Mayor comes out against Johnson County Royals stadium as Kansas deadline looms

The mayor of Leawood says he cannot support a Royals ballpark in the city’s backyard as public opposition grows to the idea of a new stadium in Overland Park.

While the Royals have not announced which location they will pursue to develop a new ballpark district, the Aspiria campus off 119th Street and Nall Avenue in Overland Park has been floated as a possibility, alongside North Kansas City and Washington Square Park near downtown Kansas City.

The former Sprint site is just within Overland Park’s border and across the street from Leawood and its Town Center Plaza district.

In a Tuesday statement, Leawood Mayor Marc Elkins said his city supports keeping the Royals in the Kansas City region.

“However, the City Council and I cannot, at this time, support the Overland Park Aspiria campus as an appropriate location for a Major League Baseball stadium,” Elkins said.

Elkins noted that Aspiria is in Overland Park but directly across Nall Avenue from Leawood.

“Based on media reports and direct feedback from our residents, we share serious concerns about the potential impacts on Leawood and its citizens should a stadium be built on this property,” he said. “These concerns include traffic congestion, noise and lighting, public safety and emergency access, parking in residential neighborhoods, infrastructure capacity, and impacts on nearby schools, medical facilities, senior living communities and established single-family residential areas.”

Elkins also said the city’s concerns have been amplified by a lack of transparency from the state of Kansas about its plan, eroding trust that residents’ concerns would be heard and meaningfully considered.

And he pointed to public statements from T-Mobile and the Jewish Community Centers Association regarding the proposal, which he said are organizations important to the economic and cultural fabric of the area.

T-Mobile, which is located on the Aspiria campus and employs thousands of employees, has indicated they may leave if the Royals build a stadium there.

Meanwhile, the JCC Association of North America, an affiliate of the local Jewish Community Center near the Aspiria campus, pushed state officials in a letter to pursue an alternative location for a stadium, the Johnson County Post reported.

“Given the concerns raised by residents and the opposition voiced by key institutions in this area, as well as the lack of information regarding the project, the city of Leawood cannot, at this time, support the location of a stadium at the Aspiria campus in Overland Park,” Elkins said.

Worried neighbors

Some Johnson County residents have also recently begun to organize and gather petition signatures against a stadium on the site.

Overland Park officials emphasize that the team has not put forth a formal development proposal at this time, and the city can only evaluate a project when it has one.

“We know that our community has many questions and concerns about the potential for a Major League Baseball stadium in Overland Park,” Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog said at a city council meeting on Monday. “There have been no formal requests to the City on this topic at this time. No development applications or site plans have been submitted to the City.”

Should there be a formal request, Skoog said, the city has a robust development review process that all proposals must go through. That process looks at issues like safety, traffic, pedestrian access and noise. If there is a proposal, the community will have opportunities to share their thoughts and concerns, he said.

“Any stadium development must be good for Overland Park, Johnson County and the state of Kansas,” Skoog said. “We hope to learn more from the State of Kansas and the team in the near future.”

A spokesperson for the Royals told The Star last week that the team remains in serious talks about all three areas where stadium proposals have been pitched.

Clock is ticking

Public pressure is mounting as the Royals come up against another potential deadline in their years-long effort to build a new stadium.

Over the summer, Kansas lawmakers voted to extend a law authorizing a financing plan to help pay for up to 70% of the cost of a new stadium, which would use bonds that would be paid back with future sales tax revenue from development. The incentive plan aims to lure the team across the state line.

But as a caveat, Kansas officials have indicated they would not entertain a team proposal brought to them after Dec. 31, 2025.

Lawmakers will have one more opportunity to review a stadium proposal between now and the end of the year at a December meeting of the Legislative Coordinating Council. That meeting has been scheduled for Dec. 22.

This story was originally published December 16, 2025 at 1:49 PM.