Surrounded by season ticket holders a few hours before Saturday’s match against Colorado, Wizards president Robb Heineman sat his son Charlie down next to him and put his mark on the first steel beam erected at the site of Kansas City’s new stadium.
Heineman didn’t leave much, just his signature and one very fitting word: “Finally!!”
With concrete being poured in the background, the Wizards raised the very first beam at the team’s $160 million dollar future home here. Covering it were hundreds of signatures and messages from the club’s most ardent supporters.
"It's such a dream come true for us," said Greg Boege, a season-ticket holder since 2005.
That dream is quickly looking more and more like a reality as crews work feverishly to complete construction by next summer. Since Kansas City broke ground on Jan. 20, the site has rapidly transformed into the foundation of what will be one of the finest soccer-specific facilities in the nation.
With a little more than a year until the Wizards can move into their new digs, Saturday’s ceremony was exciting for fans and management alike but was just a precursor for the main event coming in the summer of 2011.
"It’s a tremendous day,” manager Peter Vermes said after signing the beam. “But we also look forward to the opening of this place. I can't believe how fast it’s going up. I think all the players are also looking forward to the day they can step on the field and say that it's our stadium."
And as much as it will be for the players, the reality is that the 18,500 spectator stadium is truly for the fans who have waited 15 years for a dedicated home for the Wizards. Moving away from the shared experience at Arrowhead Stadium and CommunityAmerica Ballpark should help grow the team’s fan base.
"It's going to be the right place for people to experience it,” Boege said. “People are going to see it, they are going to look at it and think 'Maybe I should try that out.'"
Jerry and Debbie Wolfe are two of the few that have been a part of Major League Soccer in Kansas City from the start. Season ticket holders since the inaugural season in 1996 and decked out in Wizards blue, both said it was a special day for professional soccer and the future of the game in Kansas City.
"We've been waiting a long time," Debbie said.
