Stadium Update From Heineman

Tonight over at Hillcrest Road, Robb Heineman posted an update on the Wizards stadium situation. It's good news for fans that have been waiting for news on the stadium. Heineman mentions his previous comments about issues with selling the STAR Bonds, saying that it appears they have that issue worked out.

The big news is that Heineman states that the team will be permanently staying out at the Village West area. This hopefully ends all the speculation of where the Wizards stadium site would go, whether in Missouri or in Kansas. He also states that we're likely going to start seeing dirt moved out at the site starting next week.

Between now and March 1st, Heineman says the Wizards will be working on; finalizing stadium design, get renderings out sooner than later, signing the formal agreements (including those signed by the Unified Government, the state, and Cerner), and start getting the stadium up. The big thing, he says, is the selling of the STAR Bonds that needs to occur between now and March 1st.

He also talks about the final step with the stadium, the marketing the team and the brand of the Wizards. Heineman calls it a "first chance to make a second impression to all of you". Something that many fans will find appealing. Some fans I've talked to have felt that OnGoal has dropped the ball in some areas of marketing the team. Hopefully this will be a new beginning in the look of the Wizards.

A formal announcement should be coming in January Heineman says.

He finishes by thanking the city of KCMO, and the state of Missouri for their work with them for the Bannister site and states again their intentions to have some type of development out there as well.

I'm personally relieved that this process looks to be nearing a close and that a stadium will finally start to go up. I'm not the biggest fan of the location due to wear I live in the KC metro area, but having it out at the Legends is much better than having it in some other city hundreds of miles away. Most Wizards fans will tell you that once the stadium starts going up, it'll feel like a huge burden and weight is off our backs because we'll know that the team is staying in KC.

Check out the entire announcement below, or head over to Hillcrest to see how you can potentially get a copy of the stadium shirt Heineman is wearing.