Some 454 days ago, as he announced a reshuffling of his front office, Royals chairman and majority owner John Sherman acknowledged intentions to explore downtown baseball.
On Tuesday night, at a midtown Kansas City theater, the Royals provided their most visible peek into those explorations to date.
And?
It’s a lot.
But even more visible is what’s left to learn.
We know more about the Royals’ stadium aspirations than we did yesterday — and more than I anticipated to learn in what they dubbed the first stop of a “listening tour” — but this feels closer to a few miles into a marathon than it does breaking the tape of a finish line.
Pace yourself.
Under Sherman’s lead in front of a crowd of a few hundred, the Royals glossed up some renderings on PowerPoint and painted a pretty picture of downtown baseball, both literally and in terms of its potential landing impact on Kansas City. There is no doubt their goal on this tour (other dates to be announced) is to garner the public’s backing on their desire to follow where most other MLB markets have already stepped.
And Sherman vocalized one truly significant commitment to making it happen — pledging that private capital will account for the entirety of the proposed $1 billion ballpark district and a “major part” of the proposed $1 billion stadium.
That’s big. Frankly, it could be the game-changer in how this all shakes out when voters are ultimately provided the opportunity to offer their opinion by graying in a bubble on a ballot.
But we’re light on other key details here — the location, timeline and the exact nature of the public financial contribution, to name a few. Which, to be clear, shouldn’t be construed as criticism but rather a comment on the stage of this process.
Deep into it. With much work left to do.
This topic elicits strong feelings on both sides and, hey, that’s understandable. That’s a good thing actually. The concern would be if none of you even cared. But the truth is most of us lack the full story to form, let alone articulate, those opinions.
We shouldn’t overlook the fact the Royals were willing to put their top brass on stage to take questions from fans, but the jury will need to hear all of the evidence before returning its verdict.
Much of the case will be presented only after the location is determined — all the Royals would offer over a 75-minute presentation and 45-minute question-and-answer session is they have analyzed 14 different sites in Kansas City. Preferences? A shrug of the shoulders. But that is the first domino that will prompt items like transportation, parking, affordable housing options and the real renderings of both the ballpark district and the stadium to fall into place.
Perhaps that point is best emphasized in this way: I’d walked into the Plexpod Medallion Theater with a list of the leading questions on a downtown stadium project— media were not permitted to ask questions Tuesday — that I’d hoped were addressed during the two-hour meeting. They’re probably pretty similar to what a lot of you would like to know, so here’s what was said on a few of them:
— What will the cost of a new downtown stadium be to the public? Sherman underscored the team would not seek an increase in payment from Jackson County taxpayers, who currently pay three-eighths-of-one-cent sales tax for both Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums. His aforementioned pledge caught my attention — as in it’s quite a bit more than I expected. But we’re still not clear what the exact bill due will be and whom will be paying every dollar listed on that bill.
— Where downtown is it going? Not even a hint.
— When is it going there? Not much on that, either. Brooks Sherman, the team’s COO, said the earliest something could possibly appear on the ballot would be late 2023.
— Will the public foot the bill for the ballpark district? Sherman said private funding will account for all of the ballpark district. Again, that’s big. We did not receive specifics on what that district will include, nor of its size.
— How will this affect ticket prices for low-income families? A good answer, but it’s a vague one: The Royals say it’s important to make games affordable.
— What about parking and transportation to games? They expressed optimism, but some of that optimism appeared to be an attempt at glossing over what is a legitimate downfall of a move downtown. In any event, the full details here can’t be settled until a location is determined.
— Will they prioritize affordable housing? It appears this is a yes — senior vice president Sarah Tourville emphasized that point by saying they are committed to a community benefits agreement — but again, not yet with specifics.
— How will a city’s investment in the Royals alter ownership’s investment in the team? This question was asked, reasonably, and let’s use Sherman’s full quote: “I would tell you, when the time is right, we will invest money in this ballclub. I would also tell you that whatever revenue that we grow through the development of this ballpark of the district, we’re going to put it on the field to make ourselves more competitive.”
That answer received applause. Perhaps it was telling that none over the 45 minutes generated boos.
Look, it’s understandable the Royals don’t yet have the full array of play-by-play answers. It’s a one-thing-leads-to-another scenario.
They will, of course, have to offer more specifics before you walk into a voting booth. We’ll eagerly await them.
