Two iconic Kansas City, Mo. companies, the Kansas City Royals and Hallmark Cards, are teaming up in a $3 billion multi-use development that would feature a new $1.8 billion stadium for the Major League Baseball team, a new headquarters for the greeting card, art and media supply company, and retail, entertainment and public space.
The Royals would build the new stadium on 85 acres in Kansas City’s Crosstown neighborhood, south of the downtown district. The team would leave its current home, Kauffman Stadium, in 2031 when its lease expires.
Populous is the lead architect/designer of the stadium; no contractor has yet been named. Hallmark has not yet announced an architect or contractor for its new headquarters, which is slated to replace an existing one in Crosstown.
The entire project would be financed by the Royals and other private investors and by Kansas City and the state, which passed the Missouri Show-Me Sports Investment Act in 2025. It allows bonds to cover up to 50 percent of the cost of new or renovated stadiums in the state, along with up to $50 million in stadium tax credits and other aid from local governments.
While the National Football League’s Kansas City Chiefs, who currently occupy Arrowhead Stadium, plan to build a new stadium on the Missouri-Kansas border, Royals founder pharmaceutical entrepreneur Ewing Kauffman says he would approve of the plan to stay in the team’s hometown of Missouri.
“Our founder, Ewing Kauffman, wanted the Royals to be Kansas City forever, and he wanted the team to benefit his hometown as much as possible,” Royals CEO and President John Sherman said in a news release. “Joining Hallmark with this project accomplishes both and extends the Hall family’s critical legacy of helping grow Kansas City.”
Hallmark Cards Executive Chairman Don Hall Jr. added, “Every time a fan walks through the gates of the stadium, they will find themselves in a place shaped by Kansas City and the creative spirit of Hallmark.”
The Chiefs in December announced a plan to move across the state line to a new $3 billion domed stadium in Kansas City, Kan., in Wyandotte County, with a goal of opening for the 2031 football season, along with a new team headquarters and practice facility in Olathe, Johnson County. The overall plan also includes approximately $1 billion in the two mixed-use sites.
A sports complex redevelopment task force convened by Jackson County, which owns the Truman Complex, has begun meeting to plan the future of the 400 acres where the two existing stadiums are located.
Both teams’ moves have been spurred by a common theme in stadium construction for professional sports teams: aging infrastructure, a desire to generate revenue by providing more luxury suites and other high-end amenities, and to anchor surrounding mixed-use districts.
