April 22 (UPI) -- The Kansas City Royals and Hallmark Cards will team up to build a new downtown stadium in the Crown Center district, they announced Wednesday.
The Royals said they plan to construct a "world-class ballpark," which will be surrounded by mixed-use development. They estimate that the project will create more than 20,000 jobs, just in the construction phase. Officials anticipate a private investment of at least $2 billion for the 85-acre development.
"Our founder, Ewing Kauffman, wanted the Royals to be Kansas City's forever, and he wanted the team to benefit his hometown as much as possible," Royals owner John Sherman said. "Joining Hallmark with this project achieves both and extends the Hall family's critical legacy of helping Kansas City grow."
The Royals said the project will be funded "primarily by the Royals and other private investors and supplemented by public funding from the city of Kansas City and Missouri's Show-Me Sports Investment Act."
"When the new Royals stadium opens at Crown Center, something proud will come full circle," Hallmark Cards executive chairman of the board of directors Don Hall Jr. said.
