I know people are fond of downtown stadiums, but our downtown is kind of different since it is built on a high river bluff, so it can't really spread out like other cities. The only place in the area they could put it would be to tear down Kemper. Not sure I would even like that site, though it has good highway access from all sides.
The team stays at Legends coupled with current form and kiss my season tickets good-bye. The tv will be good enough.
I live 5 minutes from Zona Rosa and would not like the stadium built there. It is already a clusterf*** getting in and out of that area. With a stadium and 18K or more fans, it would be a nightmare.
You are a fan of this team but would rather see them move than have a stadium built in an area because it is inconvenient for you? How selfish of an attitude is that. We live in one of the most spread out cities in the entire country. Pretty much anywhere it is built, some fans are getting screwed. They tried OP but that was turned down, they explored Olathe and it didnt work out, they are trying midtown and that may fall through. There arent many places left. If we are keeping the team, it has to be built somewhere. You are giving up on having a stadium because we are in a recession and a BILLION dollar project is being held up? Honestly, it would be shocking if things were proceeding as normal right now. Pretty much every stadium that has been built in this league has had some sort of setback and that was without a major recession. You couple the normal setbacks with a severe recession, things are going to get delayed.
What I've read about Kemper is that KC would like very much to tear down Kemper but if we did we would still have to pay AEG to manage it for the next 12-15 years. I believe the term for that is "non starter".
I live in Cameron, where traffic is never an issue. I just assumed that area was indicative of what city traffic was like.
Yes and I forgot to mention that the American Royal is entitled to the use of Kemper as well. What events spill over into Kemper I am not sure, but that was mentioned as well.
Uht oh, we're talking about the West Bottoms as a stadium location. Things must be real bad. I've always thought the River Market would be a cool location for a stadium. The land acquisition would cost significantly, and urban construction costs more than building in a wasteland. But you know, fun to dream and all that. But I do think being close to the urban core with good highway access is essential for the direction of this team. That's one thing Bannister has going for it.
Kansas City is like Miami in some ways, it's the grave yard of sports teams... we seem to have a multitude of professional sports team give the city a try, and very few succeed. I'm real demoralized about this stadium thing..... I can't imagine these guys will go forever in a minor league ball park, rather than relocating to a city that would build a stadium.. maybe I would move them to San Antonio, if I could get help from the city... or St Louis if they build a stadium..
It's been my experience that silence is better than hearing things. Silence = things are going on behind the scenes to make things happen Hearing things = things going wrong Bannister Mall is still getting torn down so I'm not giving up hope.
The majority of the River Market is high-end lofts, apartments, and condos that have all been renovated in the last 10 years and sold to buyers. Land acquisition would be impossible. Plus, most of the buildings are all of "historical" status and can't be demolished (or modified) for any reason. Given the history of the neighborhood, it would be a horrible idea to force 1k people to move, bulldoze dozens of historical buildings, just to make room for parking lots and a stadium, in a place where the city was first established. Closest place you could go would be Berkley Riverfront Park or somewhere (that doesn't smell) in the west bottoms. Building a stadium in the river market is the same as saying you want to build it in the crossroads, or westport, or the plaza. It just can't happen and would be a step backwards for a city that struggles to develop these types of cultural pockets. Build a new one, don't replace an existing one.
I work with a girl who has a family member (in the commercial real estate community) who is very close to this situation. She told me few weeks back that she had been told that the Bannister deal is dead. I'll believe it when I see an official release, but it was disheartening nonetheless. Especially after seeing those new renderings just a few weeks prior. And based on history, I also believe that this is a credible source. Not just someone who overheard something somewhere from someone. Now, whether you believe that I'm a credible source is for you to decide. And by the way, my vote is for them to build out by Legends.
I haven't looked at the area extensively since there was talk of building the baseball stadium down there, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't some place with significant surface parking lot space and trash buildings that could fit the relatively small footprint of a soccer stadium. Now of course you wouldn't bulldoze the surrounding area to put in surface parking lots; that defeats the purpose of having an urban stadium. Downtown can easily handle the influx of far more than what would be at your average Wizards game. But maybe I'm wrong. I know they've done substantial renovations to the old stock buildings there. I just zoomed through a Google Maps and saw a couple potential sites that I think could hold a stadium throughout downtown, but the satellite images were old. I'll have to go dig up the sites we picked out as potential baseball stadium locations... But like I said, the acquisition, preparation, and construction would be exorbitant compared to the Bannister location.
I couldn't agree more- after visiting Portland and seeing PGE Park, man KC is a joke in comparison. Hell living in Denver I can't figure out how anyone thought DSGP was a good idea, everyone knows the sports places in town are downtown yet no one knows where DSGP park is or how you get there.