The Kansas City Wizards aren’t going anywhere…for now. Team owner Lamar Hunt announced on Tuesday that he has put off attempts to sell the Major League Soccer team for the time being and they will play at Arrowhead Stadium again in 2006. The announcement came a little more than a year after Hunt held a press conference to announce that the team was for sale.
Hunt said that he has received offers from prospective buyers. In fact, there was an offer recently that interested him, but the party making the offer wanted a deal for a soccer-specific stadium in place. As it stands, there aren’t any such plans officially in the works. There have been proposals to build a soccer complex in Johnson County Kansas.
Two things seem certain: the future of the Wizards in Kansas City will hinge on a soccer-specific stadium being built and Lamar Hunt will not pay for it.
Hunt said he will assist in efforts to have the facility built, but the money will not be coming out of his pocket. He said on Tuesday that if there aren’t plans to build the stadium in the next 10 months, he will revisit selling the team again.
The Wizards also announced that head coach Bob Gansler’s contract has been renewed.