In addition to being a historic night for the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday was also the start of a new history for the newly named Champions Landing.
The Chiefs defeated the San Franciso 49ers 25-22 in overtime to become the first team in nearly two decades to win back-to-back Super Bowls. Safe to say there was no bad place to watch the game for Chiefs Kingdom whether it was on their couch, their favorite sports bar or Emporia’s newly named Champions Landing.
Owner of Champion’s Landing Jeremy Rusco opened the space to the community Sunday night for a Super Bowl watch party, the first major event for the property since Rusco purchased it a little less than two weeks ago. Rusco, who spoke with KVOE News before the SuperBowl, says the watch party is one way he is getting the message out that Champion’s is meant to be a “destination” for all residents.
Rusco says the response to Sunday’s event was overwhelmingly positive and could be just the start of similar events in the future. The Super Bowl party also came just a few days after the Emporia City Commission approved a series of steps to support Champion’s Landing and help further grow the sport of disc golf.
The steps approved Wednesday included a ten-year $500,000 forgivable loan. Rusco says the loan was provided in part to help with the acquisition of the property and also planned updates and renovations to the main clubhouse and facilities in the future.
While he had been in talks with the city for an undisclosed period regarding some form of financial support, Rusco says he was ecstatic when he learned just how far the city was willing to go to help support his vision.
Along with the forgivable loan, the city of Emporia has also approved a mortgage for the property, a subordination agreement with Rusco that makes the city’s loan secondary only to ESB Financial’s loan, an agreement for the Reeble Park outdoor pickleball facility which is on city property and a pair of easements, one for parking access on Reeble and the other for utility work. Rusco officially purchased the former Emporia Community Club a week ago and in the same day announced the property’s rebranding under the Champion’s Landing name.
Along with the city of Emporia’s financial commitments, Rusco says he is planning to “aggressively pursue” Star Bonds through the Kansas Department of Commerce to support future improvements to the real estate which includes potentially demolishing the current clubhouse to construct a new updated facility.
