixed use with a little park like we saw in the renderings before

[flyingember]

the outfield skyline view is the least of our reasons for a downtown park. Build it the preferred orientation.

This exactly.

My favorite spots are East Village, the park at Indep/Paseo, that area just above along the terminal rr or in Paseo West

The last three would put the stadium in a spot with tons of redevelopment but the first one has outstanding transit, walking and freeway access for the most people and can make use of downtown hotels

[DColeKC]

You certainly don't build it in a funky orientation just to accommodate skyline views, but if you're spending a billion dollars on a stadium, you should absolutely consider if it's possible to maximize the views from within the stadium. This will be a centerpiece for downtown KC, so if the MLB signs off on a slightly different orientation, let's get it right considering this is where we will watch KC baseball for decades.

The East Village location with a south/southeast home plate to pitchers mound is by far my favorite option. It checks all the important boxes imho and you won't have perfect downtown views, but certainly something to look at instead of the interstate.

[Critical_Mass]

Progressive Field (Cleveland), Coors Field (Denver) points due north from home plate, Target Field (MPLS) due east, Miller Park (Milwaukee) and Guaranteed Rate Field (Chi Sox) southeast, Wrigley (Chi Cubs) northeast. Looks like you can orient it anywhere from due north clockwise to due south. I'm not sure if any face westerly from home plate. A straight north or south orientation might give the best views on the East Loop site.

[dukuboy1]

even if it is built North/North East from East Village. This should be Incentive to create some new Skyline beyond the walls of the outfield. I bet you could even get projects that would start at the same time of construction to time their opening with the new stadium. Build some residential Towers or mixed use hotel/business/residential buildings that will have views of the new ball park. I can see it all happening at once, since there are vacant lots and or parcels of land with opportunities in an areas of downtown that has yet to experience a "boom"

[dukuboy1]

even if it is built North/North East from East Village. This should be Incentive to create some new Skyline beyond the walls of the outfield. I bet you could even get projects that would start at the same time of construction to time their opening with the new stadium. Build some residential Towers or mixed use hotel/business/residential buildings that will have views of the new ball park. I can see it all happening at once, since there are vacant lots and or parcels of land with opportunities in an area of downtown that has yet to experience a "boom"

[TheLastGentleman]

even if it is built North/North East from East Village. This should be Incentive to create some new Skyline beyond the walls of the outfield. I bet you could even get projects that would start at the same time of construction to time their opening with the new stadium. Build some residential Towers or mixed use hotel/business/residential buildings that will have views of the new ball park. I can see it all happening at once, since there are vacant lots and or parcels of land with opportunities in an areas of downtown that has yet to experience a "boom"

That's the approach Pendulum's proposal appeared to take.