The Stanley H. Durwood Soccer Stadium

AMC Theaters founder Stanley Durwood was a long-time supporter of UMKC and UMKC athletics. In 2008, the Stanley H. Durwood Foundation gifted $5 million to UMKC towards a $7.4 million soccer stadium, which would be named the Stanley H. Durwood Soccer Stadium in his honor. Completed in 2009, the 850 seat Durwood Stadium is home to UMKC's Men's and Women's Soccer teams and has played host to various professional soccer matches as well. In 2014, the stadium hosted National Women's Soccer League member FC Kansas City, helping to broaden support for women's soccer in Kansas City.

Stanley Durwood's association with UMKC began in 1985, when Kansas City's NBA team, the Kansas City Kings, moved to Sacramento, Ca. Kansas City mayor Richard Berkley and civic leaders including AMC Theaters founder and chairman Stanley Durwood came to UMKC with a bold idea. The Kings had left a sports vacuum in Kansas City. To fill that vacuum, they proposed that UMKC move to NCAA Div 1 Athletics. Kansas City had a long history as a college basketball town. The Big 12 Conference held its basketball tournament each year in Kansas City as did the NAIA league. Kansas City had hosted more NCAA Final Four Basketball tournaments than any other city. Kansas City is a college basketball town. Would UMKC be interested in becoming Kansas City's hometown college team?

The proposal was met with enthusiasm by UMKC's administration, which put together a task force to study it. A move from NAIA to NCAA Division 1 posed enormous challenges to UMKC. The university did not have a long athletic tradition and student support was minimal. Moreover, UMKC's basketball facilities, the so-called "Old Swinney" gymnasium was smaller than most high school basketball facilities. A move to NCAA Division 1 would require the construction of a suitable arena. It would also require that UMKC double the number of sports it sponsored to reach the NCAA minimum of 12 programs. The university would have to hire coaches, recruit players and start these programs from scratch. More than anything, it would require an estimated $1 million in the first year alone just to make the move.

The task force recommended going forward with the proposal and the UM System Board of Curators approved the move. Men's basketball would move first and the other sports would follow over the next several years. The curators also approved funding for a massive expansion of the Swinney Gymnasium. The Swinney Recreation Center, as the new facility would be called would have a court suitable for NCAA Div 1 competition as well as two additional practice courts, offices, classrooms, locker rooms and training facilities. Of the $1 million needed to make the move, the curators had only allocated $250,000. UMKC would need to raise $750,000 from alumni and supporters. When the university struggled to raise this money in such a short period of time, Stanley Durwood stepped in and donated $500,000 towards the effort, which ensured that UMKC's move to NCAA Division 1 became a reality.

Over the years, Durwood continued his support for UMKC's Athletic Department, including additional monetary gifts and the establishment of an endowed scholarship. In 1994, UMKC awarded him the Chancellor's medal, the university's highest honor, for all he had done. Stanley Durwood passed away in 1999, leaving much of his fortune to the Stanley H. Durwood foundation in order to continue his philanthropic legacy. In 2008, in honor of Durwood's association with UMKC athletics, his foundation donated $5 Million towards the construction of the $7.4 Million Stanley H. Durwood Soccer Stadium on the Volker Campus. Completed in 2009, the 850 seat stadium brought home UMKC's Men's and Women's Soccer teams, which had played at Swope Park or other city fields for decades. The stadium has also hosted numerous professional soccer games and in 2014 it was the home field for National Women's Soccer League member FC Kansas City, helping to broaden support for women's soccer in Kansas City.

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