This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers’ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
KANSAS CITY – The Royals kicked off their 54th season at Kauffman Stadium with their home opener on Monday afternoon, in a stadium that opened in 1973 and is the fifth-oldest MLB stadium trailing Fenway Park (1912), Wrigley Field (1914), Dodger Stadium (1962) and Angel Stadium (1966).
But the Royals’ time at The K is dwindling, with their lease at the Truman Sports Complex up after the 2030 season. This year marks the five-year countdown to their time here ending – but where they go next is anyone’s guess.
The organization’s search for a new stadium site in Kansas City is ongoing. CEO/chairman John Sherman maintained Monday that the Royals are making progress in that process with multiple opportunities and would like to get it wrapped up “sooner rather than later.” He acknowledged that he knows it’s the fans’ preference, too, and that the club has a “great sense of urgency” to get the search wrapped up so that it can move on to the construction phase.
But he also had no news to share on any looming site announcement.
“It’s always been my experience when you’re doing important work, it’s not easy,” Sherman said. “It shouldn’t be easy, and these are complicated processes. Public-private partnerships, multi-jurisdictional, dealing with multiple entities as well. But I think we’re making progress. I’m as anxious as anybody to get this behind us.”
Sherman confirmed again that the Royals are discussing site options in downtown Kansas City (Jackson County), North Kansas City (Clay County) and on the Kansas side of the state line, where the Kansas City Chiefs, whose Arrowhead Stadium is in the same lot as Kauffman Stadium, are set to move for the start of the 2031 NFL season.
Sherman said the Royals would want to have the site control and public financing in place before announcing where their new home would be. He also maintained that they are looking for a public-private partnership, which hasn’t changed since the team first launched its search efforts years ago.
“At the end of the day, the team will put a substantial amount of capital into the stadium and the development around it, but there will be a meaningful portion from – expected to be a meaningful portion – the public as well,” Sherman said.
The Royals want to build a new ballpark and a surrounding ballpark district, not unlike The Battery in Atlanta, where the Royals just opened the ‘26 season. Sherman and several business operations officials were there over the weekend and witnessed what it’s like to have approximately 40,000 people in and around the stadium with retail and restaurants booming with business.
“It was like College GameDay in The Battery,” Sherman said. “I know it was Opening Day, but there were bands playing. There were tons of people around. The energy level was incredible. All the restaurants and retail facilities were full. That was followed up again on Saturday.”
The Royals sent out a fan survey earlier this year about a variety of things having to do with the stadium search, the current experience at Kauffman Stadium and more. Sherman was encouraged by the optimism of the fanbase, saying that 82 percent of participants felt like the team was improving this season. He also said that in terms of a new stadium, the No. 1 preference from participants would be to stay where the Royals are currently, followed by downtown, North Kansas City and then suburban Kansas.
That didn’t surprise him, Sherman said. But the Royals’ objective is to build a “modern, world-class ballpark that will sustain our competitiveness long-term.” Tradition will follow them wherever they end up.
“There was a lot of, ‘If we’re going somewhere else, here are the things we want,’” Sherman said of the survey results. “You get the traditional stuff: Parking, traffic, etc. But … really they want a crown and the fountains. When [architectural firm] Populous shows me drawings without those, I say, ‘Earl [Santee, Populous senior principal], you need to put the crown and fountains back in.’ … 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.”
Wherever it does go, the Royals must make a decision soon. Ballparks take time to build. Sherman again mentioned Truist Park, which took about 30 months from breaking ground in 2014 to the Braves’ first game there in April 2017. Following that model, the Royals have some time … but not much.
“We’ve got a little bit of a cushion, but not a big one,” Sherman said. “It’s time to get on with it.”