Royals owner John Sherman acknowledges sense of urgency in deciding the future home of the MLB club
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Royals owner John Sherman acknowledged Monday that the Major League Baseball team feels a sense of urgency in deciding where it will play beyond the 2031 season, when its lease at aging but beloved Kauffman Stadium is due to expire. The Royals have considered several stadium sites around the Kansas City metropolitan area, and a few of them — including one in the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas — have been eliminated.
Now, the club appears to be zeroing in on sites in downtown Kansas City, across the Missouri River in Clay County, Missouri, and a potential move across the state line to Kansas City, Kansas. In that case, the Royals would be following their current NFL neighbor in the Chiefs, who announced in December that they would be building a $3 billion domed stadium as part of a public-private partnership near Kansas Speedway to replace Arrowhead Stadium. Arrowhead and Kauffman Stadiums sit a few hundred yards apart at the Truman Sports Complex in Jackson County, Missouri.
“It's always dangerous to set a deadline, but I think the pace is picking up,” Sherman said before the Royals played their home opener Monday against the Minnesota Twins. “And consistent with what I've been saying, yeah, I expect we'll be able to talk about something sooner rather than later. There's a great sense of urgency, just in general.
” In most cases, stadium construction can take four to five years, depending on the project scope and location. That means a buffer the Royals once had when they began to consider a move from Kauffman Stadium has dwindled to just a few months. The closest they've come to a decision came in April 2024 , when the Chiefs joined them in a joint plan to renovate Arrowhead Stadium and replace Kauffman Stadium with a downtown ballpark.
But voters in Jackson County overwhelmingly voted against extending a tax to help pay for the projects, forcing the two franchises to go their own ways. The Chiefs now know where they will be playing after their lease expires. The Royals hope to know within the next few months.