Des Moines ceases negotiations with Krause Group for downtown soccer stadium
DES MOINES, Iowa —
Negotiations to bring a long-awaited soccer stadium proposed in downtown Des Moines have fallen apart.
The city of Des Moines announced Wednesday it has ended seven years of negotiations with the Krause Group. The stadium was expected to cost around $90 million and would go in the former DICO site in downtown Des Moines.
In a news release provided to KCCI, the city pointed to recent legislation at the statehouse as one factor that ended negotiations.
“Recent property tax legislation leading to a $12 million budget gap for the City in Fiscal Year 2028 and a further $5 million gap the following year have changed the City’s negotiating position,” the release states, “leaving a significant funding gap for the proposed stadium district that the City can no longer responsibly commit to.”
Last fall, Kyle Krause shared his vision for the soccer stadium in an exclusive interview with KCCI. He said that although the process has been a lengthy one, he is optimistic about its completion. “You know, things are complicated and they take time,” Krause said.
“We’re down to a few million left in a capital stack, and we feel good about getting that closed with help from the city, with help from the state, with help from private donors to get this whole thing done the next couple of days,” Krause said in November 2025. You can watch that interview at the top of this story.
The project also would have included a global plaza for festivals.
“The City has been committed to finding a solution to build this soccer stadium at this location for the majority of the past decade,” Des Moines Mayor Connie Boesen said in the news release. “Despite the economic opportunities this stadium and surrounding district presented, the terms that the City had been considering at earlier points in negotiations are no longer feasible or responsible to our taxpayers.”
About the site: What to know about former DICO site
The former Dico Inc. manufacturing property sits south of downtown Des Moines near West Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.
Designated a Superfund site in 1983, the land was contaminated with industrial chemicals like trichloroethylene (TCE), PCBs, and pesticides from decades of wheel, brake, and pesticide operations.
The Dico site has been vacant since 1995. The city of Des Moines took ownership of the 43-acre former Dico Inc. property in May 2021, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began removal of buildings at the Superfund site that summer.
The city has not yet announced future plans for the DICO site.
More coverage of the downtown soccer stadium project
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