KAUFFMAN STADIUM

Kauffman Stadium is the most pleasant surprise in the major leagues. Built in 1973 and called Royals Stadium until 1993 when it was renamed to honour Royals' owner Ewing Kauffman, the K managed to avoid falling into many of the traps that hampered its contemporaries. Most importantly is that it is not a cookie-cutter, round, multi-use park, and has no high outfield bleacher seats which detract (in my opinion) from so many parks. 

Kauffman is located outside of the city, and is part of the Harry S. Truman Sports Complex which also includes Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Chiefs. As you drive out to the park along I-70, you will see the Crowned Scoreboard standing proudly - a great sight! There is nothing surrounding the stadium other than lots of parking. Walking from the parking lot you will probably not be too impressed as all you can see are concrete ramps. Around the outside of the stadium, there are banners displaying both Royal stars of the past as well as current players, but that is about it. There is also a statue of the Kauffmans which is a nice touch and shows how the ownership was so important to this franchise.

Kauffman statue

But once you are inside, you will change your mind. A nice backdrop, including the famous fountain beyond right-center field (KC is the City of Fountains, remember), allows the sun to stream into the stadium. Although the view beyond center field is not spectacular, it is nice to see outside the stadium, unlike Busch or Veterans, among others.

Although the concourse is too narrow, you can walk around the stadium very quickly. There is not much to see, other than the Royals Hall of Fame, which lists Royal stars such as George Brett and Amos Otis. The 1985 World Series Trophy is also on display. As a Blue Jay fan, I found it painful to look at that trophy (the Jays blew a 3-1 series lead in the 1985 ALCS) but it is the pride and joy of the Royals organization.

The best thing about Kauffman is the seating - I could not find a bad seat in the house. Even more remarkable were the ticket prices. The best seats are only $17! As well, you can buy single tickets right on game day. This is because most of the sections have an odd number of seats per row. As most fans attend in groups of 2 or 4, this leaves single seats in the middle of most rows and you can find seats one behind the other in fantastic locations. Club Box seats are on the second level and actually cost $19 for some reason as they really offer no advantage to the lower level seats - avoid them. There are also $15 seats on the lower level, and upper deck seats are $12 and $11. The General Admission seats are $7 for adults and $3.50 for youths. No matter where you sit in Kauffman, you are going to get a bargain. 

Even more amazing, the Royals offer half-price games on Monday and Thursday where the $11 seats are only $5.50! These seats are all good seats as well as the upper deck slopes down as it moves toward the outfield - a unique feature among MLB parks.

There is an escalator to the top deck, but you need to use the ramps coming down during the game, which take some time, so don't go up to your seat until you have seen everything down below.

Getting out of the parking lots after the game can take some time, but as the highway is close, it is not that bad.

Overall, Kauffman is a great place to watch a ballgame. Affordable, easy to get to, and great seating, it is too bad the team is not so good. But after seeing so many retro parks, Kauffman comes across as unique - and should be visited by any baseball fan out there.