The Royals’ proposed downtown ballpark is being built with a very different seating philosophy than the old-school approach to baseball parks. The club announced it has picked a construction team led by Mortenson and McCownGordon, with local builder JE Dunn also part of the project, and the current plan calls for a 34,000-seat stadium near Crown Center. The project could still go to a public vote.
That number jumps out immediately because it would be a step down from Kauffman Stadium’s 37,903 seats, and a far cry from the 40,625 the park held before renovations in the early 2000s. At 34,000, the Royals’ new home would have a smaller capacity than any other current MLB stadium, with Sutter Health Park in Sacramento excluded.
But the Royals are hardly alone. The sport has been moving this way for years.
The new Athletics ballpark in Las Vegas is projected to hold 33,000, and the proposed Rays park in St. Petersburg is set for just 31,000 permanent seats.
Even the Braves and Rangers, both in ballparks that still top 40,000, cut their seating by 15 percent from their previous homes.
The timing is notable because MLB attendance is climbing. League-wide attendance is above pre-pandemic levels and is on track to rise for the fifth straight year. It’s still below the boom years of the early 2000s, but it’s well ahead of the 1980s and 1990s, when many teams played in giant multi-purpose stadiums.
So why are teams shrinking their buildings?
The answer is that baseball’s money game has changed. Clubs are no longer trying simply to pack in as many fans as possible. They’re trying to make more money from each fan who walks through the gate.
For years, the logic was simple: sell tickets, then sell food and drinks once people were inside. The more bodies in the park, the better.
But modern ballparks are built around premium seating, suites, clubs, restaurants, bars and social spaces. Those features take up more room, but they also bring in more revenue.
A 2014 lawsuit filing showed the Royals had only 19 private suites, the fewest in baseball and well below the MLB average of 76.
A smaller venue can also help push prices higher by tightening supply. A study by Seatgeek and Doc’s Sports found the Royals have the sixth-cheapest tickets in baseball. The Athletics, after moving from a huge football stadium in Oakland to a minor league ballpark with just over 14,000 seats, suddenly had the third-most expensive ticket in baseball despite having a worse record than the Royals.
Forbes estimates the Royals brought in $76 million in gate receipts in 2025. That came even though they finished with the fifth-worst attendance.
Still, newer parks show how much more value teams can squeeze out of each customer. The Braves at Truist Park generated an estimated $64 in gate receipts per attendee, while the Rangers at Globe Life Field came in around $55 per attendee.
There’s also a practical reason the Royals may be thinking smaller. The downtown site at Crown Center is much tighter than the current Truman Sports Complex setting.
The proposed ballpark district would cover 85 acres, about one-fifth the acreage at the team’s current location. With less land available for the stadium, parking and surrounding development, the design naturally pushes toward using space more efficiently instead of dedicating it to thousands of seats that would sit empty for much of the year.
And on most nights, the Royals probably wouldn’t miss those seats. The team has never averaged 34,000 fans per game over a full season. Since 2016, and excluding home openers, they’ve had just 25 games with at least 34,000 in the building, and most of those were driven by Cardinals fans.
Still, there’s another side to the argument. During the 2015 championship season, the Royals drew 34,000 or more in 41 of 81 home games.
Supporters of the downtown move also believe the location could bring in fans who aren’t making the trip to Kauffman Stadium now. More than 30,000 people live downtown, and thousands more work there, which could make weeknight games easier to catch.
That’s the real tension here. A 34,000-seat park looks plenty big based on recent attendance, but if the downtown move works the way the Royals hope, it could start to feel tight in a hurry.
A smaller ballpark does not automatically mean a worse experience, either. Fewer seats can create a more intimate atmosphere, and nobody loves staring at acres of empty plastic in the middle of a game. It also frees up room for wider concourses, gathering spaces, restaurants and bars, standing-room areas and other features that let fans move around without losing the game.
That’s the gamble the Royals are making: a park designed around modern revenue, not maximum headcount. It should be enough on most nights. The question is what happens if the team is good, the crowds grow, and 34,000 starts feeling a little too small.
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