With the Padres playing in Kansas City right after the All Star Break, now was a good time to check out Kauffman Stadium and try some of the famous KC BBQ.

Kauffman Stadium is located about 10 miles from downtown KC, situated right next to Arrowhead Stadium, with both surrounded by large parking lots and right next to a couple of highways.

So there really isn’t anything nearby in the area and you really have to get here by car. There are a few hotels nearby (1-2 miles away) but most people recommend staying downtown and then driving/ubering to the game. Even places like Gates BBQ or Dixon’s Chili that are popular spots to eat prior to the game are a mile or two away that you will need to drive to.

The stadium opened in 1973 so it has the cookie-cutter design from the 1960s and 1970s but they have done a good job of maintaining and renovating it over the years.

Walking around the ballpark on the Plaza level, you are able to see the field unlike some other older stadiums where the concourse is closed off from the field.

Not surprisingly being an older stadium, the concourse has an overhang (for holding the seating sections above the 100s/200s) so it can feel enclosed and when it’s a large crowd, get a little cramped walking around.

Most of the food stands were locally inspired and do they have a solid craft beer selection but I didn’t notice too many local restaurants other than Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que, which I highly recommend trying, especially if you can go to one of their restaurant locations. The BBQ at Joe’s lives up to the hype and the wait; we went to the original gas station location and even though we got there at 8pm on a weeknight, the line was still out the door and ended up being a 45-minute wait but the BBQ was top-notch.

The rest of the food is decent but not great, which goes with what I saw looking online and at the Royals reddit. Many people recommend eating elsewhere like the many places around downtown before coming here (since you have to drive here in any case) and I agree with them.

One interesting thing is they only have standing room only around the foul poles into the outfield:

This could be because of the concourse having an overhang in the infield and so they can have all the different concession stands, whereas it opens up to be more wide open (with no overhang) at the foul poles.

They do a great job honoring the Royals history here as the Hall of Fame in the outfield is a pretty good size and has a lot of information on Kansas City’s baseball history and its connection to Cooperstown. It’s free to enter once you get in the ballpark so definitely recommend stopping by for a visit.

As well, the statues line the outfield right above the fountains:

Speaking of the fountains, since Kansas City is known as the City of Fountains, it is one of the signature touches of the ballpark (along with the crown-shaped big videoboard known as CrownVision) and it is a nice touch. They usually have the fountains shooting up water pregame, between innings and during moments of the game.

Also in the outfield is a pretty large kids area that includes a playground, pitching mound, batting cage, a miniature field (similar to what they have at Petco Park) as well as a kids team store. They do a great job of keeping the kids entertained here, more so than any other ballpark I’ve been to with Atlanta being another one that’s comparable.

In terms of views, the views are pretty good at different places and seats throughout the ballpark as it doesn’t feel too far away or too high and you can get a good view of the action on the field.

The only negative is being an older ballpark, the seats are facing straight forward versus angled towards home plate. So for example, where we sat behind the photo well next to the visitor’s dugout on the third base side, I had to angle myself to the right to face home plate, which wasn’t too bad since the seat next to me was empty.

I do like that the seats are labeled for long-time season ticket holders:

During the game, they do try to have consistent in-game entertainment between innings, things like the cap shuffle, flex cam, kiss cam and their hot dog derby, which is their version of the big heads racing on the field. But maybe because of the size of the crowd on a Friday night (close to 26K), people didn’t really get into these bits on a consistent basis. Like the hot dog derby, the Salute to Service, kiss cam and when they showed the guys in the upper level doing “Tarps Off” did you hear the crowd get into it. For the other bits, if you weren’t looking at the screen you wouldn’t have even noticed them since they don’t say too much about many of them (i.e. they don’t have a DJ intro the bit like other ballparks) and the crowd didn’t see to be paying attention to them.

They do display the advanced pitching and hitting stats on the LED ribbon board in right field and the big videoboard known as “CrownVison” contains all the stats you normally expect to see.

Because the video board is so tall (and was upgraded with newer technology in 2021), you can see things pretty clearly on the video board. Even though most ballparks now are going for a wider screen (like how your TV is wide), the CrownVision board with a taller height worked pretty well to display information and replays. And I like that it gives a distinct look to it matching the Royals and their crown theme.

Overall, the Royals have done a good job maintaining Kauffman Stadium for a ballpark built in the 1970s. It is limited because of the structure/design and location when compared to modern ballparks built in the 2000s and doesn’t have the old-time charm of the classic ballparks like Wrigley or Fenway. But overall, it does hold up better than some of the other older ballparks like Angel Stadium and even some of the 1990s ballparks like Chase Field, Rate Field and Tropicana Field. I have it right in the middle tier of ballparks so it’s worth a visit to see as well as try the great KC BBQ.