Канзас-Ситидегі "Кауфман" стадионы

Baseball stadium in Kansas City, Missouri

Kauffman Stadium ('/k//ɔː//f//m//ə//n/), often called "The K", is a baseball stadium located in Kansas City, Missouri. It is the ballpark to the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). It is part of the Truman Sports Complex together with the adjacent Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). The stadium is named for Ewing Kauffman, the founder and first owner of the Royals. It opened in 1973 as Royals Stadium and was named for Kauffman twenty years later on July 2, 1993. Since its last major renovation in 2009, the listed seating capacity is 37,903. Kauffman Stadium was built specifically for baseball during an era when building multisport "cookie cutter" stadiums was commonplace. It is often held up along with Dodger Stadium (1962) in Los Angeles as one of the best examples of modernist stadium design. It is currently the only stadium in the American League to be named after a person and is also one of eight stadiums in Major League Baseball that does not have a corporate sponsored name. The stadium is the sixth oldest stadium in the majors and has hosted the 1973 and the 2012 MLB All Star Games, along with Royals home games during the 1980, 1985, 2014, and 2015 World Series. Between 2007 and 2009, Kauffman Stadium underwent a $250 million renovation, which included updates and upgrades in fan amenities, a new Royals hall of fame area, and other updates throughout the facility. In 2022, the Royals announced intentions to build and open a new stadium before the team's lease agreement with Jackson County expires at the end of the 2030 MLB season.

In 1967, voters in Jackson County approved the bonds for the Truman Sports Complex, which replaced the multipurpose Municipal Stadium and featured a football stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs and a baseball stadium for the Kansas City Athletics. The owner of the Athletics, Charles O. Finley, had just signed a new lease to remain in Kansas City. The proposal of the Truman Sports Complex was unusual, as conventional wisdom at the time held that separate football and baseball stadiums were not commercially viable. Before the 1968 season, however, Finley moved the A's to Oakland, California, and their brand new multi purpose stadium. After the move, Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri threatened to press for the revocation of baseball's anti trust exemption if they did not give Kansas City a new team. Major League Baseball responded by hastily granting expansion franchises to four cities, including a Kansas City team owned by local pharmaceutical magnate Ewing Kauffman. The new teams were due to start to play in However, Symington forced MLB to move up the start date to as he was unwilling to have Kansas City wait three years to have baseball again. The other expansion team in the American League, the Seattle Pilots, were without a suitable stadium in 1969 and the accelerated schedule forced by Symington led to their bankruptcy after just one season. In 1970, they relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. With lawsuits pending, Seattle returned to the majors with the Mariners in 1977. Jackson County continued its plans to build a new ballpark. Like the rest of the complex, it was designed by Kivett and Myers, and constructed by the joint venture of the Sharp, Kidde, and Webb construction firms. Royals Stadium broke ground on July 11, 1968, and was opened in on April 10, 1973, with a 12–1 win over the Texas Rangers that saw 39,464 fans in attendance. Five weeks later, Nolan Ryan of the California Angels threw the first of his seven no hitters, blanking the Royals 3–0, three walks away from a perfect game. Two months later on July 24, the stadium hosted the first of its two All Star Games. but lost the Series in six games. On October 11, 1985, in Game 3 of the ALCS, Brett hit two home runs off Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Doyle Alexander, made a back handed stop at third base to throw out a runner at home, and recorded the final out to give the Royals a much needed 6–5 win. The Royals went on to win the American League pennant in seven games. The stadium hosted the Royals' first playoff game in nearly 29 years when the city's former team, the Athletics, came to town in 2014 for the Wild Card Game. Despite trailing 7–3 in the eighth inning, Kansas City rallied to win 9 8 and advanced to the ALDS. They won their ALDS, the ALCS, and hosted Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 of the World Series, but fell to the San Francisco Giants. In 2015, Kansas City returned to the playoffs, this time as the top seed in the American League. Games 1, 2, and 5 of the ALDS against the Houston Astros were played at the stadium, with the Royals winning Games 2 and 5, as well as Games 1, 2, and 6 of the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays, with the Royals winning all three games. The stadium hosted games 1 and 2 of the World Series against the New York Mets as a result of the American League winning the All Star Game 6–3. The Royals won Game 1 (5 4 in 14 innings) and game 2 (7 1), as well and closed out the Mets in five games to win the 2015 World Series.

In 2020, Kansas City based design firm Pendulum unveiled a concept for a potential new downtown baseball stadium, showing an intimate facility with unique amenities. In November 2022, team owner John Sherman announced the franchise's intention to leave Kauffman Stadium before the lease ends after the 2030 MLB season, with intentions of building a new stadium in downtown Kansas City (East Village) or North Kansas City. The franchise has a tentative plan to open the stadium at the start of the 2027 or 2028 MLB season. After initially declaring the final site would be announced by September 2023, the announcement was delayed. On February 13, 2024, the team announced the stadium will be located in the Crossroads district in downtown Kansas City near the intersection of 16th and McGee streets (south of T Mobile Center). A Jackson County ballot initiative to extend the Royals' pre existing 3/8 sales tax for Kauffman Stadium to change over for the stadium failed with over 58% of voters against. The Royals, who had pledged at least $1 billion from ownership for their project, wanted to use their share of the tax revenue to help fund a $2 billion plus ballpark district. The stadium would have a seating capacity of about 34,000 and is still on target to be open by 2028.

Kauffman Stadium was the only baseball only park built in the majors (not counting temporary facilities) from 1966 to 1991. It was one of the few baseball only facilities built in the majors during the heyday of the cookie cutter stadium era, and is one of two such facilities (with Dodger Stadium) that are still active and were never converted for use as multi purpose stadiums. Although a baseball only facility, its design took several stylistic cues from the multi purpose stadiums of the day, plus the Googie style that was more prevalent in the decades prior. The main stadium itself is primarily concrete, with a smooth, uncovered concrete facade. The stands wrap around the infield and end at the foul poles, with smaller bleacher sections (or "outfield plazas," as the Royals call them) in the outfield. In their book, The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip, Josh Pahigian and Kevin O'Connell wrote that it is essentially one third of a cookie cutter stadium, containing only the seats in a cookie cutter stadium that provide the best views for baseball. The upper deck is quite steep, though not as high as other parks built during this time. Many minor league stadiums built in the 1980s and early 1990s, as well as Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, employ a similar design. The park's best known feature is the fountain and waterfall display (known as the Water Spectacular) behind the right field fence. At 322 feet (98 m), it is the largest privately funded fountain in the world. Before the Colorado Rockies expansion franchise began play in Denver, Colorado, in the 1993 Major League Baseball season, the Royals' "home" territory included the Rocky Mountains in addition to a large swath of the Great Plains, and Kauffman didn't want fans who drove many hundreds of miles to go home without seeing games completed. The Truman Sports Complex's legendary groundskeeper, George Toma, best known as the head groundskeeper for every Super Bowl, thus had the job of maintaining two carpets for most of his career. He also maintained the surface at Arrowhead Stadium, which had AstroTurf from 1972 through 1993. However, Toma has said that artificial turf requires a good deal of maintenance as well; his crews were able to keep Royals Stadium's original carpet for two decades, somewhat longer than the typical lifetime for outdoor artificial turf. This is also due to the fact that Kauffman Stadium has never hosted a football game, and has no movable seating, thus avoiding the wear and tear typical of cookie cutter stadiums. The stadium's AstroTurf was replaced by grass for the 1995 season. As part of the project, perforated tiles were installed at 12.5 feet (4 m) centers across the entire field in order to improve drainage. In 2014, the Royals started placing a "W" on the Hall of Fame wall for every home win, similar to the Chicago Cubs hoisting a white flag with a blue "W" at Wrigley Field for every Cub home win.

Date Artist Opening act(s) Tour / Concert name Attendance Revenue NotesAugust 17, 1975Fleetwood Mac—Fleetwood Mac Tour——This concert was part of the Summer Jam Festival. July 15, 1978Van Halen—1978 World Tour—$423,904This concert was part of the Summer Jam Festival. September 1, 1979REO Speedwagon—Nine Lives Tour34,089—This concert was part of the Summer Jam Festival. September 21, 2018Billy Joel—Billy Joel in Concert40,589 / 40,589$4,500,565First Concert not associated with a baseball game at the stadium in 39 years. July 19, 2022Def Leppard & Mötley CrüePoison, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts & Classless ActThe Stadium Tour September 23, 2023Guns N' RosesAlice in ChainsWe're F'N' Back! Tour

Beginning with the 2007 season, the Royals had a red seat placed in the stadium amongst the all blue seats behind home plate to honor Buck O'Neil. Every game, there will be a person who embodies the spirit of Buck O'Neil selected from community nominees to sit in that seat, formerly occupied by O'Neil. The seat is located behind home plate in what was Section 101, Row C, Seat 1, until 2008. Due to the stadium renovations and accompanying section renumbering in 2009, the seat number is now Section 127, Row C, Seat 9, and the seat bottom is now padded. O'Neil played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro leagues from 1937 to 1955.

Four statues lay out in the outfield concourse behind the fountains. Three of the statues are located in right field (George Brett, Dick Howser and Frank White). The fourth is located in left field, and is the former Royals owner Ewing Kauffman and his wife Muriel.