Kansas City Goats set to bring arena football to downtown St. Joseph
Photo Courtesy of Kansas City Goats
On Wednesday, Oct. 30, at Jake’s Steakhouse and Sports Bar, the Kansas City Goats Arena Football Team announced that they are moving to St. Joseph.
While they formerly played at the Municipal Auditorium and hosted a playoff game at St. Pius High School, the team will now host their home games at Civic Arena in downtown St. Joe.
“We had always kind of pictured the team being in St. Joe from the league inception,” The Arena League (TAL) Owner Jeff Holmes says. “It didn’t work out with arena dates here and things like that, which prompted us to move to Kansas City. We’ve worked those issues out and looking forward to calling St. Joe home going forward.”
TAL Commissioner and NFL Hall of Fame Wide Receiver Tim Brown, KC Goats Co-Owners George Gates and Steven St. John, Head Coach Dorsey Golston III, and Team President and GM Ted Sweeney joined Holmes at Wednesday’s press conference.
Holmes says that moving out of Kansas City and to St. Joseph matches the model of the other cities that host teams in the league, such as Waterloo, IA, Springfield, MO, and Duluth, MN.
“It fits a lot of the model of our other cities that we’re in currently,” Holmes says. “This was kind of our target from the get-go, and we had an opportunity to come back here.”
Photo Courtesy of Kansas City Goats
Holmes says that the aspect of Kansas City having a secondary football team to the Chiefs is a great opportunity for fans to stay engaged in the sport year round.
“Kansas City and St. Joe are great sports towns, and the success of the chiefs only helps us. We’re on a different calendar than they are. So their off-season is when we’re playing, which works out great,” Holmes says.
Sweeney mentioned that the struggles with scheduling home games were another reason why the move up north was the right move.
“There’s things like arenas, trying to find the correct date, with so much going on in Kansas City, which is another reason that made St. Joe the choice that we made,” he says.
After ending the season 7-1 and ultimately losing in the playoffs, the team hopes to build on the success that they have had and continue to grow their fanbase in the area.
“The fan support was incredible,” Sweeney says. “The support from local businesses was great. It’s fast-moving. It’s a lot of wow plays, I would call it—hard-hitting, quick moving, not a lot of just sitting around or huddles.”
“One of the things I like to tell people is football, hockey, and WWE all mixed into one sport,” Holmes says.
Holmes and league commissioner Tim Brown are hopeful that this move could help propel the league forward, encouraging more cities to get on board, but says that their priority is focused on cementing the Goats in St. Joseph for now.
“We are discussing that right now and think that there are going to be some opportunities for some to open up some more cities as we move forward,” Brown says. “But, right now, we’re just focusing on getting everybody settled here in St. Joe and trying to make this as smooth a transition as possible. There was a great, great team in Kansas City, and we’ll be able to put out a great product again for the people in this area.”
Since the league’s first season this last summer, two new cities have joined to round the current total of teams to six heading into the 2025 season.
“We did expand this coming year—two more teams: Hot Springs, Arkansas, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. We’re hoping, and we visualize that sort of gradual growth year to year,” Sweeney says.
For more information on the KC Goats and their upcoming season, visit their website.
