Mayor Quinton Lucas addresses community at unveiling of renovated 9th and Van Brunt soccer complex on July 8. | Photo by Dorri Partain

Daisy Garcia Montoya

Education Reporter

Elected officials, Kansas City stakeholders and community members gathered on Tuesday, July 8 for the unveiling of  soccer field renovations at 901 Van Brunt Blvd., within the Lykins neighborhood.

A renovation project, which broke ground in 2024 is officially complete after a $3 million dollar renovation. 

The full construction includes an additional 195 by 290-foot championship quality synthetic turf field, complete with new field lighting, scoreboard, press box and new 500-seat bleachers. To further accommodate teams, a new locker room with bathrooms and showers is also available. 

Although these fields have served as a popular destination for youth and the Northeast community since they opened in 2012, the road to achieve the maintenance and renovations that have come to fruition to sustain the field’s growing usage did not come easy.  

In 2023, the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation had prepared to invest $3 million — funding voters granted in 2022 through the General Obligation Bond authority — for the facility. Instead, Kansas City City Council pushed back, leaving the fields without renovations. 

Brad Leonard, head of school for local Ryogoku Soccer Academy (606 Gladstone Blvd.) said  that the necessity and lack of maintenance in a space that was so frequently used, urged the community to work together to gain attention toward the matter. 

Ryogoku students, who use the fields on a daily basis for their programming and practices, said that they often found glass and trash over the fields. Frustrated with the lack of care for the fields, the students decided to showcase the trash as a way to show the community the impact of their decisions. To take manners into their own hands, the students would pick up the trash as a way to help preserve the fields as best as they could.

Still, maintenance from  students and community members alone was not enough. Leonard shared that this lack of maintenance led to problems with hosting matches at the fields as referees cited a concern for players to play on them. 

“The referees, the officials, they would always question the field. The nets have holes in it, the turf is really poor, you don’t have enough seats here for fans, where are the players going to sit if you have no bench? You have no scoreboard, no sound system, you can’t play games here. High school officials said you can’t play here, this field does not fulfill requirements,” Leonard said. “The World Cup is coming, we’re saying we’re going to give these kids opportunities, violence is going up especially in the Northeast but we aren’t doing anything.”

As a result, community members began a petition to show their support and the need for improvements as the number of youth using the fields increased. Local businesses and community groups began to push and attend City meetings to voice their concerns through 2023 and early 2024.

Former Kansas City Mayor Pro Tem and community and Economic Development Director at Mattie Rhodes Center Scott Wagner, wrote a Letter to the Editor to Northeast News in March 2024 to further emphasize the roadblocks renovations had gone through, as well as the positive impact  field improvements would have on the community. 

Wagner, who served as the Indian Mound Neighborhood Association president at the time the fields were first  developed, cited the need to invest in Northeast youth and called for action from the community to fight for the investment to be made in his Letter to the Editor. 

In late March 2024, City Council passed the project and began the process for the renovations to take place. During Summer 2024, Parks and Recreation hosted an Open House community engagement project during the design phase to seek input from the community directly. 

By Fall 2024, new changes were visible at the fields as  new bleachers were  installed as well as  renovations to the turf itself. 

Kansas City Parks and Recreation Project Manager Scott Overbay said that the new 9th and Van Brunt complex has increased their facility space two-fold, allowing more groups and programming into the area. 

“There is a lot of interest from soccer groups or soccer-supporting businesses so hopefully this will draw interest to the area and encourage further improvements in this area,” Overbay said. 

With Kansas City set to host six matches in the 2026 World Cup, excitement for soccer continues to grow throughout the City. The completion of this project, Parks and Recreation hopes, will help further engage youth and sustain new fans of the sport.

Ryogoku — who is part of the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) — a semi-professional league, now is able to host its home games at the complex without concerns about field safety.. 

Leonard said that with the new renovations, the opportunity to bring teams to the Northeast is now possible and allows the community to see a live soccer game for free — with many  able to ride the bus, walk or  bike to the fields. 

“I’m a big believer that when you invest in a community, those kids will thrive,” Leonard said. 

As July is National Parks and Recreation Month, the July 8 celebration also served as an opportunity to further emphasize Parks and Recreation’s 2025’s theme: “Build Together, Play Together” and its commitment to community and equity through such spaces. 

During the celebration, which saw the attendance of  Fourth District at-Large Councilman Crispin Rea, Third District at-Large Councilwoman Melissa Patterson Hazley and District 19 Missouri State House Representative Wick Thomas, Mayor Quinton Lucas discussed the impact of these renovations for the Northeast community.

Students from Ryogoku were present and participated in the ‘First Kick’ along with the mayor. 

In addition to these completed renovations, two more soccer pitches funded by Street Soccer USA will be completed this fall.