Clad in their business attire and blue scarves, a multitude of Kansas City Wizards fans calmly and respectfully waited for the Three Trails project, anchored by a new soccer-specific stadium for the club, to arrive on the city council's agenda for approval Thursday at city hall.
Once the unanimous vote came across, smiles abounded as they applauded enthusiastically knowing a permanent home for their club had just come a significant step closer. Then when they reached the corridor, their enthusiasm burst.
"I think it's fantastic," said George Shook. "Fifteen months or so after [OnGoal] buys the team, we have a stadium going in. It will be another two years, but it's great."
The overwhelming positive comments from the council for the plan were a far cry from what Wizards fans have heard and perhaps even felt themselves over the past three years regarding the future of the team they have grown to love.
Shortly after the euphoria of the Wizards winning the 2004 U.S. Open Cup, named after then-owner Lamar Hunt, then cheering their team on to MLS Cup 2004, the fans were hit hard the following December when Hunt announced he was putting the team up for sale. Consternation and nearly two years of effort at finding an owner, amid nearly constant rumors of relocation, followed despite Hunt's vow to keep the team in Kansas City. But then in August 2006, salvation came in the form of a local ownership group -- OnGoal, LLC.
"Lamar kept us here when he could have sold us in 2004 and moved us to Philadelphia, San Jose, or Houston, but this vote today is what he envisioned. ... We owe everything to him," said Kevin Shook.
And a lot to OnGoal, of course. Robb Heineman, a principal owner and Wizards president, strongly believes gratitude is a two-way street.
"Thanks for hanging in with us," he said to the fans shortly after the vote. "It's taken a little bit of time, but I think we're just about there. We appreciate all the support. We've got a home."
The fans' excitement, despite pending Missouri state approval for the last part of the financing, is mirrored in the team's as they look to grow together through their 10,000-seat temporary home at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas for the next two years and then into the new stadium in south Kansas City, Missouri.
"[The stadium approval] creates enormous excitement around the team. ... It's going to help us to develop a fan base that we want to continually increase," said head coach Curt Onalfo. "I say it all the time -- buy tickets because for next season, there are really none, and that's going to parlay into more of a fan base as we move into our stadium in 2010."
If anything, the now nearing of a permanent home allows the fans to point out to the many naysayers who have come out over the past three years throughout the country that Kansas City is where the Wizards really belong.
"To be as polite as possible -- we said it was going to happen, and it's happened. This is what we expected all along; this is what we wanted to have happen," said fan Robert Houghton. "We're not going to Philly, we're not going to St. Louis, we're staying in Kansas City."
The crucial stadium approval by the city council serves only as a catalyst for the front office to continue their efforts to build their fan base.
"I think the reason they said 'move Kansas City' was because we never had a fully integrated plan to grow the sport," said club executive vice president Greg Cotton. "We've been struggling for the last couple of years since Mr. Hunt put the team up for sale: attendance has been down and we've struggled on the field, except for this past season. OnGoal purchases the team, puts many, many millions of dollars into the team, invests in the fans, invests in the community, starts to try and get our Latino fans engaged in it again, and you can see where it's going.
"We're building an 18,500-seat stadium," continued Cotton. "We don't expect 10,000 people to show up; we expect to be turning people away at the door."
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
