For Chris Sankey, one unforgettable image still defines what the American Royal used to look like. Long before climate-controlled cattle barns, feed and bedding arrived behind draft horses.
“I can still remember in the original building when the feed store would deliver with teams — with horses and teams,” Chris recalls, gazing out across the grounds of the 127th American Royal. “That old building had kind of a big ramp that came up, over and down. I still see those teams coming up over that ramp loaded with hay. That building was cold, the windows weren’t good, it leaked. But right up on top was a bar where everybody gathered and enjoyed their time in Kansas City.”
Few cattle producers carry a perspective quite as deep — or as personal — as Chris and Sharee Sankey of Sankey’s 6N Ranch in Council Grove, Kan. On Oct. 24 and 25, 2026, the Sankeys stepped into the center of the new American Royal showring to evaluate the Angus Open Show and the Supreme Champion Junior Heifer drive. But their presence represented far more than a judging assignment.
Their appearance marked the bridge between three distinct eras of American livestock history: from the original West Bottoms stockyards brick-and-timber barns, through the Kemper Arena years, and now onto the newly opened, multimillion-dollar campus near 118th Street and State Avenue in Kansas City, Kan.
Six Generations Tied to the Royal
The Sankeys’ ties to the Royal run back to the mid-20th century and beyond. Chris’s father hauled Angus heifers from central Kansas to the Royal in the 1940s, a logistical marathon on two-lane roads. Sharee’s family (the Laflins) has bred Angus cattle since 1900, though her first trip to the Royal in the 1960s was on horseback, showing Quarter Horses that were regularly purchased by lumber baron R.Q. Sutherland.
After Chris and Sharee married in 1978, the couple carved out their living ranching in the Flint Hills, establishing Sankey’s 6N Ranch and competing in the American Royal’s Angus and Brangus shows, hanging banners in the bull and female divisions.
“We live in Council Grove, Kan., and we’ve ranched there for 42 years,” Chris says. “We’re in the registered Angus and Brangus business. It’s all we’ve ever done — make our living out of the cattle business. Today, we’re into the sixth generation: Sharee and I raised our kids doing it, and now our grandkids are the sixth generation in the ring.”
For Sharee, seeing the American Royal’s new facility open its doors carries professional vindication. She served a decade on the American Royal Livestock Committee during the initial planning, debates and architectural blueprints for the relocation.
“I was on the livestock committee for about 10 years through all of the structuring of this,” Sharee says. “To finally, finally see it come to fruition — it’s been a long road, but it is great. This facility is impressive, and it will be here for many years to come, for many exhibitors.”
Pragmatic Design, Seamless Flow
While show history stirs nostalgia, cattle producers judge an exhibition facility by pragmatic metrics: Does traffic flow? Can you get a trailer unloaded and parked efficiently? Will the breakers blow when blowers fire up on show morning? How are the water pressure and wash rack space?
By those standards, the new 390,000-square-foot barns and exhibition hall — spanning roughly seven football fields under a single, climate-controlled roof — hit the mark.
For the first time in its 127-year history, the American Royal owns its home campus. Built on a single level to eliminate the ramps and cramped chutes of inner-city stockyards, the complex was designed to feature:
- 3,774 cattle ties (engineered at 4 feet per head with 30 feet between tie-outs).
- 29 overhead commercial doors (up to 24x20 feet), allowing roll-in unloading.
- 1,528 horse stalls plus dedicated wash racks and heavy-duty exhibitor drops.
“The loading and unloading is awesome,” Sharee notes, drawing comparisons to the gold standard of modern stock shows. “We go to Houston every year, and this is very similar to how they do Houston. You pull straight in, unload and you can move a lot of trucks and trailers through without gridlock. And the parking is phenomenal. Anyone who hauls cattle knows how tough parking gets at major stock shows. Here, the layout treats the exhibitor right.”
Chris agrees the layout resolves longstanding operational headaches for multi-species and multi-breed operations.
“It flows well bringing cattle in and out,” Chris summarizes. “The power is good, the wash racks are good. Talking with Shane Schaake, who helps oversee the stalling, the long-term vision with this much square footage is to condense our schedules into a tight 10-day span where we can all be here together. In the past, market animals were in one week and breeding cattle another week. If you’ve got kids, you’re trying to do both, and hauling back and forth wears you out. Having the barn space to put everyone together changes the game.”
A Crossroads for the Next Century
The facility’s geography marks a strategic pivot for the seedstock industry. Positioned right along Interstate 70 in Wyandotte County, the complex sits at the epicenter of North American beef production.
“If you’re in this industry, you spend half your life behind the windshield,” Chris points out. “We go coast to coast, north, south, east, west. But being right here in the center of the country makes it handy for everyone. Whether it’s a national breed show, a junior national, or the Royal, this location is as good as it gets.”
As the American Royal continues its multi-phase campus expansion — adding a future competition coliseum and an 80,000-square-foot agricultural education and learning center — the Sankeys see it not as a departure from tradition, but as its preservation.
“The old facility had so much tradition — watching the gaited horse shows while the open cattle shows were running, exposing people to lifestyles they weren’t around every day,” Sharee reflects. “That broad spectrum, from market animals to breeding stock to horses, is what made the Royal special. That’s what this new home gives back to us.”
For Chris, watching his grandchildren walk heifers onto the chips in Kansas City, Kan., closes the circle his father started eight decades ago.
“This is the future of our industry,” Chris says. “When it’s completely finished, this will be one of the premier facilities in the nation. And knowing our grandkids will be showing here for years to come — that’s the real blessing.”
By the Numbers — The American Royal’s New Home
The new site, near 118th Street and State Avenue in Kansas City, Kan., is being developed as a year-round destination for agriculture, education and events, bringing together competition spaces, educational programming and community experiences in one location.
- 390,000 sq. ft. — Total footprint of the new single-level, climate-controlled barns and exhibition hall (nearly seven football fields).
- 3,774 — Head capacity for cattle ties (4 ft. spacing per head).
- 1,528 — Horse stalls (10x10 ft.) supplemented by 144 dedicated tack stalls.
- 29 — Commercial overhead drive-in doors (largest: 24 ft. wide by 20 ft. high) for streamlined load-in/out.
- 127 Years — History of the American Royal; 2026 marks the first time the organization has operated on land it fully owns.
- 80,000 sq. ft. — Future two-story agricultural learning center featuring an interactive education hall, culinary labs and a 750-seat amphitheater.
