Royals owner John Sherman offered “a bit more detail” Monday on the latest regarding the search for a new ballpark, detailing exactly “what needs to be determined before the Royals announce where they plan to pursue a move when their lease expires in 2031,” according to Sam McDowell of the K.C. STAR. Sherman said, “We would want to have site control and certainly the public financing in place before we announce it. There will be work still to do, but those two things are important.” McDowell: “When might that happen? Where might that happen?” That is the “to-be-determined part.” Sherman said that the team is operating with a “sense of urgency” and hopes for something “sooner rather than later,” but then said that the club is “still considering ‘multiple (stadium) opportunities,’” including those in North K.C. and Kansas. The Royals, however, “missed deadlines both of those jurisdictions publicly imposed,” and it is “not clear to the degree with which either is actually still seriously in play.” Sources noted that in recent weeks, the Royals’ original vision — downtown baseball — has “revolved around Washington Square Park.” The site has support from City Hall and K.C. Mayor Quinton Lucas. Asked if there were other options downtown still in consideration, Sherman said Monday, in part, “We’re kind of zeroing in on an opportunity downtown.” McDowell noted Sherman declined to say whether the team “has confidence in obtaining full site control and public financing in place” at Washington Square Park specifically (K.C. STAR, 3/30).

LOOKING BACK: Sherman said there were “some things we would do differently around the vote that we had in 2024.” Sherman, speaking on “Mundo in the Morning” said, “We learned from that process and kind of the political backdrop at the time, whether our counterparties wasn’t ideal, we’re going with the Chiefs, but this is different … there were some things around the vote and the election that I would do differently if we had to do it over again today.” If the recent Chiefs stadium deal in Kansas had changed his calculation or strategy at all, Sherman said, “I don’t know that it changed.” He said that “certainly got some people’s attention when that happened on the Missouri side of the state line” (“Mundo in the Morning,” KCMO-FM, 3/30).