Construction on the new American Royal campus in Kansas City, Kansas has been on hold since early 2025, creating visible concern among residents who expected the project to advance rapidly after its groundbreaking. What many initially assumed to be a stalled development is actually a temporary pause tied to complex funding steps that must be completed before the $375 million campus can move forward.
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The new campus represents one of the most significant regional investments in agricultural education, livestock events, rodeos, and large-scale BBQ competitions. The American Royal Association first announced the move from the West Bottoms to Wyandotte County in 2016 with the intent of expanding its impact on agriculture innovation, youth education, and national livestock programming.
American Royal CEO and President Jackie McClaskey explained that the organization originally secured bonds for the project back in 2017. However, COVID disruptions, rising construction costs, and changes in state leadership forced the team to re-evaluate the entire financing plan.
“We really had to just kind of step back and help them understand what we were building, why we are building it, why the public commitment was important, and then frankly to also ask for a little more public investment because our costs had gone up,” said McClaskey.
The project restarted with fresh revenue studies and a revised development agreement, leading to a groundbreaking in late 2023. Since then, crews began building a series of major structures, including:
Residents in the area quickly noticed when heavy construction activity came to a halt this spring. Some, like Kansas City, Kansas resident Diance Bailes, expressed frustration and curiosity. “I’d like to see it before I die,” Bailes joked when asked by KCTV5 Investigates.
Bailes added, “I was excited, it is like, ‘Come on, let’s get some more stuff going.’ Why? We’ve got these five big buildings that they’ve put in.”
McClaskey confirmed that construction has been paused for about six months, but emphasized that the project is still moving forward internally. “We know we’ve been a little quiet lately, but we are coming,” she said.
A new sign has been posted at the site reading: “Good things are coming!... construction will resume soon!” The message reflects the organization’s confidence as they finalize bond financing with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.
McClaskey said the total cost of the campus is roughly $375 million, which includes barns, arenas, offices, educational spaces, and public facilities. She said private donors have already committed more than $100 million, but public funding must catch up before the project can proceed.
“We paused construction when we got to a point where we had put in quite a bit of private funding, back to us being a nonprofit, and we needed to catch the public funding up,” McClaskey explained.
The team is working to sell STAR Bonds—state-approved financing tied to future tax revenue—to provide the public portion of the investment. They expect 42.5% public funding and 57.5% private funding.
McClaskey acknowledged the process hasn’t been fast. “What I would really credit the challenges over the last six months or so is just the detail of the STAR Bond development agreement and working with new officials and just helping them understand the story and get the details right,” she said.
According to Unified Government Economic Development Director Chelsee Chism, the next step is a key vote scheduled for Dec. 1, 2025, where officials will consider changes to the bond structure. If approved, the developer must restart construction within 60 days of the bond issuance.
McClaskey expressed optimism: “In a perfect world, there wouldn’t have been a construction pause, but there has been, and we feel like we are going to come out of that on the good and we feel really good about our timeline, our project, and what we are going to deliver to Kansas City.”
She added that the completed campus will attract major events that have never before come to Kansas City. “Don’t worry, we are coming and be very excited about the future that the American Royal is going to bring to all of Kansas City…”
For neighbors like Bailes, progress cannot come soon enough. “Both of them work together, and let’s get it done,” she said.
Originally reported by Samantha Boring in KCTV 5.
