D1P4 Kauffman Stadium

Our first stop was to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The stadium was actually just renovated, at a cost of about 400 million or so. "I actually liked the field better before they renovated it," Bob said. "They could have actually built a new stadium for that price."


The best part about the stadium is the field itself. Since it's in the suburbs, the field is allowed to spread out and sprawl. Unlike Target Field, the concourses are wide and open. Of course, part of the reason the concourses are wide and open is the fact that the Royals suck and less than half the seats are filled, and half of the filled seats belong to Twins fans.




As the game went on, the concentration of Twins fans steadily rose proportionally to the level of Royals losing. When the Twins reached a lead of about 8 or so, the Royal-fan to Twins-fan ratio approached 1:2, at least. All throughout the game, Twins chants could be heard in most sections.



Kauffman has quite a few extracurricular activities for kids and bored adults. In addition to a Hall of Fame, there's a playground, a miniature ball field, mini golf, batting cages, and a playground. While these things might be fun for about two or three minutes, they really serve to remind outsiders that the team really sucks, and here's how the locals cope. It almost looks like a children's play area at a corporate headquarters.




Royals fans are a fatalistic bunch. The odd thing is, the Royals played a highlight reel of the game that made it seem like they got 20 some hits and won the game by 12. They lost 11-2.


The coolest part of the stadium is definitely the fountains in center field. As an experience, the field seems less crowded than Target Field, but there's not as many food options as Target Field, and the field's message as a whole seems to be "Come to the ballpark, here's some things to do when the team starts losing." I mean, they have a playground and carousel, for crying out loud.