Tuesday afternoon, Kansas City Royals owner John Sherman published an open letter outlining the team’s plans to replace Kauffman Stadium. The Royals’ lease on the stadium they have called home since 1973 is slated to expire in 2031, so Sherman revealed that the team is in the early phases of looking into a location for a $2 billion stadium and entertainment complex that he hopes would develop into a thriving centre of business activity.
In order to build a new stadium, the franchise plans to form a “private-public” partnership, which entails asking the local government for funding.
The following tweet was published by the official Royals Twitter account, and it contains Sherman’s full statement:
An open letter from Royals Chairman and CEO John Sherman. pic.twitter.com/jdj8ed2MXr
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) November 15, 2022
Since it has been in service for more than 50 years, Kauffman Stadium ranks as the sixth-oldest stadium still in use in Major League Baseball. John Sherman pointed out that additional repairs would ultimately be more expensive than making an investment in a new place to live. The estimated cost of stadium renovations in the late 2000s alone was $250 million (about $347 million in 2022 after accounting for inflation).
“As you may already be aware, keeping up with The K has become difficult. It will be 60 years old when its current lease with Jackson County expires at the end of this decade. To meet our goals.
The K would need to undergo upgrades that would cost as much as or perhaps more than building a new ballpark. For the Kansas City community and the local taxpayers who already fund our facility, a new house would be a much better investment, Sherman said.
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Sherman took particular to emphasise the significant economic impact on the Kansas City neighbourhood that building a new stadium might have.
20,000 employment, $1.4 billion in labour income, an estimated $2.8 billion in overall economic production, and further nearby investment might all be generated by the construction of this new ballpark district, according to Sherman.
The Royals are in the midst of a protracted rebuild after struggling for a number of years near the bottom of the standings. A franchise that is in desperate need of a new beginning may enter a new era with the construction of a new stadium.
