Wizards Wait For Soccer-Specific Stadium

• Kansas City Star, Tuesday, March 31, 2009 3:15 PM

Determined to do their part in making good on late owner Lamar Hunt's vision to build soccer into the "No. 2 sport in the United States," executives at the Kansas City Wizards ownership group, OnGoal LLC, continue to search for the perfect site for their own soccer-specific stadium.

According to the KC Star's Alan Goforth, the 14-year-old team's long-term success "largely depends on an ambitious plan by OnGoal to build a soccer-specific stadium as part of TheTrails, a billion-dollar development at the site of the former Bannister Mall," which is currently undergoing delayed stages of demolition.

But while the economy is down and city council members are skeptical of the plans future, OnGoal officials remain cautiously optimistic, with Greg Cotton likening the stadium-building process to "assembling a 747 - every part has to fit in place for the thing to fly. I want to see this succeed so badly I can taste it. But until the fireworks go off on opening day, I'm not going to celebrate."

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