{"id":646341,"date":"2026-03-27T10:49:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T10:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/646341\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T10:49:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T10:49:41","slug":"jackson-co-exec-creates-task-force-to-study-future-of-truman-sports-complex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/646341\/","title":{"rendered":"Jackson Co. exec. creates task force to study future of Truman Sports Complex"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics in Kansas, Missouri and at the local level. <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kshb.com\/news\/local-news\/mailto:charlie.keegan@kshb.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Share your story idea with Charlie<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota announced Thursday a new task force that will study options for the future of the Truman Sports Complex.<\/p>\n<p>Although currently the home for the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals, the Truman Sports Complex\u2019s future is uncertain as the <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kshb.com\/news\/local-news\/live-updates-kansas-officials-set-to-review-financing-plan-for-chiefs-stadium\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Chiefs plan to open a new domed stadium<\/a> in 2031 in Wyandotte County and the Royals <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kshb.com\/news\/local-news\/missouri\/jackson-county\/as-options-dwindle-for-new-royals-stadium-washington-square-park-remains\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">explore a new ballpark elsewhere<\/a> in the Kansas City area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is about taking a thoughtful, forward-looking approach to one of our county\u2019s most important assets and making sure we get it right,\u201d LeVota said Thursday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson County residents react to call for Sports Complex Redevelopment Task Force<\/p>\n<p>The Sports Complex Redevelopment Authority would be comprised of 10-15 people and would include business leaders, developers and community stakeholders. LeVota said elected officials would not be a part of the task force.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the task force would start their work on April 15 and then have 90 days to deliver a report on various options for the 400 acres of land on the southeast corner of the Interstate 435 and Interstate 70 interchange.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is one of the most important conversations we&#8217;re going to have in decades,&#8221; LeVota said at Thursday&#8217;s news conference. &#8220;It&#8217;s a generational issue and a generational asset.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Jackson County executive creates task force to study future of Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City, Missouri<\/p>\n<p>Following the work of the task force, LeVota said he would engage a third-party consultant \u2014 likely the Urban Land Institute \u2014 to review the task force&#8217;s plans and present next steps. LeVota hopes to have that complete by the end of August or by early September 2026.<\/p>\n<p>LeVota also envisions a Master Redevelopment team to oversee the implementation of the plan, with members of the team committed to serving for five years.<\/p>\n<p>The renderings below were shared at the press conference to provide an idea of what the Truman Sports Complex could look like in the future. <\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774608573_536_.jpeg\" alt=\"Project Raceway-2.jpg\"  width=\"1280\" height=\"853\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jackson County<\/p>\n<p>        Project Raceway <\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774608574_892_.jpeg\" alt=\"Project Raceway-4.jpg\"  width=\"1280\" height=\"853\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jackson County<\/p>\n<p>        Project Raceway <\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774608575_154_.jpeg\" alt=\"Project Raceway-5.jpg\"  width=\"1280\" height=\"853\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jackson County<\/p>\n<p>        Project Raceway <\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774608576_963_.jpeg\" alt=\"Project Raceway-6.jpg\"  width=\"1280\" height=\"853\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jackson County<\/p>\n<p>        Project Raceway <\/p>\n<p>The co-owner <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scoresportsbargrill.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Score Sports Bar and Grill<\/a> near U.S. 40 Highway and Stadium Drive said Chiefs fans pack the restaurant before games.<\/p>\n<p>KSHB 41 News reporter Charlie Keegan showed the conceptual renderings to customers Thursday afternoon. He received mixed reactions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe horse racing, I think would be ideal for something like that. I\u2019d go,\u201d said Rodney Paddock.<\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774608577_852_.jpeg\" alt=\"Rodney Paddock.jpg\"  width=\"1280\" height=\"720\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jake Weller\/KSHB<\/p>\n<p>        Rodney Paddock looks at potential concepts to redevelop the Truman Sports Complex.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Pendergist liked the high-rise apartments that replaced the stadiums in a different conceptual drawing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love the concept of all that. If Kansas City wants to be productive, in my opinion, it needs to be the Las Vegas of the Midwest,\u201d Pendergist said.<\/p>\n<p>The renderings looked more like Disneyland than Kansas City to Brent Kern.<\/p>\n<p>The president of the Eastwood Hills Community Association told KSHB 41 News she wants neighborhoods like hers around the complex to be a part of the task force\u2019s process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to have a voice for our concerns and to talk about opportunities with the stadium complex,\u201d Gale Burrus said.<\/p>\n<p>LeVota promised the community will be able to weigh in with recommendations.<\/p>\n<p>In January, the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kshb.com\/sports\/kcmo-city-council-approves-further-research-planning-for-royals-downtown-stadium\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">earmarked $450,000<\/a> to help study future options for the Truman Sports Complex.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Quinton Lucas told Keegan at the time that the $450,000 contract allows for economic advisory services, urban planning, legal and professional engineering services related to &#8220;downtown entertainment and recreation projects and efforts in collaboration with Jackson County at the Truman Sports Complex.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kshb.com\/news\/local-news\/mailto:charlie.keegan@kshb.com?subject=Contact Charlie Keegan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CHARLIEBEATFSV.png\" alt=\"Charlie Keegan\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto; display: block;\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics in Kansas, Missouri and at the local level. Share your story&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2387],"tags":[5,17519,936,2123,12624,55,2596,2595,4,62314,252,59737],"class_list":["post-646341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kansas-city-royals","tag-baseball","tag-jackson-county","tag-kansas","tag-kansas-city","tag-kansas-city-news","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-kansascity","tag-kansascityroyals","tag-mlb","tag-phil-levota","tag-royals","tag-truman-sports-complex"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116300755723161986","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}