<Tr> <Th> President of Baseball Operations </Th> <Td> Dan Glass </Td> </Tr> <P> The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri . The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member team of the American League (AL) Central division . The team was founded as an expansion franchise in 1969, and has participated in four World Series, winning in 1985 and 2015, and losing in 1980 and 2014 . </P> <P> The name Royals originates from the American Royal, a livestock show, horse show, rodeo, and championship barbeque competition held annually in Kansas City since 1899 . The name also fits into something of a theme for other professional sports franchises in the city, including the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL, the former Kansas City Kings of the NBA, and the former Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League . </P> <P> In 1968, the team held a name - the - team contest that received more than 17,000 entries . Sanford Porte, a bridge engineer from the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas was named the winner for his "Royals" entry . His reason had nothing to do with royalty . "Kansas City's new baseball team should be called the Royals because of Missouri's billion - dollar livestock income, Kansas City's position as the nation's leading stocker and feeder market and the nationally known American Royal parade and pageant," Porte wrote . The team's board voted 6 - 1 on the name, with the only opposition coming from team owner Ewing Kauffman, who eventually changed his vote and said the name had grown on him . </P>

Where did the kansas city royals get their name