Kauffman Stadium just missed top 5 in new MLB ballpark rating. The bummer is why
A new ranking says the home of the Kansas City Royals is one of the top stadiums in Major League Baseball in 2025 — and it would rank even higher if the team could fix one thing.
Data analysis from from FlashPicks, a betting picks, parlays, predictions and news website, compared 28 MLB stadiums using various factors like prices, weather, reviews and the game day experience. They rated each category on a scale of 0 to 100 to determine which stadium is the most loved by fans.
Kauffman Stadium finished in the top 10, ranking as the sixth-best stadium in the league. On a scale of 100, the stadium received a 74.6.
One statistic that aided in its ranking? The cost of parking. Kauffman Stadium offers some of the cheapest parking for fans at an average cost of $21 for weekend games, according to FlashPicks.
The Royals’ value menu with $3 popcorn, sodas and pretzels; $4 hot dogs and sodas; and $5 beers also aided in the stadium’s rankings, as they offer some of the cheapest food options for fans in MLB. Plus, over 95% of reviews on the user review-sourced website Tripadvisor rated Kauffman Stadium as “excellent” or “good.”
FlashPicks said one main factor kept Kauffman Stadium from breaking into the top five and surpassing Busch Stadium, the home of the St. Louis Cardinals, which ranked No. 5: the team’s performance.
“Kauffman Stadium is let down by the Royals’ home record being one of the worst in the MLB, as they win less than half of their games (48.1%),” FlashPicks said in a statement. “Attendances reflect that, with it being the third emptiest at just 48.1% full and an average attendance of 18,224 since 2022.”
The Royals finished the regular season 65-97 in 2022, 56-106 in 2023 (tied for the worst record in franchise history), 86-76 with a playoff appearance in 2024 and currently sit at 38-40 in 2025.
FlashPicks sourced its data from numerous services, like Statista for hot dog and beer prices inside each stadium and Tripadvisor for fan reviews. They looked at ESPN for numbers on home attendance and team records between the 2022 and 2024 seasons, and sourced information from satellite navigation developer TomTom for city traffic densities.
It’s the second ranking to include Kauffman Stadium in the top 10 in 2025. USA Today rated the stadium’s food at No. 5 and the overall stadium experience at No. 10. Sports Illustrated’s list of the ballparks rated Kauffman Stadium at No. 19, citing that the stadium is too spacious.
“The one element it most lacks is what the top six ballparks on this list all have: intimacy,” senior writer Tom Verducci said. “The best baseball parks create a welcoming, cozy vibe. You’ve got to be more park-like and less stadium to be an elite baseball venue.”
The study also excludes data from the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays, since they’re playing at new stadiums in 2025.
The top stadium in the MLB, according to FlashPicks, is Chase Field, where the Arizona Diamondbacks play. The stadium received a score of 81.7. The worst stadium in the MLB is Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, who received a score of 54.5.
This story was originally published June 24, 2025 at 2:47 PM.
