Royals’ on-field woes discussed as John Sherman makes case for ditching Kauffman Stadium
The Kansas City Royals have certainly made an effort to tie their youth movement and optimism about the club’s future into the push for a downtown stadium and ballpark district.
That’s been evident from CEO and chairman John Sherman’s open letter to the images and video montages the club has used to promote the project.
During the Royals’ first public meeting as part of a “listening tour” in the region, the first question fired at Sherman by a community member made it clear that the team’s performance also wasn’t far from the mind of some fans.
The question, one of more than 150 submitted by more than 350 audience members at Plexpod Westport Commons, as well as questions submitted online, pointedly asked “why was a perpetual last-place team” deserving of a new stadium financed by public money — and challenged Sherman and the ownership’s investment in the payroll and roster.
“This is a public-private partnership and our ownership group will be the substantial investor in this project,” Sherman replied. “And we are spending on the team. I would tell you, I think in baseball — and I don’t know if we want to talk about baseball — but investing in the team has to be at a point where you know you have a core that‘s ready to invest in.”
Sherman also refuted the implication that ownership hadn’t invested in the team on the field, and he pointed to the additions of free agents pitcher Mike Minor, first baseman Carlos Santana and center fielder Michael A. Taylor as well as acquiring Andrew Benintendi via trade going into the 2021 season.
Those additions were made coming off a pandemic-shortened season with no fans in attendance in 2020, the first MLB season after the current ownership group bought the team for a reported $1 billion.
Sherman also asserted that the ownership’s desire to make a show of their commitment and to “accelerate” the rebuilding process did not work.
That exchange served as the lone pointed reference to the club’s struggles on the field, including sub .500 records in each season since 2017, two fifth-place finishes in the division and three fourth-place finishes.
The event included eight speakers, including Sherman, accompanied by a slide presentation and multiple video montages followed by a question and answer session that lasted approximately 40 minutes.
Populous and the case against The K
In a mid-November open letter, Sherman made his first public case for a downtown stadium.
He asserted that the costs of necessary renovations to Kauffman Stadium, also known as “The K,” would equal or surpass the cost to “develop a new ballpark.”
The letter didn’t offer specifics on either pending renovation, nor did the $2 billion price tag Sherman placed on the project separate the stadium costs from the overall cost of the district.
“Recognizing that the K will have outgrown its fullest functionalities by the time our lease expires with Jackson County by the end of the decade, we are clear-eyed that the Truman Sports Complex is not a viable option for us long-term,” Royals senior VP of business operations Sarah Tourville said on Tuesday night.
For the first time, the Royals followed that statement with an assessment from highly-regarded KC-based global design and architecture firm Populous.
Populous’ Sarah Dempster presented findings from their team of engineers and stated that renovations needed to make Kauffman Stadium a viable long-term home for the Royals in the future would cost $1.072 billion.
Among the major takeaways, according to Dempster, included evidence of “cancer of the concrete” in the structure that could require major removal in order to extend the life another 30 years.
Other issues Dempster highlighted included: leakage in the fountain and pump room that has caused deterioration in the steel and concrete structure, rust issues in the right field tunnel as well as the canopy steel supports and light towers and the need to replace the front row tubs in the upper deck.
The chiller plant south of the stadium, piping to the stadium and heating system were also cited as pending issues — though it was not clear how immediate a problem those issues presented.
Dempster pointed to the electrical distribution system as requiring replacement by the end of the decade.
Populous global chair and founder Earl Santee added that for the Royals to get another 50 years out of Kauffman Stadium, 70 percent of the stadium would need to be replaced. That included replacing the lower bowl and tearing down the canopy and major concourse areas.
Parsing the new project
For the first time, the Royals presented the cost of the stadium apart from the ballpark district. The stadium will cost an estimated $1.005 billion of the $2 billion total district price tag.
Royals COO Brooks Sherman, senior VP and member of the ownership group, said the ownership group will invest hundreds of millions of dollars of their own into the project.
The Royals maintain that they would not ask any more financially from Jackson County than what is currently devoted to sports ventures.
The new ballpark proposal by Populous would likely aim to have 34,000-35,000 seats with an additional space for 3,500 standing room patrons to bring the capacity to approximately 38,000. Of course, a definitive site has not yet been determined.
Santee said Populous did a parking study that found there were 2 1/2 times the available parking spaces downtown as at the Truman Sports Complex within a 10-minute walk to a new downtown ballpark, and that the parking setup would work concurrently with any events at the T-Mobile Center.
Part of larger vision
The major impetus for the move downtown has been that the data shows the downtown area is growing the most, has a more diverse population and a younger demographic than the current location.
HR&A real estate and economic development consulting firm partner Cary Hirschstein presented findings that 85% of Royals fans want a more social and diversified ballgame experience. He also pointed out that 70% of the new stadiums in MLB have been built in urban centers.
John Sherman reiterated his goal to win a championship and have a parade that “blankets” the city in blue. He also framed the ballpark as a means of keeping the Royals “competitive” with their peers.
Along with that, he mentioned three goals of the new ballpark: generating community impact that’s measurable, inspiring measurable economic growth and improving the quality of life in the region with “a strong focus on underrepresented members of our community.
“We intend to leave no one behind,” Sherman said.
Sherman, who has deep ties to the KC area, also pledged to keep the club in KC.
He has repeatedly placed a new ballpark in the context of making KC a world-class sports city, citing the new soccer stadium, hosting the NFL Draft, hosting the World Cup and being one of 25 U.S. cities with both an MLB and NFL franchise.
“What we do in and for this community is important,” Sherman said. “We’re baseball fans, yes, but we bought this team out of love for this community. What we’re talking about tonight is playing the long game.”
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 11:58 PM.
