National Training Center Given Final Approval

Yesterday, final approval was given to Sporting Club for the construction of a national education and training center in Kansas City, KS, right down the road from Sporting Park. The Unified Government Board of Commissioners voted unanimously yesterday to authorize the project which will occupy two sites just East of I-435 on the Western side of the city.

The plan, which uses STAR Bonds for construction has already had preliminary work on the land done. I discussed further in depth the land and the layout of the two sites in a blog post last month when Robb Heineman and representatives of Sporting Club went before a Neighborhood and Community Development Standing Committee meeting. My post then includes the layout of both areas and contains further information on how each area will be laid out.

Yesterday, Heineman mentioned that US Soccer signed a 20 year lease to utilize the facility. Heineman's expectation is that there will be national team coaches at the facility fairly regularly throughout the year, and with a fully climate controlled indoor facility it would allow for work during the winter as well. While Kansas City was already a bright target for drawing the national team, this certainly helps to make that target a little brighter.

The second site will help to fill the club's obligation of building youth fields in the county, something that was required of the club when they originally received the STAR Bonds to help build Sporting Park.

Overall, it's certainly another big step for the city in terms of the nickname the team has given KC as the Soccer Capital of America.

US Soccer Training Center Moving Along

A week ago, we got more information about the upcoming US Soccer national training center in Kansas City. At a Neighborhood and Community Development Standing Committee Meeting, more information about the project was presented to the committee (start at 1 hour 15 minutes into the video below). There was lots of information regarding not just the training center but also the long awaited tournament fields that were to be built in conjunction with the construction of Sporting Park in the first place, and the futsal courts that On Goal is building in Wyandotte County.

First let's get the futsal fields, On Goal has already built two fields currently and will be building eight more of those courts. On Goal will now built double courts on tennis courts and the two that they have already built can be expanded if the Unified Government first lays the surface for the expanded courts. Robb Heineman said that they want to be building on multiple sites at one time, starting as soon as possible. If things were finalized now they could start in April and have all eight additional courts finished by the end of 2015.

On one of the big points of the stadium that has yet to be fulfilled was the building of tournament fields at Wyandotte County Park. Originally as part of the plan to use parts of the STAR Bonds that were used to finance the Legends shopping area in the first place, On Goal and the then Wizards had to agree that they would build tournament quality soccer fields in the park. The new deal though will move the tournament fields from Wyandotte County park to a new site from a family (Speer) in Wyandotte County. The site is the far right purple area in the below screen shot.



The site, near the corner of State Ave. and 90th Street would see at least eight fields of the 12 fields built at the Speer Family site. The other four would be at the national training center, although in the presentation they showed that there is space at the site for another four fields to bring the total there up to 12. On Goal would have the rights to bring up projects in those areas, but would not stand in the way if other projects were brought up. Below is a closer picture of that portion of the project. The facility would be run by On Goal as part of their agreement with the county.

Now, for the big part of the project that the majority of people are probably interested in, the US Soccer national training center. According to the slides that were shown, it's a $64 million proposal for the project. The training center would be built on the northern end of the Schlitterbahn along Parallel Parkway, to the north and east of Sporting Park. The training center will have at least one build, but up to 100,000 square feet of space. During the discussion, Heineman also mentioned that US Soccer is looking for 100,000 of office space for 300 workers, and On Goal is wanting to go after that to try and get that deal here as well. You can see a closer break down of the facility below.

The facility would not have a set number of fields, as Heineman mentions, the topography of the area isn't the greatest and what they're going to do is look to maximize flat usage. The facility would be run by US Soccer, On Goal, or a combination of the two, that portion is still to be finalized.The hope according to the presentation is that the facility will be up and running by 2017.

The full presentation to the full board will take place on March 26th. You can watch the full meeting below.

"Major Announcement" Today

It's game day for Sporting Kansas City as the team takes on BPL Champions, Manchester City in a friendly at Sporting Park. The game though looks like it may not be the biggest news of the day (at least for me). Yesterday, Sporting Club announced that they would have a "major announcement" today that would include the club, Wyandotte County unified government representatives, and Kansas governor Sam Brownback.

The team's release doesn't say what the announcement today is about, the guess that has been made by many in the community is that this is going to have to do with the US training complex that the club had announced the intentions to build in 2013.

To add to that speculation, the training complex was a topic of discussion last week for the Unified Government. The training center would be at 98th and Parallel in Kansas City, Kansas, to the north and east of Sporting Park's current location. The complex would be included in the STAR Bonds that were used to build the Legends and Sporting Park and would anticipate opening in 2015.

The $65 million project would be another big step for Sporting Club in establishing Kansas City as the "Soccer Capital of the USA" that they've called KC since last year. And while in the past I've mocked that name a little bit, the club is certainly working very hard to make that true.

The training complex would include multiple outdoor fields as well as an indoor facility. I'm still hoping that part of the complex will include the re-establishment of the US Soccer Hall of Fame and it's archives, but that may still be wishful thinking.

Steel Signing and Stadium Pictures

Yesterday out at the Wizards new stadium site, Wizards season ticket holders had the chance to sign the very first piece of steel that was going to be placed inside the stadium. Many of the Wizards season ticket holder base came out to be a part of this event, myself included. I didn't stay around for the announcements that were made by Robb Heineman and the rest of the Wizards leadership, but I did get my name on the steel. Multiple other people did, including Hillcrest Road and I'm sure Thad will have photos up on his blog better than any I would have taken anyways. If you want to see the few pictures I did take, they are here.

Speaking of the stadium, I was looking at the Wizards media guide the other day and found two rendering pictures of the new stadium that I had not seen yet. And if I hadn't seen them yet, I'm sure many other people hadn't seen them yet either. The below two pictures are screen shots I took of those pages of the Wizards media guide, so enjoy those as well. The first is from the air looking down on the stadium from the northeast. The second is inside taken from the east stand, close to the south side of the stadium looking back towards the west stand and the player benches.

The Walls are Going Up

Yesterday before the Wizards game against DC United, I was invited to a presentation at the construction site of the Wizards new stadium site out at the Legends. the presentation was done by Wizards president Robb Heineman and vice presidents Dave Ficklin and Rory O'Connor. They explained some of the different suite sites out at the stadium and kind of the overall layout of what the stadium will look like in the different parts. Overall it was a great chance to check out the stadium site and see how things are coming along. The walls on the west side of the stadium are starting to take shape and you can see where some of the clubs are going to be located on that side, including areas for the players. Check out some pictures of what the site looks like right now.

Update to Stadium Post Today

After making my post this morning about the downsize in the Wizards new stadium to 16,500, I was informed that all the information in the report was not correct. I was informed by a source that capacity for soccer will still be +/-18,000 and there will be able to expand temporarily by a couple thousand for big matches there. I've also been told that the design will allow for permanent expansion of 7,000 seats. As for where the 16,500 in the report came from, I'm told that the number in the report did not include things like suites and other premium seats in the numbers. So there's a better of idea what's going on with the stadium and the difference from the report earlier today.

In other stadium news, the first piers at the stadium site were drilled out in Wyandotte County. Definitely a good step, one step further than we saw out at the Bannister site where we just saw demolition of the old mall. I'm still not ready to jump for joy until concrete starts getting poured for the actual part of the stadium, but this is a very big step.

Stadium Information (Capacity Down)

Thanks to a poster on Bigsoccer, we have more information on the Wizards stadium site out at the Legends. The Unified Government held a public hearing on the stadium plan and have released some new information about the site. In the first document you get to see some side views of what the stadium will look like and just how dramatic the raise in the roof will be on one side of the stadium. The one really interesting thing from the first link is that it says the stadium will now only hold 16,500. I hope that's a misprint or doesn't include the Cauldron or something, because 16,500 is a drop of 1,500 from what Robb Heineman told Wizards fans and what's been in the media since this plan became official. It's disappointing if this new capacity is true, as the capacity of the Wizards stadium has gone from about 20,000 when the first site was considered to 19,000, to 18,500, to 18,000 and now 16,500. The capacity keeps dropping, but with the way things continually change in this process, the capacity could change 4 to 5 more times before the stadium is actually built. A second document contains more blue prints of the site and even has another rendering of the stadium from a different angle than the ones that we've gotten to see so far, that rendering is on the last page.

Stadium Deal Passed

For those that missed it, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County unanimously approved the plan to build a soccer specific stadium and Cerner complex out at the Legends area. The deal means the Wizards are officially on their way out to the Legends area permanently. The completion of the deal means that work can get started out at the site. With everything now signed, the dirt can now start moving at the site, and according to Robb Heineman, the dirt will start moving tomorrow at 1pm. I'll be out there around then tomorrow to see it happening.

Wyandotte County Meeting Tomorrow

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County has called a special meeting for 5pm tomorrow night and the Wizards want you to be there in your Wizards gear. The special meeting is about the Wizards and Cerner project out at the Legends. According to the Wizards, should the Unified Government approve the deal tomorrow, construction would begin immediately. So if you can make it to Kansas City, Kansas city hall tomorrow, be there, and wear your blue. And if we hear good news then things will be proceeding in a hurry it sounds like.

The article from the Star says that the stadium will be opening by the 2012 season, with the first 1,000 Cerner jobs starting by the end of that year. The 2012 date is a little later than fans were told. Most fans will remember being told the stadium would open around the 2011 all star break, but I think most people were starting to doubt that a little bit. If pushed back to the 2012 season, that means two full seasons still at CAB, but it gives plenty of build up and it means no 2011 schedule with a road heavy first half of the season, which we've seen sink MLS teams in seasons past.

Honestly this sounds like this will be good news tomorrow. I wouldn't imagine that the Wizards would have fans come out and the announcement would be anything but positive. The Wizards have asked this previously for KCMO city council meetings and Overland Park city council meetings, and both of those were positive meetings. So here's hoping this one is as well. Maybe they'll hold official ground breaking Saturday and then host a US watch party.

Stadium Design Information

The Sports Business Journal put out a story yesterday talking with the architecture firm, Populous, who is the firm that will be building the Wizards new stadium. Unfortunately you need a subscription to read the full article, but a poster on bigsoccer has given us that information. The article has lots of great insight into the new stadium. The main topic of discussion is the roof which according to the article will cover all 18,300 seats in the stadium, basing the design off of European stadiums, while at the same time making it unique to the Wizards. The article also touches on "the communal premium-dining concept" as the article calls it, talking about patios for the sky boxes as well as an exclusive Cauldron pub for members of the Cauldron that will be behind the section at the new stadium. The pub will be set up like a German beer hall and will be open on non-game days as well, giving people a place for watch parties for all sorts of events.

The article gives a much better picture of the stadium than what we had before, it still leaves a lot to the imagination, but what we have gives me great visions of what the stadium is going to be looking like once it is finished. Now let's starting getting the stadium up (once it's actually warm enough outside for any work at all to be done).

Stadium Update From Heineman

Tonight over at Hillcrest Road, Robb Heineman posted an update on the Wizards stadium situation. It's good news for fans that have been waiting for news on the stadium. Heineman mentions his previous comments about issues with selling the STAR Bonds, saying that it appears they have that issue worked out.

The big news is that Heineman states that the team will be permanently staying out at the Village West area. This hopefully ends all the speculation of where the Wizards stadium site would go, whether in Missouri or in Kansas. He also states that we're likely going to start seeing dirt moved out at the site starting next week.

Between now and March 1st, Heineman says the Wizards will be working on; finalizing stadium design, get renderings out sooner than later, signing the formal agreements (including those signed by the Unified Government, the state, and Cerner), and start getting the stadium up. The big thing, he says, is the selling of the STAR Bonds that needs to occur between now and March 1st.

He also talks about the final step with the stadium, the marketing the team and the brand of the Wizards. Heineman calls it a "first chance to make a second impression to all of you". Something that many fans will find appealing. Some fans I've talked to have felt that OnGoal has dropped the ball in some areas of marketing the team. Hopefully this will be a new beginning in the look of the Wizards.

A formal announcement should be coming in January Heineman says.

He finishes by thanking the city of KCMO, and the state of Missouri for their work with them for the Bannister site and states again their intentions to have some type of development out there as well.

I'm personally relieved that this process looks to be nearing a close and that a stadium will finally start to go up. I'm not the biggest fan of the location due to wear I live in the KC metro area, but having it out at the Legends is much better than having it in some other city hundreds of miles away. Most Wizards fans will tell you that once the stadium starts going up, it'll feel like a huge burden and weight is off our backs because we'll know that the team is staying in KC.

Check out the entire announcement below, or head over to Hillcrest to see how you can potentially get a copy of the stadium shirt Heineman is wearing.

Stadium Start Date

There are 17 days left in the year for Robb Heineman's comment about breaking ground before the end of the year to come true. Unfortunately according to the KC Business Journal, that is still not resolved. The article, though, doesn't really contain much new information, most of it is a rehashing of information that Wizards fans have already seen in previous articles, and comments made by Heineman on Bigsoccer. The only real new information is from Tim Weaver of Lane4, talking about the fact that they still have to work out financing and other options as well. Besides that it's more playing off the Village West area with KCMO continuing to say the Bannister project is still alive. We see information about the new release date of the funds and the other monitary news we've already seen.

The best part of the article was the author's use of Bigsoccer as a news source for his story.

More Stadium News

Yesterday we heard new news on the Wizards potential stadium site out at the Legends. Today thanks to a poster on Bigsoccer, we have a little more news that makes it seem like the Legends complex is very close to happening. The link is to a Contract and Bid Opportunities blog talking about the fact that Wizards are accepting bids for the stadium project out in Kansas City, Kansas. According to the post, they are accepting bids for drilled piers and concrete foundation. The bidding is open until the 18th. And while this bidding does not mean the project is finalized, it certainly seems a lot closer now with this news. It means that the Wizards feel confident enough in this site to start working towards getting the construction lined up.

Kansas Sweetening Pot for Wizards

In another effort to try and finalize the deal to bring the Wizards stadium out to the Legends area, the Kansas Commerce Department has sweetened the deal for the Wizards and Cerner. The Commerce Department has agreed to pay Cerner the $48.5 million worth of IMPACT (Investments in Major Projects and Comprehensive Training) incentives up front. So instead of that money being distributed throughout the duration of the project, the entire money will come up front. The deal offers the team and Cerner no new money, but with the offer being offered up front, it may be the deciding factor for the team to finalize the deal and break ground before the end of the year like the team has said. Getting the money up front could help offset the lack of bonds being sold right now and help the team get the project going sooner. We'll see soon hopefully what effect if any this has on the team and Cerner's decision on putting the stadium out at the Legends.

Take It Or Leave It

That's the message from Kansas Governor, Mark Parkinson, to the Wizards and OnGoal in regards to the STAR Bond deal the state offered the team. If the Wizards are going to be building at the location out at the Legends, it'll be using the $230 million package that the state of Kansas has presented. Parkinson announced today that the deal they offered to the Wizards was final. And while some Kansas lawmakers are saying the state should do everything they can to complete this deal, the deal isn't going to change.

It's now completely down to the team to make this deal now with it looking unlikely that the state will budge on the deal. Although the rumors still swirl about the Missouri side of the state line (particularly Bannister) stepping back up and pushing to get this project and the Cerner jobs over to KCMO. It certainly is looking like these rumors have more legs than originally thought.

In the end, this project is more about the Cerner jobs than the Wizards stadium. It may sting some Wizards fans, but it's true. KCMO and the Unified Government are chasing the jobs and the boost to their economy those jobs would bring. The stadium is a bonus to the project. Hopefully we'll be hearing soon from either side of the state line that a deal is done and that ground breaking will take place soon.

Kansas Makes Incentive Offer to Wizards

The state of Kansas has come to the Wizards with an offer for the STAR Bonds for the development out at the Legends facility. It's not the $155 million that the Wizards and OnGoal had asked for last week. It's $10.5 million less than that, the state has offered the Wizards and OnGoal $144.5 million in STAR Bonds. The state has also offered $85 million in state tax credits and cash incentives to Cerner for the project. The $144.5 million is just a shade under 35% of the project being financed by the STAR Bonds. The question now becomes whether or not the Wizards and OnGoal will accept the offer? If they don't see the $144.5 million in STAR Bonds as being enough, the team could try to go back to Missouri and try to get Kansas City to back the bonds again out at the Bannister site, or see if there is another site. The team may not have the time to wait on that, and in the grand scheme of things, the $10.5 million is not that big of a difference and probably could be offset in part by the stadium naming rights.

Pressure on the State

While the Wizards and OnGoal are still working with the state of Kansas on getting the STAR Bonds approved for the Wizards stadium out at the Legends, the local representatives are starting to push the state to approve the STAR Bonds. State Senator Kelly Kultala of Kansas City, KS, and Representative Kevin Yoder of Overland Park along with Wichita Representative Jason Watkins have put pressure on Kansas Commerce Secretary David Kerr about this deal. Included in the pressure, was a comment by Kultala saying that she'd heard that Missouri had another propsal ready and waiting for the Wizards. Kerr has responded to the pressure by saying that he hopes to know by the end of the week if a deal can be struck with the Wizards. It sounds like the Wizards/OnGoal have already made some concessions with the dropping of the amount of the STAR Bonds being asked for from $175 million to $153 million, so hopefully the drop in money is enough for the state to approve the STAR Bond usage.

The fact that representatives from around the state seem to be showing their support for this project is an encouraging sign to the project and the hope for this development. The failure of this project in KCK would be a huge blow for Wyandotte County as the loss of the Cerner jobs would be big. It could also cause more problems for the Wizards and their fans, as they'll be running very low on chances to get a stadium built. In fact, they're running so low that it appears that the "r" word, relocation is potentially starting to raise it's head a little bit again. While the article speaks to the positives of the potential stadium out in Kansas, it also has a point from Heineman, where he said that without a new stadium, they'd need to look at other sites, including moving the team out of the city. Not a good thing for any Wizards fan.

Wednesday News Catch Up

So tonight was the big game out at Arrowhead between Chivas and Club America. First I want to touch on a few other things.

Before the game tonight, the Wizards held a Season Ticket Holder Event out at the training facility that included dinner and a Q&A session with Robb Heineman about the new stadium plan out at the Legends as well as the plan out at Bannister. Here are a few highlights of the event.

• They had more renderings of the stadium tonight, see the picture above, for the full album and some pictures of the game tonight, see here.
• I hope they are old renderings, I really hate the wavy roof.
• The Cauldron end, which I would guess is under the scoreboard is smaller and doesn't appear to have much of a roof in those renderings.
• OnGoal has currently put $33 million into the development out at Bannister.
• They did sign an agreement with the Unified Government meaning they will not negotiate with KCMO for 30 days basically and the state of KS has 30 days from last week to approve the STAR Bonds.
• They'd been talking with places like Walmart, Lowes, Target, etc about building at Bannister, but those places are not looking to build new stores right now, and probably won't be til 2011-2012.
• With that in mind it'd probably be until 2013-2015 before the stadium at Bannister would be done.

Those were the main highlights of Heineman's Q&A tonight.

Onto other MLS news. The league announced today that they will take a break for a portion of the World Cup this next year. MLS will not play during the group phase of next summer's World Cup. I like this move, you don't want to have to compete with the biggest sporting event in the world, at least not all of it. Once the games become a little more spread out after the group phase, MLS will start back up again. The break will last 15 days, from June 11th to the 25th. It's a smart move by MLS to accommodate their fans who want to watch the World Cup.

Finally, onto tonight's game between Chivas and Club America. A great atmosphere tonight out at Arrowhead, where there was a decent crowd (not the 35,000 Robb predicted at the Q&A but a good number). Both team's started the game with their starters and after a scoreless first half, Club America grabbed the lead in the second. Chivas had an equalizer called back before scoring 2 unanswered to win 2-1. Again I have a few pictures here, as well as a short video on youtube.

Unified Government Endorses Stadium

After what seemed like a really slow process when dealing with the city of Kansas City about the 3 Trails Development, things seem to be moving a lot faster with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and the development out at the Legends. Earlier today, after the story came out, the Unified Government called a special meeting to review the stadium complex. The results of that meeting are in, and the Unified Government has endorsed the deal for the stadium and Cerner offices. The deal is now contingent on the state of Kansas approving the use of proceeds from the current STAR Bonds for the Village West area. There will also be $173 million in subordinate bonds that will be sold as well to help fund the development.

The bonds would be used for the stadium, while $20.5 million in state tax credits would help with the Cerner office complex (which would be the largest single job-creation program in the history of Wyandotte County according to the Unified Government mayor).