Sporting Kansas City announced today a new partnership with the American Royal Association, a Kansas City tradition with over 120 years of celebrated history in national competitive events and programs, scholarships and education.

The local partnership will introduce American Royal Barbecue to Children’s Mercy Park, treating supporters to revered Kansas City barbecue at every Sporting home match beginning this season.

“Kansas City loves soccer and barbecue. When the idea of merging these two fan favorites was proposed—bringing American Royal BBQ to Sporting KC—it seemed like a perfect match,” said Glen Alan Phillips, president and CEO of the American Royal Association. “By choosing BBQ at their next soccer game, fans will be directly supporting our mission to impact the future of agriculture through education, scholarships and competitive events.”

The American Royal Barbecue concession stand will be featured prominently on the stadium concourse above section 127, serving classic barbecue fan-favorites such as pulled pork, brisket and burnt end sandwiches plus new creations like the burnt end nachos with molasses baked beans, cheese and onion strings.

As a key component of the partnership, Sporting will donate a portion of the concession stand’s sales at every home match to the American Royal, which annually provides over 100 scholarships for academic excellence and hosts nearly 3,000 contestants in nationally recognized competitive events. Collectively, the American Royal oversees $400,000 in scholarship funds and contributes over $1 million annually to agriculture education and competitive learning.

The American Royal joins a growing list of local flavors set to debut at Children’s Mercy Park in 2020, following the likes of BRGR Kitchen + Bar, Taco Republic, Parisi Coffee and Port Fonda. Sporting will also introduce five additional concession stand concepts around the stadium concourse ahead of its highly anticipated MLS home opener against the Houston Dynamo on March 7 at 7:30 p.m. CT.

Sporting will continue to announce more information about new partners, stadium technology improvements and premium space renovations in the near term.

Celebrating the team’s 25th season as a charter member of Major League Soccer, Sporting will kick off the 2020 MLS campaign on Feb. 29 at Vancouver Whitecaps FC before hosting rivals Houston Dynamo in the club’s home opener on March 7.

The best way to guarantee tickets for 2020 home matches is to join the Sporting Kansas City family and become a Season Ticket Member. Several multi-game ticket packages for the 2020 campaign are also on sale, including the limited-time Home Opener Pack that bundles the game on March 7 with two flex matches. Single-game tickets for Sporting’s first 10 home contests will go on sale to the general public this Friday at noon CT.