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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Parking at a potential Royals stadium in downtown Kansas City would rely primarily on existing parking lots and surface lots, with fans able to purchase spaces in advance.
The team is asking voters to approve a sales tax in the April 2 election to fund construction of the new stadium.
Jeff McKerrow of Kimley-Horn said the Royals will build 1,500 parking spaces at the development. He expects a typical ballgame to generate about 7,500 additional cars.
These visitors must park in existing surface parking lots and garages.
Teams can sign contracts with venue and garage owners to reserve parking spaces for fans.
McCrow suggested teams could adopt a pay-in-advantage approach to parking passes in specific areas around the stadium before games.
“You know where you’re going, where you’re going, and you remember it before you get there,” he points out.
The team’s goal is to reserve street parking spaces for people visiting businesses near the intersection.
Parking at these locations will likely require some kind of verification from the business, which should discourage fans from parking on the street.
“Parking downtown is very expensive,” said Rusty Phillips, owner of Belle Epoque Salon in the Crossroads Arts District.
He likes the concepts the team came up with Thursday but wants to see them put into practice.
The team estimates that about 30% of fans will travel to the game via public transportation, ride-sharing services or on foot.
The team may create an integrated operations center to continuously monitor traffic conditions in the city center throughout the day. This will allow managers to synchronize traffic signals or make other changes to help traffic flow more smoothly.
“I like that they are looking for solutions and not just aimlessly looking for something,” said Ashley, who visited the Crossroads Cafe on Thursday afternoon.
Others, like Micah Beaver, who works downtown, are more skeptical.
“People are going to work, people are not even going to games, going to other places, I just don’t think it’s capable,” Beaver said.
The team noted that there are nearly three times as many ways to get to and from the downtown stadium as there are to and from the Truman Sports Center, where the Royals currently play games.
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