Opening Day at The 'K'

April 10, 2009. Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium (The K) against the Yankees. For those of you that don't know, the company that I work for has been working on the rehab of The K for around 2 years now. Taliaferro & Browne was the Civil Engineer of Record on the project. New office and retail building for the team, a huge new outfield area with restaurants, bars, and a whole lot of things that the kids can do, new Hall of Fame, completely new utility systems, reconfigured roadway systems, new landscaping, and a bunch more, all for around $250 million.

We've been out at the Stadium at least once a week for the past couple of years, so we obviously couldn't miss the first game of the new era. Instead of sitting in the seats that our company has, we sat with the rest of the Design Team in the right field corner. Here's some pictures of the New K!

This is a shot from the new bar in the right field corner called "Rivals". Anyone can get in, just as long as you get there early. They've got garage type doors that face the field that they open up for the game. There's a deck on top of the bar that can be rented out. They tried to give the deck area a feeling similar to the rooftops at Wrigley. The building in the left field corner is the new Hall of Fame Building which will be completed just before the All Star Break in July.

Here's what it looks like inside Rivals.

Had to have a shot of me. Just to prove that I was there. By the way, congrats to all the weathermen in Kansas City who screwed up the forecast. It rained in the morning, and everyone (correctly) forecast that the rain would end by 10 AM. However, they all forecast cloudy skies for the rest of the day with temperatures in the low 50's. In the real world, by the 2nd Inning (a scheduled 3:10 start) there was not a cloud in the sky and I think it hit the low 60's.

This is from the Pepsi Party Porch which is a standing room area in right field just behind the wall. Pretty cool vantage point. This area was PACKED during the game.

Here's George Brett in front of his statue in right field before the game.

And here's Frank White in front of his statue.

A view of Rivals from the Upper Deck.


A shot of the crowd just before the game.

The pregame festivities. The people with the small banners are season ticket holders from the past 40 years.

The infamous Condiment Race!

Here's the view from the Pepsi Party Porch during the game.

Looking back toward the right field corner and Rivals from the GA seats in left field. Notice the complete lack of clouds!

This is the bar that overlooks the fountains and the field in left-center. (I still don't see any clouds!)

Finally, these are the seats that our company had during the game. They look great, but unfortunately were in the shade the whole game. I'm glad I was out in the sun!

Finally, after the game, there was a party for the Design Team and the Contractors in the Crown Club which is right behind Home Plate. Beer, wine, sushi, and dessert. HOK Sport (now called Populous) has a tradition where they present engraved, full-sized baseball bats to key members of the Design Team. I was lucky enough, along with Kurt from our company, to be presented one of the bats. It was nice to be recognized in front of the whole gang!

Anyway, the new stadium is pretty cool. Didn't even show the BBQ Joint in right field, the expanded concourses, the huge new Team Store, the Espresso Bar, The Little K, and so on. I'll show you those some other time, when I take the girls to a game.

By the way, Happy Easter!