Pardon the spam but I've been having a google and couldn't find out if there has been any progress on this front. Does anyone have any news - I take it there is nothing concrete yet ...if not then does this mean a move is on the cards finally? (hope not)
this in today's independence examiner, "hockey isn't only option for area." "If the hockey arena does fall through, I have an even better idea for the proposed site. I have written before - and hopefully someone will pay attention to this now - that it would be a good area to put a soccer-only stadium for the Kansas City Wizards. The Wizards, who continue to languish at oversized Arrowhead Stadium, need a home. And a soccer complex could be built around the stadium with several fields that could be used to lure large youth and high school soccer tournaments - possibly the prep state championships - to the area. That would mean a lot of future revenue for Eastern Jackson County and the nearby businesses and make it worth the investment. Hockey or soccer would give Independence two good options for the area."
I talked to sasha today and he told me Bannister is the spot basically for right now... but it isn't offcial yet. My friends dad is engineering it and he knows where it will be but he will not tell us
I wanna thank the guys that answered this nicely. When I saw this this morning, I was all ready to go off on the KC is Not moving thing again...
Rumor has it that the WIZ's new SSS will be installing orange seats. And, that they have begun a grassroots re-movement to make it a reality.
I'm hoping that the Wizards and the city can make the Bannister location work. The highway access is the big positive factor. It also seems to be a nice middle ground for area residents. It is closer than Arrowhead for the Johnson County and South KC fans. It's not too much farther for residents of eastern Jackson County. Residents north of the river and in Wyandotte County would have the worst of it, but not by much thanks to the aforementioned highway access of I-435 and 71. My question is, if they tear down the mall and the surrounding shops do they have enough physical space for the proposed Wizards stadium, youth fields (how many?), and hotel / retail district? My follow-up question is will a soccer-specific pub within walking distance of the stadium (for pre-game, post-game, and away game activities) be a part of the equation?
i dont think the Bannister project includes many if any youth fields. That was a JOCO deal. I think it is a stadium, commercial structures (hopefully a bar which will show all the away games/int'l matches) and then another Cerner building/complex. Including all of that and parking, i dont see how they would be able to add many if any kids fields.
Here is a birds eye view thanks to Google earth. Assuming that all they used was the actual mall lot I think there is plenty of room for youth fields. Each square is about 80 yard x 100 yards to me it looks like you could fit many fields in there but someone far more motivated than myself caould do some measuring and figure out how many. There are already strip malls at the north end and on the east side that could be used for shopping or bars and the Large Hypermart is empty and could have something done there as well. I think the harder part of the question is will the Mayor Funk cough up the dough.
he'd better. if they do it, its going to be great for that area in the long run. and awesome for the wizards and us and it looks pretty big, i don't know if theres enough room for how many fields they wanted out in joco, but you'd think there'd be enough for a few. i can't wait for this stadium to be built!!
My first impulse was to say there won't be room for fields. I still don't think there will be room for 21 fields or whatever, but it looks to me like a handful might fit in that space, depending on exactly how much of this area we have to work with.
And after comparing the image of Crew Stadium with the image of the Bannister Complex, I see that Crew Stadium is approximately the same size as that black building in the upper right. Our stadium would be a shade larger most likely. Oh yes, this will work out very nicely. I'm getting excited about this. To prove my point, here is a photo of the Bannister site taken from 5279 feet up (couldn't quite get it to settle on a mile). Click on the image to enlarge. View attachment 3030
And here is an image of Crew Stadium from 5277 feet up. Again, couldn't get it exactly the same. View attachment 3031
That would work out very nicely. Put the stadium where the hypermart is, tear down the mall and use it and the existing lots for parking and then put fields to the east and south (as we look at it) of the stadium. Plenty of room.
I might be the only one, but I don't care much about he youth fields right next to the stadium. Sure, they're probably a part of the total revenue generating package, but I'm still barking about a stadium around downtown. Just north of the city right next to the river? Or in the West bottoms?
Youth fields with the stadium aren't a huge deal to me either. It might be nice but it's not a necessity.
I just don't see the stadium going downtown. Maybe that's becaue Im reading the KCRag forums too much and getting really tired of the people that are still whinning and complaining about the Royals stadium not going downtown that has completely turned me off of a downtown stadium.
I can't BELIEVE the idiots DIDN'T put the stadium downtown.. it wuz such a NOOOO BRAINER..... wasting the money on royales stadium shows this city has a serious IQ problem....
I think the Cerner complex you are referring to is probably the old Marion Labs building on the NE corner of the Grandview Triangle that I heard they recently purchased. Besides, the new training facility is at Swope Park, so the Bannister location is ideal for all the right reasons. The only thing I hope they do is put the stadium closer to the highway so people can stare at it in awe as they drive by!
I think I'd rather have it in BFE south JoCo than the West Bottoms. (Industrial waste for the win!) Sure, the Bannister area is a dump, but it's only been a dump about 1/2 as long as the west bottoms.