KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
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It’s been nearly three years since the Royals published an open letter from Chairman and CEO John Sherman, which said the team planned to vacate Kauffman Stadium when its current lease expires.
But it wasn’t until Monday that they made a new overture to “their most loyal supporters” about “shaping the club’s future.”
The team emailed a survey to season-ticket members and other select fans, asking for feedback on the team and the game-day and broadcast experiences. Still, it mostly focused on the ongoing stadium saga.
The survey included questions about fans’ feelings on Kauffman Stadium and a preference among three reported potential sites — Washington Square Park in Kansas City, Missouri; North Kansas City and the Aspiria Campus in Overland Park — according to fans who have taken the survey.
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However, the timing raised eyebrows.
“If you knew you planned on moving, why didn't you send the survey ... a long time ago, three years ago, especially to those season-ticket holders?” Stephanie Meade, a Royals fan who lives in Midtown, said.
It’s the latest puzzling decision from the Royals.
Eight months after his first letter, the Royals published another open letter from Sherman after the club narrowed its prospective sites to two locations, East Village inside the Downtown Loop, and North Kansas City.
Sherman said the team would pick between those sites and announce a decision “in late September,” but that didn’t happen.
Several months later, the Royals announced plans to build a stadium in the Crossroads Arts District, but voters soundly rejected that idea at the polls in April 2024.
“Ever since then, I just feel like it’s been really vague on what exactly the plan is,” Mark Flood, a Royals fan from Shawnee, said.
The Kansas Legislature authorized a tax redirect scheme through its STAR Bonds development tool, which would pay for up to 70% of the construction costs for a new stadium for the Royals or Chiefs, two months after the doomed vote.
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Kansas extended its deadline until June 30, 2026, last summer, with the stadium futures still unsettled.
But other than occasional statements of appreciation, including when the Missouri Legislature passed its own tax-redirect tool during a special session last June, the Royals have kept relatively quiet in the 18 months since.
The team has been responding to most media inquiries about the club’s future home with some variation about how the team is “exploring all options.”
It’s been an unsatisfying drumbeat for fans, especially since Sherman promised in November 2022 that “transparency” would be the Royals’ “guidepost” in the stadium-selection process.
“Nah, I haven’t heard that much from John as far as what he’s put out,” Kyle Vassar, a Royals fan I spoke with Thursday morning at Union Station, said. “He kind of just sprung the survey on us.”
While Royals fans seem happy to offer their opinion, it’s the team they want to hear from.
“Even if it was just a little bit of information, the community would be like, ‘Hey, you know, I appreciate that you are open communicating with us and so that we're in the loop,’” Deron Binkley, a fan from Independence, said.
The Royals, as they have for months, declined an interview request for this story.
“I’m a little bored of it, honestly,” Flood said of the stadium conversation. “I’m tired of hearing about it on the radio every single morning.”
Three years, it turns out, has tested fan patience.
“Something's got to give,” Heather Winship said after voting Tuesday at Glendale Elementary School in Independence. “We need to make a decision on where we're going to place it. Or, I'd rather, what can we do to keep it where it is?”
Plenty of Royals fans would prefer to renovate Kauffman again and keep the current stadium, which opened in April 1973.
“As a community member, I love Kauffman,” Karly King, a teacher in Independence, said. “I love the ease of parking. I love the ease of getting out. I love the history and the community sense that Kauffman provides. I think it's a great stadium.”
But that’s the one fan opinion — staying at Kauffman Stadium that the Royals have scratched from the list of options.
“His agenda was from day one, he's moving the royals, and that's a shame — in my eyes,” Independence resident and Royals fan Shawn Malles said.
Sherman repeatedly has said the future of the team’s stadium is a generational decision — and he’s right.
The Royals believe Kauffman Stadium limits the team’s potential to drive revenue and compete, now and in the future — and that’s also true.
After more than half a century, any and every attempt to enhance the area around the Harry S. Truman Sports Complex, making it a viable destination for anyone other than tailgaters on game days — and, importantly, on non-game days — has failed.
It’s also true that Sherman will be long gone by the time the team’s next lease is up, so any attempt to classify the Royals’ course of action as a cynical money grab by an out-of-touch billionaire misunderstands who Sherman is, his love for Kansas City and his goal in securing the team’s future in the Kansas City region.
But all fans really want to know is: When will we know where the Royals will play after the 2030 season?
“Some clarity would be nice,” Vassar said.
But in some sense, it doesn’t really matter.
“I’m going to go to the games no matter what, so it doesn’t really matter to me where the stadium is,” Flood said.
The Royals declined to provide a full list of questions when I reached out. The team also said it does not plan to release the survey results publicly.
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