Rodeo Wants To Raze Kemper

Leaders with the American Royal rodeo recently presented Kansas City, Mo., officials with a possible solution to Kemper Arena’s woes – raze the aging venue to make way for an equestrian and agricultural center.

The arena has been losing events since Sprint Center opened in 2007 and members of the Kemper family who sit on the rodeo board told the Kansas City Star Kemper no longer serves a purpose in the community.

“The Sprint Center is built,” Mariner Kemper said. “It is the city’s arena for concerts and sports. Instead of trying to hold on to what we have and this wonderful history, 40 years of history, let’s build for the next 40 or 50 years.”

Plans for the equestrian center, designed by American Royal and Populous, feature a 5,000-seat capacity coliseum, an open-air pavilion with space for showing horses and livestock and an outdoor plaza, the paper said.

Costs for such a facility are estimated at $70 million and would include $50 million for construction, $10 million for demolition and another $10 million to service outstanding debt on the Kemper Arena.

While the Kempers would reportedly attempt to raise $10 million toward the project through a fundraising campaign, it is unclear from where additional funding for the center would come.