In the Arena: How to Keep Track of Stadium Deals

Rendering courtesy of CNW Group/CKPC

As Major League Baseball’s regular season winds down like a pitch clock and pennant races wind up like a pitcher, sports team owners, communities and entire states keep taking their best swings at new stadium proposals and deals.

Among the best resources to keep track of them all is “Field of Schemes,” the website maintained by Neil deMause and named for the book he co-authored with Joanna Cagan.

The resources include a constantly updated news bulletin and a data section pointing the curious to such treasure troves as an updated spreadsheet of U.S. major league sports stadium and arena construction costs from 1909 to 2027 and lease summaries for MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL teams compiled through 2017 by the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette Law School. Site Selection featured deMause’s insights in a 2008 look into what the granting of stadium subsidies says to multinational corporations evaluating a location.

While Kansas and Missouri battle it out over proposed new stadiums for the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals, the new $135 million, privately funded CPKC Stadium (rendering above) in the resurgent Berkley Riverfront area, named for the newly merged railroad headquartered in Kansas City, has opened this year with little public financing (tax credits for infrastructure improvements) and rave reviews.

The stadium is home to National Women’s Soccer League team the KC Current (co-owned by Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife Brittany alongside co-owners Chris and Angie Long) and will host the league’s championship game in November. The team logo features two stars, one for Kansas and one for Missouri.

The stadium is the first in the world to be constructed specifically for a women’s professional sports team. Berkley Riverfront Park is a 17-acre park located on the south bank of the Missouri River between the Christopher S. Bond Bridge and Heart of America Bridge. The park is anchoring 55 acres of riverfront development led by Port KC. Last summer the team and Port KC announced a strategic development agreement to develop approximately 10 acres of land adjacent to Berkley Riverfront Park into a high-density, diverse and walkable neighborhood that will include 2 million sq. ft. of office, retail and multifamily space, featuring approximately 1,000 multifamily residential units.

“We are incredibly proud to sponsor the Kansas City Current and support this history-making project here in the city that is at the heart of our North American rail network,” said Keith Creel, CPKC President and CEO, when the 10-year naming rights deal was announced last October. “CPKC has been a longtime champion of women’s sports and of investing in our communities. This stadium and this partnership with the Current will build on that legacy as together we write a new chapter here in Kansas City.”

Photo courtesy of KC Current and Dimensional Innovations