Kansas City Wizards - Stadiums

Stadiums

• Arrowhead Stadium; Kansas City, Missouri (1996–2007)
• Blue Valley Sports Complex; Overland Park, Kansas (2001, 2004, 2006, 2011) 6 games in US Open Cup
• Julian Field; Parkville, Missouri (2005) 2 games in US Open Cup
• CommunityAmerica Ballpark; Kansas City, Kansas (2008–2010)
• Hermann Stadium; St. Louis, Missouri (2009) 1 game in North American SuperLiga
• Stanley H. Durwood Stadium; Kansas City, Missouri (2010) 1 game in US Open Cup
• Livestrong Sporting Park; Kansas City, Kansas (2011–present)

From 1996 to 2007, the Wizards played home games in Arrowhead Stadium, the American football stadium mainly used by the Kansas City Chiefs. Wizards management kept the west end of Arrowhead tarped off for the first 10 years of play, limiting seating near the field. In 2006, fans could sit all the way around the field, but in 2007 seating was only available along the sidelines. After the 2007 final season at Arrowhead, the Wizards continued to use the stadium for select large events. In 2008, the club played a regular season home game against the Los Angeles Galaxy at the stadium to accommodate the large crowd expected for David Beckham's Galaxy debut. Again in 2010, the Wizards played a friendly here against English club Manchester United, winning 2–1.

The Wizards entered an agreement with the Kansas City T-Bones to use their home stadium, CommunityAmerica Ballpark, during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. The deal was later extended to include 2010. The stadium, located across the state line in Kansas City, Kansas, built a new bleacher section financed by the Wizards to increase its capacity to 10,385. This move made the Wizards the third MLS team to share their home ground with a baseball team. D.C. United had been sharing RFK Stadium with Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals in Washington, D.C., before the latter's move into Nationals Park. The San Jose Earthquakes used Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, home of the Oakland A's (and Oakland Raiders), for certain games during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

The Wizards originally planned to return to Kansas City, Missouri, and build a new stadium there – tentatively called Trails Stadium – as part of a major mixed-use development. The team had received all required approvals and was awaiting site demolition; however, the 2008–09 financial crisis ultimately led to the scrapping of the Trails Stadium project. The developer then sought a new site, quickly settling on a similar development in Kansas City, Kansas, known as Village West, near CommunityAmerica Ballpark and Kansas Speedway.

In September 2009, the developer asked Wyandotte County and Kansas state officials for permission to use revenues from existing tax increment financing in the Village West area to help finance the soccer complex. On December 17, Wizards president Robb Heineman provided an update on the stadium situation published on team official website and blog, basically identifying the Kansas City, Kansas, location as final, pending the signature of the final agreements. On December 21, construction machinery was already on the Legends site waiting to break ground. On January 19, 2010, Wyandotte County approved the bonds to help finance the stadium, and on January 20 the groundbreaking ceremony was made, with Wizards CEO Robb Heineman using heavy machinery to move dirt on the construction site.