Truman Sports Complex, which opened in 1973, temporarily gave Kansas City a lead role in reversing what Goldberger referred to as the “concrete doughnut” era of sports facilities following World War II that combined football and baseball. “Ever since Camden Yards brought baseball back to the city, we now have extraordinary array of great urban ballparks in our own time.” “We lost touch with that for several decades when we were building almost everything we could in the suburbs to accommodate the automobile. That is the premise of the book I just wrote. “The story of our ballparks is the story of our cities,” he said. Goldberger’s talk reviewed Kansas City’s preeminent role in the sports architecture world and how baseball’s return to downtowns around the country beginning with Camden Yards in Baltimore in 1992 has returned the game to its urban roots. The Royals lease at Kauffman expires in 2031, which sounds a long ways off, but not when it comes to back timing the several years it will take to assemble land and design a new ballpark should that option be chosen. Paul Goldberger’s new book was released last spring. John Sherman, the new Royals owner, has expressed support should the right deal come together.

Goldberger’s observations come at pivotal time when the idea of a downtown ballpark is back on the community agenda. Kansas City has a downtown that is filled with demand, filled with activity, filled with all the things you need for a ballpark.” “It is a time to consider actually building a downtown ballpark. “Baseball can contribute an enormous amount to downtown, but it can rarely do the job of initiating an entire downtown renewal by itself. “Kansas City was hoping the ballpark would jumpstart a whole downtown renewal which probably was too much to expect,” Goldberger told the 1,000 people at the Kay Barnes Ballroom in the Convention Center.

Ballpark paul goldberger