A football stadium built about seventy years ago on a Catholic parish campus in downtown Shawnee has a new turf field, a three-lane track and a video scoreboard. The St. Joseph Athletic Facility, a nonprofit community sports complex on the St. Joseph Catholic campus that also includes the parish, grade school and early childhood education center, officially opened this week after a renovation.
According to FOX4 Kansas City, the facility will be home to dozens of schools across Johnson and Wyandotte counties as well as Kansas City, Missouri, and is intended to expand available playing space for teams. John McGoldrick, executive director of the Catholic Youth Organization, said the facility supports all parishes in the archdiocese and the CYO, which serves Catholic youth across the area, the station's report notes.
Mason Rieke, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at St. Joseph Catholic School, was set to play with his football team Thursday, and the station's report notes the St. Joseph tackle football team will play its first game under the lights that same night. The field serves grade school student-athletes across the Kansas City metro, hosting CYO boys' tackle and flag football for second through eighth grade, girls' flag football in the spring, and recess for St. Joseph Catholic School students during the school day, per the same account.
A Stadium With Deep Local Roots
The venue's formal name, Security Bank of Kansas City Field at Mirocke Stadium, honors Gennaro Mirocke, according to St. Joseph Catholic Church. The stadium itself dates to the mid-1950s, when it opened for St. Joseph High School, according to Kansas High School Football History. The stadium later remained in use for CYO events and parish recess.
The $6 million project was accelerated by a $250,000 grant from the joint NFL Foundation and Local Initiatives Support Corporation Grassroots Field Grant Program, which St. Joseph secured as one of only 16 projects nationwide selected in 2025 — and the only one in the Kansas City area, per The Leaven. The Kansas City Chiefs presented that grant to St. Joseph, according to FOX4's report, at a groundbreaking ceremony in December 2025. That ceremony took place during a snowstorm on December 1, 2025, with construction completed in summer 2026, The Leaven reported.
Blessing The New Turf And Track
The new synthetic turf and three-lane track were part of the project, per The Leaven's account. The athletic complex is part of St. Joseph Parish's broader Generations Growing Together capital campaign, according to St. Joseph Catholic Church. The St. Joseph Early Education Center is also referenced in campaign materials.
Organizers expanded the field footprint specifically to allow conversion into multiple youth flag football fields, responding to what parish officials identified as the metro area's fastest-growing youth sport, St. Joseph Catholic Church notes. The synthetic surface allows rapid conversion between full tackle football and smaller flag football grids. Prior to the renovation, field deterioration had severely limited CYO scheduling at the location, according to the Catholic Youth Organization.
A Regional Hub For Youth, Adaptive And Semi-Pro Sports
Beyond CYO play, the facility will host Sporting KC youth soccer and adult recreational sports teams, according to FOX4's report, along with semi-professional men's soccer tenant Woodland FC. Woodland FC was founded in Shawnee in 2023 by Ross Harris and became the first Kansas club accepted into the Midwest Premier League for the 2026 season, per Protagonist Soccer. The club took its name from Woodland Drive in West Shawnee and previously competed in the Select League.
St. Joseph Parish also formed a community partnership with Special Olympics Kansas to host activities at the stadium, according to St. Joseph Catholic Church. The renovated stadium includes accessible restrooms. FOX4's report confirms the facility will host Special Olympics Kansas going forward, rounding out a campus that now serves youth football, girls' flag football and adaptive athletics.
