David Glass half full, Kauffman will remain empty

By: Ahsan Latif

Posted: 2/14/05

Even George Brett wants to ditch Kauffman Stadium. On his morning sports talk show, Brett was just as stunned to hear Friday's announcement that Royals owner David Glass would be announcing his opposition to plans for a downtown baseball stadium. I know this because that's what he said. As caller after caller voiced their displeasure about the pending announcement, Brett didn't offer anything except agreement.

Even the greatest Royal of all time agrees the fans are getting screwed.

A few hours later it was official. Dan Glass (apparently his father was too busy battling lawsuits and lowering prices at Wal-Mart headquarters) stood by Jackson County Executive Katherine Shields and Mayor Kay Barnes at a fancy press conference and said something very strange.

"The fans wanted us to say," said Glass.

Say what?

After contacting season ticket holders and business leaders and following his own "gut feeling," David and Dan Glass had agreed that the fans love Kauffman Stadium and don't want to hear any disturbing talk about new stadiums, a possible All-Star game or increased revenues.

This decision comes just weeks into the 100-day grace period the Royals have to mull over the possibility of a new arena. It is based on absolutely no scientific evidence or even a simple survey.

The Glass family's opposition to the construction of a new downtown baseball stadium is the most myopic and gutless decision in Kansas City sports. I've remained a fan of my hometown team through years of disenchantment, faithfully clinging to the belief that the Royals are the victim of Major League Baseball's unequal economic structure.

I can even forgive Glass for having the gall to actually reduce payroll by nearly 20 percent. Unlike disgruntled Mike Sweeney, I understand that money can't buy you the chemistry and "coachability" that the team had two years ago when they fought for a division title.

What I can't forgive is the Glass family's empty rhetoric and "aw shucks" Wal-Mart two-step. Instead of ponying up to provide even an eighth of the money it would require to build a stadium -- largely believed to be around $50 million of a total $300 mil -- they expect us to believe that a seasoned businessman like David Glass was motivated by sentimentality when it came to a new Royals stadium.

Sure, Kauffman Stadium is one of the better old stadiums in baseball. But that's not why the Glass family wants to remain there for the next 10 years. If that was the case Glass would have been wholeheartedly behind Bi-State II, a plan which offered enough money to completely renovate Kauffman Stadium into a truly state-of-the-art ballpark.

Instead Glass offered a tepid endorsement of that ill-fated venture, biding his time to see how much of the cost of a possible downtown stadium would be picked up by Kansas City taxpayers.

Apparently it wasn't enough.

If anyone has a right to oppose the construction of a new ballpark, it's Brett. It's the memories of his own achievements that are locked up in that ballpark. The rivalry with the New York Yankees. The majority of his 3,000 hits. The 1985 World Series. It's all locked up in that beautiful, decaying park.

But even he can see past it all into the endless possibilities of the future.

David Glass is apparently not an optimist. Glass is content to see this once proud baseball town's stadium perpetually half empty. As long as the Royals are run like Wal-Mart, the Glass will never be half full.

alatif@unews.com