Kansas City has stadium success story — in Major League Soccer

Sporting Park in Kansas City has had 54 straight sellouts for its Major League Soccer team, averaging more than 20,000 attendance last season.

It had the NCAA Division II football championship game last December and will have the Division I soccer championship this December.

It has had U.S. Men's National Team soccer matches and concerts, including the Zac Brown Band and Farm Aid.

It was far more expensive than the proposed $82 million soccer stadium for the Indy Eleven but in many ways embodies the best-case scenario that the team is selling to lawmakers and the public.

"We knew there was a market here and that this was a town that could blow up if the right type of marketing and team and stadium and brand were presented to the public," said Greg Cotton, chief of staff and general counsel for Sporting KC.

The club was a charter member of MLS in 1996 and won the league championship in 2000 as the Kansas City Wizards. But the team wasn't popular, playing at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, and then a 6,500-seat baseball stadium.

The new $200 million stadium, which broke ground in early 2010, was part of a $400 million-plus development deal, including an office park for the team owners' company and a youth soccer complex. Taxpayers kicked in $146 million.

The stadium opened in 2011, and the team changed its name to Sporting KC.

A 2006 effort for a youth soccer complex that opponents feared would be part of a stadium deal faced opposition in Overland Park, Kan., where an unlikely anti-tax group emerged: Homeowners Against Soccer Welfare.

"It takes the right set of visionary people," Cotton said of the stadium project. "It takes people who are willing to bet on the next big thing. We have a unified government of Wyandotte County in Kansas City, Kansas, that bet on the come."

A bill in the Indiana legislature would allow the capture of taxes from the Downtown stadium and a hotel being developed by team owner Ersal Ozdemir to pay debt service. The House passed the bill, which awaits a hearing in the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee.

Critics say the team's revenue projections are for a successful stadium and that taxpayers could be left on the hook if it underperforms. The last stadium project spearheaded by team President Peter Wilt, Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., has been a financial albatross for the small Chicago suburb.

Stadium proponents say the renderings reflect the next step in Indy's progress as a sports city — a modern facility primarily for a sport they say is embraced by young upscale adults. They note that the bill in the legislature would require Ozdemir to guarantee half of the cost, although it's unclear exactly how he would do that.

Sporting KC has gained a reputation beyond soccer as relentless in trying to appeal to fans. It made sure the stadium had huge Wi-Fi bandwidth. It embraced social media. Cotton said the goal was to delight even people who aren't fans of soccer.

"If we have any magic, that's where it is," Cotton said. "We really try to impress the hell out of our fans every single time they interact with us, whether it's at a Sporting game or a party we throw or a golf tournament we have."

Indy Eleven, entering its second season, aggressively carved a spot on the city's sports landscape, selling out every game last season. (The teams says about 7 percent were discounted or free tickets.)

There is, however, a critical difference between Sporting KC and the Indy Eleven. Sporting KC competes in Major League Soccer. Indy Eleven plays in the second-division North American Soccer League.

Wilt said last month there has been a second-division American soccer league for "generations" and that will continue.

"Indy Eleven has shown the demand and the need is currently there for the capacity and amenities," he said. "Second, Major League Soccer is not even an option without the stadium. This stadium would allow the Eleven to play in any league in the United States."

Cotton was asked whether the Kansas City story could have happened outside MLS.

"At the end of the day — and this is my personal opinion, my gut reaction after having done this for eight years — no, you would have to be in the first division," Cotton said. "You would have to say, 'This matters on a national level, and when you have this type of opportunity to stamp your city's name on a first-division national trophy, you better go do it.' I'm not sure we could have survived in any other configuration or in any other league."

Call Star reporter Mark Alesia at (317) 444-6311. Follow him on Twitter: @markalesia . Read his other stories .