It’s time to move the Kansas City Wizards

By: Bob | November 6th, 2007

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the home of the Kansas City Wizards for the next couple of seasons. Nothing screams major league quite like playing soccer games in a minor league baseball stadium that has a maximum capacity of 10,000 (wahoo, grass berm seating!). What did Kansas City fans do to deserve this? For years they’ve had to put up with playing in a monstrous football stadium with zilch in the way of atmosphere. Now they must watch their team play in a stadium that is home to a minor league baseball team named the T-Bones. Brutal. I guess that is what you get for having consistently abysmal attendance figures.

How is this move being sold? As an opportunity to combine two passions: soccer and shopping.

Part of the number one tourist attraction in the state of Kansas, CommunityAmerica Ballpark will let the Wizards build partnerships with the Legends at Village West, a destination shopping center directly east of the stadium. During the 2007 season, the Wizards participated in multiple events at the Legends, including player appearances and post-game festivities.

“Soccer is more than a spectator sport. It is experiential,” Executive Vice President Greg Cotton said. “Our fans’ gameday experience should include both pre-game and post-game festivities. With the Legends right next door, we have a unique opportunity to introduce our fans to this extended experience.”

Good luck with that.

As Major League Soccer continues to make strides in the right direction, it is disappointing to see the league holding on to the notion that it can make things work in Kansas City. The city has had plenty of time to show that it cares about having an MLS team and the reality is that it does not. There is, of course, talk about about building the club a proper stadium in time for the 2010 season, but that is still very much up in the air. I guess if they hang around long enough it might happen, but by then will anyone in the area even care? Does anyone in the area even care now?

With so many cities interested in landing an expansion team and at least looking into the possibility of building a soccer specific stadium, don’t you think that it is time to move the Wizards? They’ve had more than a decade to succeed and at least off the field they have not. There must be at least a half dozen cities in the US and Canada where an MLS team would draw more than 10,000 fans per game even if their stadiums are not located next to a shopping mall.