Sporting Park
| "The Blue Hell" "Home of the Brave" |
|
 |
|
 |
|
| Former names | Livestrong Sporting Park (2011–2013) Sporting Park (2013–2015) |
|---|---|
| Address | One Sporting Way |
| Location | Kansas City, Kansas |
| Coordinates | 39°07′18″N 94°49′25″W / 39.1218°N 94.8237°WCoordinates: 39°07′18″N 94°49′25″W / 39.1218°N 94.8237°W |
| Public transit |
 The Metro 101 |
| Owner | Kansas Unified Development, LLC. |
| Operator | Sporting Kansas City |
| Capacity | 18,467 (soccer) 25,000 (concerts) |
| Record attendance | 21,650 Sporting Kansas City vs. Real Salt Lake, MLS Cup 2013 |
| Field size | 120 yd × 75 yd (110 m × 69 m) |
| Surface | Latitude 36 Bermuda Grass |
| Scoreboard | Two Panasonic Video Boards 24 by 84 feet (7.3 m × 25.6 m) 12 by 24 feet (3.7 m × 7.3 m) |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | January 20, 2010 |
| Opened | June 9, 2011 |
| Construction cost | $200 million ($213 million in 2017 dollars) |
| Architect | Populous |
| Project manager | LANE4 Property Group |
| Structural engineer | Thornton Tomasetti/KH Engineering Group |
| Services engineer | M-E Engineers, Inc./FSC Inc. |
| General contractor | Turner Construction |
| Tenants | |
|
Sporting Kansas City (MLS) (2011–present) NCAA Division II National Football Championship (2014–2017) NCAA College Cup Championship (2015) FC Kansas City (NWSL) (2015–present) |
|
Children's Mercy Park (formerly Sporting Park and Livestrong Sporting Park) is a soccer-specific stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, United States, and is the home of Sporting Kansas City. The stadium is located near Kansas Speedway and it opened during the 2011 season of Major League Soccer on June 9, 2011 with a match against the Chicago Fire. The stadium has a seating capacity of 18,467 seats, which can expand to 25,000 for concerts. Most SKC games attract around 21,000 because of different stadium modes. The stadium is Sporting Kansas City's third home venue; then known as the Kansas City Wizards, the team played in Arrowhead Stadium from 1996 to 2007 and CommunityAmerica Ballpark from 2008 to 2010. In 2013, the stadium hosted the MLS All-Star Game, the United States men's national soccer team, and the MLS Cup, three of the most prestigious matches in the United States, and is the only stadium to host all three in the same year.
Originally, Sporting Club, the team's ownership group, planned to move to southeast Kansas City, Missouri on land previously occupied by Bannister Mall. The redevelopment plan, called The Trails, was passed on December 13, 2007. The last package of economic incentives, a $30-million tax rebate, was passed on November 21, 2008.
The stadium's planned site had been demolished to prepare the site for infrastructure. It was intended to open in 2011 with a capacity of 18,500 seats. However, fallout from the 2008–2009 financial crisis placed the project on hiatus, and the stadium developer eventually sought to move the new project near the Village West retail center in Kansas City, Kansas, near the Kansas Speedway and CommunityAmerica Ballpark. The developer of The Trails complex sought additional "enhancements" (i.e., borrowing authority) from Kansas City, Missouri, to finance the building of the soccer stadium and its associated amateur soccer complex. However, the city was unwilling to provide the desired financing, leading the developer to seek a new site across the state line.
...
Wikipedia