A new Royals stadium in Wyandotte County could save downtown KCK
Recently, there's been a lot of smoke about the Chiefs and Royals potentially moving to Kansas via the use of STAR bonds, the state of Kansas has shown great interest in moving the Chiefs to the Legends Entertainment District of KCK.
As can be seen from these renders, the new proposed Chiefs stadium would have a roof, a modern look, and a massive parking lot.
But this opens up a very interesting situation for the Royals as to what they'll do with their stadium plans, It's likely that the Royals will still explore options on the Missouri side in downtown KCMO and the Northland, but the STAR bonds could also bring the Royals to Kansas as well.
Where would this new Royals stadium in WyCo be located, a popular answer would be the Legends district alongside the Chiefs and Sporting KC, although there is a bit of an issue with that, there's already a baseball stadium in that part of town; Legends Field currently home to the indyball Kansas City Monarchs of the AAPB, Unless the Royals make an agreement with the Monarchs to renovate and upgrade Legends Field for Major League standards, It just wouldn't make sense to have 2 baseball stadiums, a football stadium, a soccer stadium, and the Kansas Speedway all crowded into one area.
Which brings us to the part of Kansas City, Kansas that sits on the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers and can be seen from Ermine Case Jr. park. Despite all the recent developments on the west side of town (aka Legends), KCK's city center has been largely unchanged for the past 70 years, making downtown KCK "the ugly duckling" of the Kansas City area.
Outside of the Taco Trail, Kansas City, Kansas has been lacking its own identity in its urban core, especially when compared to other parts of town (Legends, KCMO, Olathe/Overland Park, Northland);. Perhaps a new Royals stadium in KCK's downtown could be a big step towards a revitalization in KCK, alongside the recently announced new apartment complex could be the building blocks towards putting the "city" in Kansas City, Kansas.
Even with downtown KCK not being as flashy as other areas, in its current state it is still a better location than the Truman Sports Complex where its isolated from other local amenities such as restaraunts, hotels, and housing.
This may be a pipe dream of mine, but if it does happen it could work out like a smaller-scale version of what happened when Petco Park was built for the Padres in San Diego.