If the extraordinarily tumultuous 2020 has taught us anything, it has highlighted what is really important. As Covid-19 has forced people to stay home, it highlights how much joy and meaning we (even we introverts) find from human interaction.
And because the virus has prevented baseball from happening until July, its absence reveals how important baseball’s existence is, regardless of its quality. For the past two years, I’ve grown weary of the Kansas City Royals’ teams that were singularly awful, wondering if it wouldn’t be better for fans if there wasn’t baseball (the answer, revealed in 2020, is no).
So secondary things like, oh, the name of the building where the sports ball happens, those things don’t really matter. It really has no bearing on our baseball and fandom experience. This year has made it even clearer: there are more important things that really matter.
However, that does not mean that the name of a stadium cannot be significant. Kauffman Stadium opened as Royals Stadium in 1973, before corporate naming rights were as ubiquitous as they are today. It was given the name Kauffman in 1993, just before the death of Ewing Kauffman, the original owner of the club and the main reason for its existence. Almost three decades have passed and its name has not changed.
Across the parking lot from the Truman Sports Complex, Arrowhead Stadium has an even longer history with its name. Arrowhead opened in 1972, and nearly half a century has passed without a name change.
But as with all stadiums without a corporate naming rights agreement, the potential for one is always just around the corner. The NFL’s average stadium naming rights are valued at approximately $ 8 million per year, while the MLB’s average stadium naming rights are valued at approximately $ 5 million per year. Cash record? No. But those deals are rare earnings that are almost pure earnings, and those millions per year add up to more than five, 10, 20, 30 years.
We are talking about this because, once again, the rumors about the name rights are going around one of the stadiums of the Truman Sports Complex. Sources informed Sports Business Daily that the Chiefs were closing in on a naming agreement with GEHA Health. Since then, the Chiefs, quite humorously, have flatly and directly denied such rumors, but what is out there is out there. Depending on how you look at it, the NFL will either lose money or just not make as much as it has previously with Covid. Chiefs inevitably study naming rights.
Royals fans should prepare for a similar rumor regarding Kauffman Stadium. No, not because you have inside information, but simply because the stars are almost too closely aligned. The vast majority of stadiums that host the Big Four sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL) have sponsored corporate names. Not only that, but MLB clubs could lose money this year. The Royals also have a new owning group, which spent literally a billion dollars on the club and hasn’t seen a penny of revenue.
Still, I hope it doesn’t happen. Symbolism is meaningless in the material world, of course. Whether Adalberto Mondesi becomes a star or Brady Singer becomes a competent starting pitcher or Whit Merrifield becomes the leader of the American League, it has absolutely nothing to do with the name of the building where they play half of their games.
But the symbolism exists because it is significant in some way, in our cognition and in our hearts. At some point in the next decade, the Royals and the city of Kansas City will have to decide whether or not to renovate Kauffman or build a new stadium downtown. And the name of the Kauffman Stadium here really, really matters. If it had been a soulless, random corporate jumbo jumbo parade like Price Chopper Field, Cerner Park, Time Warner Stadium, I don’t think it has the reputation and history it has today.
As it stands, Kauffman Stadium is one of the single-digit stadiums in MLB that is not named after a corporation. It is the sixth oldest active MLB field. It is K. Kauffman. To name it differently would be strange. No, I would not change the product in the field. But the product on the field is only part of the Major League Baseball experience and the Kansas City Royals’ experience. The name matters because we care.
