Kansas City teams are right where they belong

By Alonzo Weston

Kansas City voters resoundingly rejected a sales tax measure that would have helped to fund a new downtown Royals ballpark and make major renovations to the Chiefs’ Arrowhead stadium. That stands in sharp contrast to St. Joseph voters who approved a bond issue that will renovate facilities and get the ball rolling toward building two new high schools.

Not saying we are more progressive than our Kansas City neighbors, but maybe our priorities are different. One goal is to ostensibly improve education, another is to enhance professional sports venues.

I voted for schools but had no skin in the game on the Kansas City sports teams’ futures.

If I did have a vote, I probably would have voted no as well. I remember all too well when the Kansas City A’s and the Chiefs played in the old Municipal Stadium on Brooklyn Avenue.

I attended my first Chiefs game there with my mother and went to countless A’s games with my Boy Scout troop back in the 1960s.

It was a neat experience for a kid but you had to be lucky enough to get a seat that wasn’t in behind one of the huge pillars inside Municipal Stadium. You often had to look around a huge pole to watch the game.

I attended my first Chiefs game with my mother inside Municipal where I saw my hero, Bob Hayes with the Dallas Cowboys, play the Chiefs.

I was too young to drive then so parking wasn’t an issue. My mom and I took a bus from St. Joseph to the game and my Scout troop rented a bus. It was a grand time but I was glad I wasn’t driving. I imagine parking was a mess when the teams played there. It was in midtown with very limited parking. However, there were two BBQ joints within blocks of the old stadium. Arthur Bryant’s and Gates were blocks away then.

The new stadiums that opened in the 1970s for the Royals and the Chiefs were a great idea I thought at the time. There’s a huge parking area and each team had its stadium free of pillars blocking your view.

As an adult, I attend games in both stadiums along with my wife and kids. It is always a neat experience, except parking is still an issue. Parking has been troublesome and expensive, so in recent years we took a bus into the stadium. No hassle, pay a single fee, take the bus into the stadium, get on the bus when the game is over and have worry-free parking woes.

That was a big plus for us. Yes, there is ample parking but it was hard getting in and out of the stadium after games. Take a wrong turn and you could wind up in Raytown, which I did several times when driving to games.

Arrowhead and Kaufmann are grand places for sports and our Chiefs are world champs. The Royals are getting off to a good start this year, which perhaps eases the pain from losing the vote for a downtown stadium. Maybe a downtown facility was a good idea or maybe it wasn’t.

We can still watch our teams in the great confines of the stadiums they are currently in. Maybe the future sees them moving, but enjoy them where they are and know why they are still here. There was side talk of the teams moving to Kansas City, Kansas. Could not let that happen. Both teams are Missouri products. Enjoy them.