Top facts about Children's Mercy Park, the school of Wizards

Children's Mercy Park is the home of

and is a soccer-specific stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, United States. On the far west edge of Wyandotte County, Kansas, the stadium is near Kansas Speedway.

It debuted in Major League Soccer's 2011 season on June 9, 2011, with a match against the Chicago Fire. The stadium has an 18,467-seat capacity that may be expanded to 25,000 for performances. Because of the many stadium styles, most SKC games draw roughly 21,000 fans.

One of the most interesting top facts about Children’s Mercy park is that the stadium is Sporting Kansas City's third home site; the team played in Arrowhead Stadium from 1996 to 2007 and CommunityAmerica Ballpark from 2008 to 2010 as the Kansas City Wizards.

The MLS All-Star Game, the United States men's national soccer team and the MLS Cup were all held at the stadium in 2013, making it the first venue to hold all three events in the same year.

A walk through top facts about Children's Mercy Park, the school of Wizards

In this article of top facts about Children's Mercy Park, we will first go through the history of this amazing field as well as its construction process. We will also provide sections related to the capacity of the field, the records that this field holds, and the naming rights.

Thus, stay with us to learn about all there is to know and most importantly

top facts about Children's Mercy Park

.

Children's Mercy Park history

Like all the other arena articles (that you should surely check out if you are interested in expanding your knowledge about stadiums), it is only right to organize sections in the right order, that would make it easy for the reader to grasp the information they need and extract what they crave to comprehend from the article.

That is why we will start from scratch and build our way through the top facts about Children's Mercy Park. Sporting Club, the team's ownership company, had originally planned to relocate the team to southeast Kansas City, Missouri, on land that had previously been occupied by Bannister Mall.

The Trails redevelopment proposal was approved on December 13, 2007. On November 21, 2008, the last package of economic incentives, a $30 million tax rebate, was passed.

The intended stadium site had been dismantled to make way for infrastructure. It was supposed to open in 2011 with a seating capacity of 18,500.

The stadium developer finally tried to relocate the new project near the Village West shopping district in Kansas City, Kansas, near the Kansas Speedway and CommunityAmerica Ballpark, due to the effects of the 2008–2009 financial crisis.

The Trails complex's developer requested increased borrowing power from Kansas City, Missouri, in order to fund the construction of the soccer stadium and its accompanying amateur soccer complex. The city, however, refused to offer the necessary funds, prompting the developer to look for a new location over the state line.

Children's Mercy Park construction process

Rome was not built in a day, neither did Children's Mercy Park. In this section of top facts about Children's Mercy Park, we will take you for a ride in the history of this field and show you how it was built.

The developer requested authorization from Wyandotte County and Kansas state officials in September 2009 to use funds from existing tax increment financing in the Village West area to help fund the soccer complex.

Robb Heineman, president of Sporting KC, presented an update on the stadium situation on the team's official website and blog on December 17, essentially declaring the Kansas City, Kansas location as final, pending the signature of the final agreements.

Construction equipment was already on the Legends site on December 21, preparing to break ground.

The bonds to help finance the stadium were granted by Wyandotte County on January 19, and the groundbreaking ceremony took place on January 20, with Sporting's CEO, Robb Heineman, utilizing heavy machinery to shovel soil on the building site.

Children's Mercy Park architect

Let us leave the stadium for a moment and meet up with the architect of this masterpiece in this section of

top facts about Children's Mercy Park

. Populous is a global architecture and design firm that specializes in sports facilities, arenas, and convention halls, as well as significant special event planning and design.

In January 2009, Populous was formed through a management buyout, becoming a wholly-owned and run company. It is said to be one of the world's largest architecture firms. Populous was previously known as HOK Sport Venue Event, a subsidiary of the HOK Group.

HOK is the largest architecture-engineering firm in the United States and the fourth-largest interior design firm as of 2018. The business employs more than 1,600 professionals across 24 offices and is involved in all major architectural disciplines.

Children's Mercy Park structure

The objective of Sporting KC to create a fan-centered experience was realized through various club spaces where fans may connect with players. They created a year-round sports bar with feedback from and dedicated to the soccer team's most ardent fans – a first for Major League Soccer.

Now, we will talk about the structure itself in this section of top facts about Children's Mercy Park

The project was completed on a 22-month design and construction timetable, with the design and construction teams working closely together. The stadium is planned to build a future upper deck to the south and east stands, which will add 7,000 seats.

The compact site is further affected by a 40-foot elevation difference across the stadium footprint, which is bordered on all sides by major highways and utility corridors. With a majority of the construction built on shallow foundations, the large change in elevation necessitated cutting into the bedrock to level the field.

Top-down building methods improved the construction sequence, eliminated the requirement for temporary shoring, prevented the excavation of existing utilities, and alleviated the stadium structure's uneven lateral earth pressures.

They employed a 3D BIM platform to help achieve the tight schedule, allowing them to communicate the Revit model with the construction team and meet the demand for early mill orders.

Meanwhile, the 145,000-square-foot roof canopy is designed to resemble the broad arc of a soccer ball as it flies across the field. The roof arcs from 65 feet to 95 feet from its highest to the lowest position. Its panels give the pitch an intimate feel and amplify crowd noise, while the polycarbonate material allows light to pass through.

Children's Mercy Park attendance and capacity

Sporting played the Chicago Fire to a scoreless draw in front of a 19,925-strong crowd on June 9, 2011. Sporting would go on to win 9–2–6 at home in its first regular season in the stadium. The average attendance for the year was 17,810, or 96.4 percent of capacity.

Sporting KC averaged 19,404 fans per game in the stadium's second season, or 105 percent of its capacity.

With an attendance of 18,467, Children's Mercy Park also hosted a World Cup qualifying match between the United States and Jamaica, in which the United States defeated Jamaica 2–0, and the 2013 MLS All-Star Game between

and the MLS All-Stars, in which A.S. Roma defeated the All-Stars 3–1.

Sporting KC set a playoff attendance record of 21,650 when they defeated the Houston Dynamo 2–1 to go to the MLS Cup Finals against

, which Sporting won in penalty kicks, the second final at Children's Mercy Park in two years.

As a complementary section for this part of top facts about Children's Mercy Park, we have also prepared another part for the attendance records.

Children's Mercy Park attendance record

On July 31, 2013, the 2013 MLS All-Star Game between the MLS All-Stars and A.S. Roma set a new attendance record of 21,175 people, including standing room-only tickets. Sporting KC set a new attendance record with 21,304 fans in a loss against

a week later on August 3.

Sporting KC broke the record once more on November 23, 2013, as they defeated

in the Eastern Conference Final in front of a fire-code capacity crowd of 21,650.

Two weeks later, in the MLS Cup 2013, the squad tied the record with a penalty kick win over Real Salt Lake. In a 1–0 win over the Seattle Sounders on June 6, 2015, Sporting set a new regular-season attendance record with 21,505.

Children's Mercy Park important events

It was announced in 2013 that the NCAA Division II Football Championships would be held at Children's Mercy Park from 2014 to 2018, replacing Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama. The 2015 NCAA College Cup will be held at Children's Mercy Park, according to the announcement.

The stadium hosted FC Kansas City's home-opening against Sky Blue FC of the NWSL in 2015. In 2016, the stadium hosted two FC Kansas City matches, serving as the team's auxiliary stadium once again.

With the final Group C matches of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Children's Mercy Park held its first international encounter. This match ended in a 1–1 draw between

and Panama, followed by the stadium's first-ever USA match, a 1–0 victory over Guadeloupe.

The stadium held its first-ever women's match when it hosted the US women's team in their first match since the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, a 1–1 tie against Canada in front of 16,191 fans.

The 2012 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament semifinals and final were held at Children's Mercy Park.

Children's Mercy Park naming rights

A relationship with Lance Armstrong's Livestrong Foundation was announced on March 8, 2011. The Livestrong Foundation is a non-profit organization based in the United States that helps cancer patients.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation, situated in Austin, Texas, was founded in 1997 by cancer survivor and former professional road racing cyclist Lance Armstrong. The foundation launched the Livestrong brand in 2003. After Armstrong admitted to doping and resigned from the charity in 2012, the entire organization was renamed the Livestrong Foundation.

Over the course of six years, the club was to donate a portion of its income to the foundation, no less than $7.5 million. The naming rights arrangement between Livestrong and Sporting Kansas City was terminated on January 15, 2013.

Another fact of top facts about Children's Mercy Park is that on November 19, 2015, the stadium was renamed Children's Mercy Park as part of a ten-year agreement with Children's Mercy Hospital.

Children's Mercy Hospital is a 367-bed comprehensive pediatric medical hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, that combines clinical treatment, research, and medical education to treat kids ranging in age from newborn to 21 years old. The hospital's core service region in Missouri and Kansas encompasses 150 counties.

U.S. News & World Report has given Children's Mercy national prominence in nine pediatric disciplines. The hospital was the first in Missouri and Kansas to obtain Magnet Recognition from the American Nurses Credentialing Center for excellence in nursing services, and it has been re-designated five times.

Children's Mercy Park incidents

The supporters of Toluca, the visiting side, reached over the railing to greet players as they exited the Children's Mercy Park field at the southwest tunnel. Fans fell from the lower-level stands onto the field after the guardrail collapsed.

According to the squad, one supporter was transported to the hospital but has since been released. Felipe Pardo, a Toluca player, fractured a toe on his left foot during the incident and will be out for a long time, according to the team. "The safety of all spectators is vital and is a responsibility that we prioritize," the club said in a statement.

Following the completion of last night's match, which resulted in a few minor injuries, including one fan seeking treatment and being discharged from a local hospital, the club is conducting a comprehensive investigation.

Within seconds, stadium personnel and team medical personnel arrived to aid. Engineers and builders have already been out today inspecting spectator zones in preparation for the team's next home match on March 10."

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