KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred toured both sites the Kansas City Royals are considering building their new stadium at on Wednesday.

After that, he was part of a discussion at the Urban Youth Academy, talking about the state of baseball, moderated by Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick. Royals Chairman and CEO John Sherman was on stage as well.

“The fact that in Kansas city, there are two sites, just of unbelievably high quality that are available for the building of a ballpark is a tremendous opportunity for this community, forget for the Royals, for the community,” Manfred said on stage.

One of the two stadium sites is in the East Village of the downtown in Jackson County, just northeast of E. 12th and Cherry Street.

The other site the Royals are considering is in North Kansas City in Clay County.

The Royals have played baseball in Jackson County and Kansas City, Missouri, proper since their first year in existence, in 1969.

“I think both of them present the opportunity for entertainment district development around the ballpark,” Manfred said.

Many community leaders were at the invite only event. The family behind the North Kansas City site, Michael and Ed Merriman, sat right next to FOX4 during the presentation. They would not speak about their chances of securing the site for the Royals after the presentation was over.

North Kansas City Mayor Bryant DeLong was in attendance too. He declined to comment to FOX4 either.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas missed Wednesday’s event. He was at the White House in Washington D.C., marking one year of the Inflation Reduction Act. Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver was in attendance at the Urban Youth Academy.

“I live south of the river, but I also represent North Kansas City in Congress and parts of Clay County,” Cleaver said in an interview with FOX4 after Wednesday’s event. “I don’t think the decision is to put one community down over another.”

Cleaver continued by saying the new stadium would have a positive impact near 18th and Vine, potentially generating new businesses, revenue, and housing. Whether he was talking about both stadium sites or just the East Village one is unknown.

“I do think that the people around 18th and Vine would like to see that. I don’t think there’s any question,” Cleaver said when asked if the people near there would rather see the stadium downtown, as opposed to North Kansas City.

“The reason is, many of them have heard their parents and grandparents talk about the impact that the old Municipal Stadium had when it was located in Brooklyn, not far from Lincoln High School, and there was a connectivity with that community back then, and one of things we’ve got to try to do in Kansas City is create a more diverse fan base.”

Sherman and Manfred would not take questions from the media after the discussion. Manfred’s tour of both potential stadium sites happened around 9 or 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to team spokeswoman Sharita Hutton.