Sporting KC
No More Children’s Mercy Park, New Kit Release Date and Sporting KC Preseason
Sporting Kansas City will play in a stadium with a new name in 2026. Plus, new jersey and preseason information and dates.
Ten years ago, Sporting Kansas City announced a decade-long deal with Children’s Mercy Hospital for the naming rights of Sporting Park. Children’s Mercy Park, or often referred to as CMP, will have a new name when Sporting KC kick off the 2026 Major League Soccer season.
What name will be plastered on the stadium is not yet known. What we do know is Sporting KC have a new official healthcare provider, Saint Luke’s.
Saint Luke’s isn’t Going on the Stadium
The nearly 150-year-old Kansas City based company, Saint Luke’s have entered a multi-year deal with Sporting KC. However, that isn’t to appear on the stadium. But, with a new healthcare provider in, Children’s Mercy Park won’t be on the stadium and won’t be a sponsor. Though, the team did confirm the partnership with Children’s Mercy will continue in other forms, likely through things like the Victory Project.
New Sporting KC Kit Announcement
Slipped into the press conference to announce Saint Luke’s was the news that Sporting KC’s new kit will be unveiled in February. The “Diamonds Our Forever” argyle/diamond kit in the alternative blue the team rolled out two years ago will be retired in favor of a new secondary kit.
The “One KC” kit, with another version of Sporting KC’s trademark hoops, will return for one more season in 2026. It features both the state line and the hoops, mixed together, to combine some of Sporting KC’s iconic branding from the last decade plus.
Compass Minerals will remain on Sporting KC’s gameday jerseys through the end of 2028.
Saint Luke’s on the Sleeve and Training Tops
While Saint Luke’s won’t be on the stadium, they will be featured on the sleeve of both the primary (shown below) and secondary kits in 2026 and beyond. They are also the lead sponsor of the two training tops. Additionally, they will sponsor Sporting KC’s preseason.
More Preseason News
Sporting KC report for preseason medicals on January 10th, which is under a month away. The next day, the team departs for Palm Beach, Florida for the first leg of preseason. That runs from January 11-31 and will including training and scrimmages. The team returns home briefly before jetting off to California for the Coachella Valley Invitational from February 3-14.
Sporting KC play their first MLS game on February 21st, before returning home for the first home game against San Diego FC.
2026 Wishes
The Moves Keep Falling Through, but Sporting KC have a Ton to Spend
Sporting KC signs free agent forward Calvin Harris
2026 KC Current Schedule Released
Sporting KC Put in the Middle of a Bizarre Transfer Situation for Ugandan Forward
Details on the Three Defenders on Trial with Sporting KC
KC Current Sign a Player, Re-Sign a Player and Lose Bia
A Tale of Two New Coaches in Kansas City
Roster Tracker: USMNT World Cup 2026
The half hoops…
I’m glad Children’s Mercy Park is no more.
That may bother people. I’m fine with that.
Children’s Mercy is not just another hospital. It is the pediatric hospital in this region. When you occupy that role, you don’t get to behave like a lifestyle brand. You don’t get to spend serious money on marketing and stadium naming rights while families are still rationing care, fighting insurers, or delaying treatment because they can’t afford it.
We live in the United States. Healthcare is not guaranteed. If you don’t have money or coverage, you suffer—or you don’t get care at all. That is the system we have, whether we like it or not. In that system, every discretionary dollar matters.
A stadium name is discretionary.
I don’t buy the argument that “marketing budgets are separate” or that branding somehow trickles down into care. Awareness doesn’t pay hospital bills. Visibility doesn’t lower deductibles. Logos don’t treat sick children. If an institution has surplus money, and its mission is children’s healthcare, then the moral priority is obvious: make care cheaper, more accessible, or less punishing for families who are already terrified.
Some people see a hospital name on a stadium and feel pride. I saw a contradiction. I saw money being used to polish an image instead of reduce suffering.
I’m not celebrating whoever replaces them. I’m simply relieved that the one pediatric hospital in town is no longer plastered across a professional sports venue while claiming moral authority rooted in “mercy.”
If that makes me unpopular, so be it.
When people are suffering, marketing is not neutral. It’s a choice. And choices have moral weight.
PS, I don’t like it any better because it’s St. Luke’s. Their actions disgust me equally.
I agree. I detest the amount of health care money sloshing into sports. It has no place there. I’m self-employed and functionally pay all expenses out of pocket, since the only “insurance” available to me has a huge deductible and still quite high premiums. Functionally I’m out of pocket nearly $20,000/year before the insurance company has to kick in a dime, and the only way I ever see any benefit from that money is if I get seriously hurt or sick, so it’s essentially a loss no matter what.
Seeing “health” money everywhere, from stadium/team sponsors to massive pharma advertising to general lobbying money just makes me ill. But sports are definitely in a tier of their own on my “ugh, take a shower” ranking.
The one thing that wasn’t mentioned that is more important than anything is who’s gonna be the manager next year. What’s up? The longer this goes the more desperate sporting Kansas City looks trying to find anybody who wants to come here to try to fix this mess.
If I had new on the manager, trust me I’d write an article.
…..Pre-season starts in less than a month, and we don’t have a manger, or even enough players to have a sub for anyone except keeper. Defense has been our biggest problem for a few years, and yet we have….2 defenders on the roster, neither of which would be starters on half the teams in the league.
I thought the Lee hiring would kick things into high gear, but man was I wrong.