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Feature: KC Wizards Stadium Conjures Benefits
With the new Wizards stadium now officially under construction, the impact will extend far beyond just Kansas City.
Jan 23, 2009 6:03:10 PM
By: Seth Vertelney
The bulldozers descended on the Bannister Mall Wednesday morning. As they began to knock down brick walls that used to enclose Sears, JCPenney and Dillard's, Wizards' fans celebrated a huge victory not only for their club, but for soccer in this country as well.
An eyesore in southeast Kansas City wil now be converted into a sight for sore eyes. The bulldozers are clearing the way for a new stadium, scheduled to open in time for the 2011 season.
For 'Zard fans, the proposed capacity of 18,500 is a Goldilocks-esque "just right" situation. The team called the cavernous Arrowhead Stadium home for their entire existence until last year, when they moved into Arrowhead's direct antithesis- CommunityAmerica Ballpark-with a meager capacity of just over 10,000.
The beginning of construction represents the culmination of several years of planning and lobbying, which started in earnest with the sale of the team in the summer of 2006. The team's original owner, the late Lamar Hunt, sold the team to a local ownership group called OnGoal, LLC. The sale of the team was contingent on the new ownership group having a stadium plan in place, but that was not quite the case.
OnGoal identified Overland Park, Kansas as an ideal spot for a new Wizards stadium, but the proposed stadium ran into opposition from the city's mayor, which derailed the project entirely by the beginning of 2007. In the summer of 2007, a developer hired by the Wizards identified the recently closed Bannister Mall in southeast Kansas City as another potential spot not only for a new stadium, but a new development meant to inject economic life into a languishing section of Kansas City.
The $949 million proposal included a 12 field soccer complex, a 250 room hotel, over one million square feet of retail space and over 1.5 million square feet of office space, in addition to the proposed stadium.
The plan was approved by the city council in December 2007, and the final financing hurdle was cleared in November 2008, when the state legislature of Missouri approved a $30 million tax-credit package to help finance the development.
Even in the midst of the country's economic meltdown, the state legislature approved a financing plan which will see the public shoulder 29% of the cost of the now one billion dollar project. This stamp of approval bodes well for both the perception of the project's viability, and for the long-term standing of soccer in the Kansas City area.
Simply put, if the future of the Wizards in Kansas City weren't a priority, this deal would not have gotten done. The financial implications of the new stadium will be immense, not just for the Wizards, but for the league as a whole.
For an idea of potential financial impact, the Wizards need look no further than the most recent MLS team to trade in a shared, non-soccer stadium for new, soccer-only digs- Real Salt Lake. In 2008, the club's revenue sat around $8 million dollars. In 2009, their first full year at Rio Tinto Stadium, RSL projects their revenue will approach $21 million.
The financial windfall stems from the end of sharing revenue with the University of Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium. With RSL as the lone tenant, they earn all revenue from parking, concessions, sponsorship deals and non-soccer events at Rio Tinto.
Sharing is nice when you're a four year-old in the sandbox, but when you're a fledgling soccer club, you need all the spoils for yourself. The revenue sharing system in the MLS means when one team makes monetary headway, every team is impacted.
In 2005, Toronto was granted an expansion franchise; they paid $10 million to enter the league. Three years later, Seattle and Philadelphia were granted the same privilege, except they paid around $30 million each to enter the MLS. One of the main reasons for the increased entrance fee is the fact that five new stadiums have been built since 2005, including Toronto's, and two more (Kansas City, New York) will now definitely join the fray.
Almost as important as the tangible financial strides is the intangible gains the league makes in the public eye with each new soccer-only facility.
Two recent matches provide a stark contrast: On October 30th, the Chicago Fire visited the New England Revolution in the first game of the postseason. The game was slated for Thursday night on ESPN2, a nationally televised showcase game for the league.
Just over 5,000 fans "filled" the stands at the enormous Gillette Stadium, giving the match the feel of a high school playoff game, not a professional one.
Just three weeks earlier, in the same Thursday night ESPN2 slot, 20,000 strong packed a sold-out Rio Tinto Stadium for its inaugural match between Real Salt Lake and the New York Red Bulls. If you were a casual fan, which match do you think the league hopes you saw?
In a saturated American sports market, fan perception is reality. The league has come a long way since its early days of matches taking place in 10% filled stadiums with football lines painted on the field, but the reality is those days are not completely behind us. Imagine how different of an opinion the uninitiated fan would have if the most recent match they saw was that Revs vs. Fire playoff game versus the fan who most recently saw the opening match at Rio Tinto, with a full house and the Rocky Mountains providing the backdrop.
It may have looked innocuous, but the bulldozers plowing over the walls of the Bannister Mall was the next significant step in the league's transformation.
Seth Vertelney is a regular contributor to Goal.com
The bulldozers descended on the Bannister Mall Wednesday morning. As they began to knock down brick walls that used to enclose Sears, JCPenney and Dillard's, Wizards' fans celebrated a huge victory not only for their club, but for soccer in this country as well.
An eyesore in southeast Kansas City wil now be converted into a sight for sore eyes. The bulldozers are clearing the way for a new stadium, scheduled to open in time for the 2011 season.
For 'Zard fans, the proposed capacity of 18,500 is a Goldilocks-esque "just right" situation. The team called the cavernous Arrowhead Stadium home for their entire existence until last year, when they moved into Arrowhead's direct antithesis- CommunityAmerica Ballpark-with a meager capacity of just over 10,000.
The beginning of construction represents the culmination of several years of planning and lobbying, which started in earnest with the sale of the team in the summer of 2006. The team's original owner, the late Lamar Hunt, sold the team to a local ownership group called OnGoal, LLC. The sale of the team was contingent on the new ownership group having a stadium plan in place, but that was not quite the case.
OnGoal identified Overland Park, Kansas as an ideal spot for a new Wizards stadium, but the proposed stadium ran into opposition from the city's mayor, which derailed the project entirely by the beginning of 2007. In the summer of 2007, a developer hired by the Wizards identified the recently closed Bannister Mall in southeast Kansas City as another potential spot not only for a new stadium, but a new development meant to inject economic life into a languishing section of Kansas City.
The $949 million proposal included a 12 field soccer complex, a 250 room hotel, over one million square feet of retail space and over 1.5 million square feet of office space, in addition to the proposed stadium.
The plan was approved by the city council in December 2007, and the final financing hurdle was cleared in November 2008, when the state legislature of Missouri approved a $30 million tax-credit package to help finance the development.
Even in the midst of the country's economic meltdown, the state legislature approved a financing plan which will see the public shoulder 29% of the cost of the now one billion dollar project. This stamp of approval bodes well for both the perception of the project's viability, and for the long-term standing of soccer in the Kansas City area.
Simply put, if the future of the Wizards in Kansas City weren't a priority, this deal would not have gotten done. The financial implications of the new stadium will be immense, not just for the Wizards, but for the league as a whole.
For an idea of potential financial impact, the Wizards need look no further than the most recent MLS team to trade in a shared, non-soccer stadium for new, soccer-only digs- Real Salt Lake. In 2008, the club's revenue sat around $8 million dollars. In 2009, their first full year at Rio Tinto Stadium, RSL projects their revenue will approach $21 million.
The financial windfall stems from the end of sharing revenue with the University of Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium. With RSL as the lone tenant, they earn all revenue from parking, concessions, sponsorship deals and non-soccer events at Rio Tinto.
Sharing is nice when you're a four year-old in the sandbox, but when you're a fledgling soccer club, you need all the spoils for yourself. The revenue sharing system in the MLS means when one team makes monetary headway, every team is impacted.
In 2005, Toronto was granted an expansion franchise; they paid $10 million to enter the league. Three years later, Seattle and Philadelphia were granted the same privilege, except they paid around $30 million each to enter the MLS. One of the main reasons for the increased entrance fee is the fact that five new stadiums have been built since 2005, including Toronto's, and two more (Kansas City, New York) will now definitely join the fray.
Almost as important as the tangible financial strides is the intangible gains the league makes in the public eye with each new soccer-only facility.
Two recent matches provide a stark contrast: On October 30th, the Chicago Fire visited the New England Revolution in the first game of the postseason. The game was slated for Thursday night on ESPN2, a nationally televised showcase game for the league.
Just over 5,000 fans "filled" the stands at the enormous Gillette Stadium, giving the match the feel of a high school playoff game, not a professional one.
Just three weeks earlier, in the same Thursday night ESPN2 slot, 20,000 strong packed a sold-out Rio Tinto Stadium for its inaugural match between Real Salt Lake and the New York Red Bulls. If you were a casual fan, which match do you think the league hopes you saw?
In a saturated American sports market, fan perception is reality. The league has come a long way since its early days of matches taking place in 10% filled stadiums with football lines painted on the field, but the reality is those days are not completely behind us. Imagine how different of an opinion the uninitiated fan would have if the most recent match they saw was that Revs vs. Fire playoff game versus the fan who most recently saw the opening match at Rio Tinto, with a full house and the Rocky Mountains providing the backdrop.
It may have looked innocuous, but the bulldozers plowing over the walls of the Bannister Mall was the next significant step in the league's transformation.
Seth Vertelney is a regular contributor to Goal.com
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