Royals will stay in Kansas City, but move downtown in new $1.9B complex

The Kansas City Royals are moving from their longtime home at Kauffman Stadium to the downtown Crown Center area, partnering with Hallmark Cards on a $3 billion project that includes a mixed-used development with a new ballpark as its centerpiece.

Royals owner John Sherman was joined by Hallmark chairman Don Hall Jr., Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas in making the announcement Wednesday.

While the finalized master plan has yet to be complete, Sherman said the $1.9 billion stadium would break ground next year as part of the first phase of an 85-acre project. Two-thirds of the funding will come from private sources and the remaining one-third from public partners, including money earmarked by the state for stadium projects.

Most believed the stadium would sit on Washington Square Park, which is next to Union Station, but it will instead be located just south of it, with the park featured in the development. 

Hallmark intends to build a new headquarters in the area, connected by a streetcar to the Power & Light district. That part of downtown Kansas City will provide the backdrop beyond the outfield fence.

Officials touted the availability of public parking already in the area and convenient traffic flow from nearby highways.

The Royals had been weighing several options in recent months. But they ultimately rejected an option in the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, and allowed a deadline to pass for a site north of downtown and across the Missouri River in Clay County, Missouri.


(Rendering by Populous/Kansas City Royals via AP)