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The Kansas City Royals are getting a new stadium, but they will not follow the Chiefs to Kansas. On Wednesday, the Royals announced plans to partner with Hallmark Cards to develop a new downtown stadium, along with surrounding mixed-use facilities and a new headquarters for Hallmark. It will be built at Crown Center and Washington Square Park.

"Our founder Ewing Kauffman wanted the Royals to be Kansas City's forever, and he wanted the team to benefit his hometown as much as possible," Royals CEO and Chairman John Sherman said in a statement. "Joining Hallmark with this project achieves both, and extends the Hall family's critical legacy of helping Kansas City grow."

It is hoped the new stadium will be ready in time for the 2030 season. Approximately one-third of the $3 billion project will be funded by public dollars.

"There are many great ballpark neighborhoods in Major League Baseball but this is a bigger project with more land in downtown and in the heart of the city," Sherman added. "We are bringing a modern, state-of-the-art ballpark experience to our fans, closer to our public transportation and where more people work and live."

"When the new Royals stadium opens at Crown Center, something proud will come full circle," Hallmark chairman Don Hall Jr. said in a statement. "The iconic Royals crown that Hallmark created will return to the very neighborhood where it was conceived. Every time a fan walks through the stadium doors, they'll be standing in a place shaped by Kansas City and Hallmark's creative spirit."

The Royals joined the American League as an expansion team in 1969 and played their first four seasons at Municipal Stadium, which hosted the Kansas City Athletics from 1966-67. The A's relocated to Oakland in 1968. The Chiefs also played games at Municipal Stadium from 1963-71.

Kauffman Stadium, the Royals' current home ballpark, opened in 1973. It is the fifth-oldest stadium in baseball behind Fenway Park (1912), Wrigley Field (1914), Dodger Stadium (1962), and Angel Stadium (1966). Kauffman Stadium has undergone several major renovations over the years. 

The Royals have won two World Series championships at Kauffman Stadium (1985 and 2015) and two other AL pennants (1980 and 2014). The team has stumbled badly out of the gate this season, dropping 17 of its first 25 games.

The NFL's Chiefs announced in December that they will leave Kansas City and move to a new stadium in Kansas in time for the 2031 season.