Kansas City, Missouri – Kansas City’s long-running question about the future of Royals baseball now has a downtown answer. City leaders and team officials announced this week that the Kansas City Royals will remain in Kansas City and move forward with plans for a new ballpark and Baseball District at Crown Center and Washington Square Park, placing the club in the center of Downtown Kansas City.
Mayor Quinton Lucas joined Royals Chairman and CEO John Sherman, Hallmark Chairman of the Board Donald Hall, and Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe for the announcement, which marks a major step in the effort to keep the franchise rooted in the city. The project is expected to reshape a key downtown area while tying baseball more closely to Kansas City’s business, cultural, transit, and entertainment corridors.
According to city officials, the new stadium and surrounding Baseball District are projected to generate 20,000 construction trade jobs. The site’s location along transit lines is being promoted as a way to make the project accessible to workers from across the region. Once the ballpark opens, it is expected to support 1,000 union jobs on every game day.
The development is also being framed as a broader economic engine beyond baseball. With 81 regular-season home games and hundreds of additional events planned each year, officials say the district could bring millions of visitors into Downtown Kansas City, creating new activity for hotels, restaurants, small businesses, and nearby neighborhoods.
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City leaders emphasized that the plan is structured as a public-private partnership supported by revenues from baseball and related development. The proposal does not call for new taxes or large special taxing districts.
“I am proud of the steps we have taken to build a strong future for Royals baseball in Downtown Kansas City,” said Mayor Lucas during his remarks.
“The Royals are staying home, and they are building a new home at the center of our region’s culture, arts, vibrance, and entrepreneurial success. This is the best in public-private partnership — funded by baseball and development, with no new tax increases, and with the kind of conservative fiscal management Kansas City families deserve. We are the visionaries of today, and we are changing Kansas City for the better.”
The announcement follows several years of work between Mayor Lucas and the Royals on keeping the team in Kansas City. Earlier in April, Lucas introduced legislation outlining future agreements tied to downtown stadium and district development. The City Council approved the item by an 11-1-1 vote.
That same week, the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners unanimously approved legislation supporting Royals management and oversight of a reimagined Washington Square Park, clearing another step toward a new downtown home for the team.
