The yellow “Livestrong” signage on the former Livestrong Sporting Park “already had been taken down” by yesterday morning after MLS club Sporting KC “severed ties Tuesday night with the cancer-fighting charity,” according to Tod Palmer of the K.C. STAR. Sporting KC “wasn’t thrilled with the PR grenades lobbed its way by Livestrong." Closing the Livestrong “chapter also brings a sense of relief” to the club. Sporting KC CEO Robb Heineman said, “We wanted to do things in Kansas City that could impact the cancer community, and we wanted to build a stadium with activities and events inside it that were really great for Kansas Citians. That’s what we always wanted the attention on. We didn’t want the attention on the media circus surrounding some of those other things, but the good thing is now we can move on from those.” Heineman “didn’t rule out the possibility of partnering with another charity for Sporting Park’s naming rights,” though the club “might revert to a more traditional route.” The club’s “push forward won’t include abandoning the principle tenet of the Livestrong mission -- the fight against cancer.” Heineman: “One of the coolest parts of the stadium, quite frankly, is the yellow seat that we built in the Victory Suite and the people that have sat in that. That’s a program that we’ll absolutely continue. That’s one of those things that creates some really special moments inside of the stadium. We won’t walk away from that.” Palmer notes there “might be some tweaks, though, including ditching the iconic yellow -- a direct link to Livestrong, whose fundraising bands are bright yellow” (K.C. STAR, 1/17).
