New Downtown Baseball Stadium, AAA Club, and Associated RE Development

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The problem with LDS is that it has become alienated from downtown's major walking districts. OKC's stadium is right in the middle of Bricktown. They did it right. While we can't move the stadium to Old Town, we could certainly do a LOT more to connect LDS to Delano and then push hardcore to develop Delano to the downtown Douglas area which (after a decent walk), gets you to Old Town.

I'm thinking a Douglas Avenue streetcar a la Kansas City's going right up the gut of Douglas from Delano ending at Hydraulic where many quaint breweries and coffee shops reside would do the trick.




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Looks like they are going for the AT&T Park vibe, which was the right call.

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I was a little disappointed at the announced size as well. But if we are spending $73M on a 7K seat stadium it would have no choice but to be pretty legit. Again... assuming Wichita doesn't "Wichita" the project.

The photo above is just an artist's rendering created from a whole bunch of generalities that he/she was given. Almost certainly will look nothing like it, but it does provide some suggestion of scope of project.

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Apparently MiLB and PCL still have to officially approve the move, sometime by the end of the year they say. Sure hope that is just a formality. Gotta think it is if we're busy tearing down the stadium and doing big press conferences.

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OKC built their Ford Center (Chesapeake Energy Arena) a couple years before IBA for $90 million. They seat over 18k for basketball...

Sure there's been improvements over the years but wow. What a smart, smart build.


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That has an old Tigers or Memorial Stadium (KC) vibe.

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Looks like Lawrence Dumont with a small office building on the north side.

Smaller capacity than Eck? Fail.

Should be 10K minimum.


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The problem is the city already screwed the pooch if they wanted Stryker to host professional soccer long term. It is not large enough to host division 2 soccer, which I assume would be the ultimate ambition(assuming pro/rel comes to USL/USL D3, which seems like the goal). And it does meet division 3 standards, 2.5k isn't large enough really if its going to be successful.

Also you SEVERELY underestimate the interest professional soccer has now and would have in the future in this city.

Oh I know there's interest. Kansas has nearly 80,000 illegal aliens living among its borders the majority of which hail from 3rd world countries...

Soccer is the bastard child of impoverished, primitive societies developed for savages, by savages. The rules weren't designed to capture the dollars of a populace in a competitive market; this was an event designed to gather the villagers into one place so the ruler could be exalted. Afterwards the commoners would head back into the jungles collecting coconuts and spearing monkeys for dinner.

You'll find a disproportionate amount of "American" soccer fans to be Liberals/Secularists/Socialists/Communists/Democrats.

http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2014-06-25.html

http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2014-07-02.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertai...ld-cup/373680/

Beside Hispanics and the young, the third major pro-soccer constituency is liberals. They’re willing to embrace a European sport for the same reason they’re willing to embrace a European-style health care system: because they see no inherent value in America being an exception to the global rule.

Read that last sentence carefully red-blooded Americans. Maybe rethink your openness to a sport that represents exactly the opposite of what made America - America. Exceptionalism.


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This pretty much cements Longwell as one of the most visionary, aggressive (in a good way) mayors in the history of Wichita. If only we could swap Longwell for Carlos Mayans tenure.

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I like the sounds of it. Listened to the news conference on KFH. No mention of a multi-sport facility. Not that they wont change their minds at some point, but the timeline is tight already.

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$60-$73M actual facility budget
footbridge
baseball "village"
museum
NBC WS display/area?

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Seven thousand fixed seats, Longwell says.

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Also let me be clear here. I want professional soccer in Wichita(USL or USLD3, not NISA, or NPSL Pro, long story there). But I don't want it in a baseball stadium either, I have been to a NYCFC game in Yankee stadium, it sucks. But the fact is this stadium is being built with that in mind and people will likely have to accept that, and Stryker clearly wasn't given the full upgrade it would need to truly support a long term professional franchise without needing upgrades in another couple years ie 5K-8K seats.

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How well are FC Wichita games attended, or is that not professional enough?

This stadium should be baseball first and foremost. It should not be a generic stadium with Oakland Athletics type sightlines.

Omaha played football at TD Ameritrade. If they can configure soccer into a baseball stadium, sure go for it. But building a multi sport stadium would be a mistake.

Yes. If there are no concessions - to include design, sightlines, main tenant's scheduling, etc - then I have zero problems with soccer at the new facility.