Royals ballpark designers want fans out of their cars
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An aerial view of what the stadium will look like. Rendering: Courtesy of the Kansas City Royals
The Royals and design firm Populous want fans to walk, bike or take the streetcar to the new downtown stadium, a major shift from the current game-day experience.
Why it matters: Kauffman Stadium ranked last in a 2025 study of MLB stadium walkability, and a 2019 ranking found it had the league's worst transit connections. Royals leaders say the new ballpark will change that.
Driving the news: The team unveiled new stadium designs on Thursday, with an emphasis on multiple ways to get there.
- Leaders touted car-free options starting with the streetcar line, which has two stops near the stadium and connects to the Plaza, the Power and Light District and the River Market.
- Brooks Sherman, the Royals' president of real estate and development, added that the team wants fans to "come early and stay late."
What they're saying: "We want this to be just that, a neighborhood ballpark," Sherman said, pointing to plazas, green space and new housing he says will create "safe, walkable" neighborhoods.
- But he said moving crowds in and out is key: "If we don't do that well, they come once and they don't return."
By the numbers: The team says the move to Crown Center will bring around 2 million fans downtown a year.
- Populous founder Earl Santee said Crown Center already has plenty of parking north of the stadium site, much of it underground.
- The team will keep the two existing garages, which hold around 4,000 spaces combined, and plan to build a new garage for the outfield.
Yes, but: The project's first-phase traffic study from June estimates around two-thirds of fans to drive to weeknight games, while fewer than one in five will walk, bike or take transit.
- Some residents and business owners have raised parking concerns, and Mayor Quinton Lucas said last week the Royals "have no reason to make their stadium inconvenient."
- Children's Mercy told KSHB it plans to work with the Royals to protect access for patients and families, and Sherman said the team meets regularly with neighbors but has shared no game-day traffic plan.
What's next: Demolition of Hallmark's headquarters, where the stadium will go, is expected to start in June 2027, Sherman said, and the team aims to open in 2030.