John Sherman says any new renderings of a Royals stadium must have two features
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- John Sherman said fans’ top preference is to keep the team at Kauffman Stadium.
- Sherman requested Populous include a crown and fountains in future renderings.
- Sherman asked Populous to put the fountains back into future renderings.
Shortly after the 2025 season ended, the Royals asked fans for their views on game-day experience, television broadcasts and the team’s next ballpark.
Royals CEO and chairman John Sherman said before last month’s home opener that the survey showed fans want the team to remain at Kauffman Stadium.
“Still the No. 1 preference, if you ask people that question, is to stay where we are,” Sherman said. “I think that’s expected. It’s not by a big margin. And it was followed by downtown, North Kansas City, and then suburban Kansas was kind of the last choice.”
But the Royals will be leaving Kauffman Stadium in a few years, and momentum is building toward a stadium at Washington Square Park.
Kansas City’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee on Tuesday gave approval to the project, and the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners soon after followed suit. The City Council is scheduled to discuss the ballpark plan on Thursday.
Should a stadium be approved for Washington Square Park, fans eventually will see renderings from the architectural firm, Populous. Sherman said he has requested that features be included in any future renderings from Populous’ Earl Santee.
“Kauffman Stadium is beautiful, symmetrical. The ballpark itself, I’d like to see that basically duplicated wherever we go,” Sherman said. “Now, you know, the architects will want to do some different things around it. Another thing that came through in the (fan) survey ... if we’re going somewhere else, here are the things that we want. And you get the traditional stuff, parking, traffic, etc. But they want a crown, and they want a water feature.
“And really they want the crown and they want the fountains, right? And when Populous shows me drawings without those, I say, ‘Earl, you need to put the crown and the fountains back in there.’ Because I think architects want to do something new and cool, but I think you can do something new and cool but still bring the tradition into the things that are special about the ballpark. That doesn’t mean build an exact replica, but I think the ballpark itself is pretty special.”
This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 8:57 AM.
