Royals still planning to play despite police standoff at nearby Arrowhead; game delayed
Saturday evening’s Kansas City Royals game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Kauffman Stadium is still scheduled to be played, delayed by 30 minutes, despite an ongoing incident involving police in the parking lot at neighboring Arrowhead Stadium. The two stadiums share the Truman Sports Complex.
Kansas City police were engaged in a standoff Saturday afternoon with an armed man in the Truman Sports Complex parking lot, who they say fired shots at Arrowhead Stadium.
“A number of (players), we had to send them home because they were driving around the stadium and there wasn’t even an entrance available for them to get in,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said during a pre-game video conference call with reporters from the ballpark. “We had a number of coaches that were sitting out in their cars for a long time before they were escorted in.”
Players and staff entered the Truman Sports Complex from a different gate than usual to avoid the ongoing incident.
The team canceled its early batting practice but still planned to take on the field before tonight’s first pitch, which has been pushed back half an hour to 6:35 p.m.
Matheny said the team and coaching staff were progressing as if the game would be played.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates were unable to enter the complex as of 3:43 p.m.
Unlike the Kansas City Chiefs, who are playing in front of a reduced percentage of their stadium’s capacity this season, the Royals are not admitting fans to games this season.
This story was originally published September 12, 2020 at 4:24 PM.
