Amazing news: he was signed by the Chiefs.
TOPEKA, Kansas. Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas signed legislation on Friday that will allow the state to help the Kansas City Chiefs and Major League Baseball’s Royals entice the clubs away from neighboring Missouri by helping them finance new stadium construction.
Kelly’s move came three days after the legislation was enacted by the Republican-led Legislature with supermajorities from both parties. This exceptionally short turnaround time indicates how seriously Kansas officials are taking the proposals.
Officials from Missouri contend that talks about constructing additional stadiums are still in their infancy. They mentioned that building a new one usually takes three years and that the current complex, which houses the clubs’ adjacent stadiums, has a lease that expires in January 2031.
The bill that Kelly signed into law will permit bondholders to pay for 70% of the price of a new stadium starting on July 1. With money from sports betting, state lottery ticket sales, and new sales and alcohol taxes created in the vicinity of each proposed stadium, Kansas would have 30 years to pay them back.
The 2.3 million-person Kansas City region is divided by the Kansas–Missouri border, with around 60% of the population residing on the Missouri side.
After voters in the Missouri portion of the metropolitan region rejected a sales tax meant to maintain the current stadium complex in April, Kansas authorities got to work on the legislation. While the Chiefs were preparing a $800 million restoration of their current stadium, the Royals unveiled a plan in February to construct a $2 billion-plus ballpark in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, that would be completed for the start of the 2028 season.
The teams’ attorneys informed Kansas lawmakers that in order for new stadiums to be completed on schedule, decisions on the future needed to be made quickly. Critics claimed the teams were competing between the two states to provide the largest amount of government assistance.
Democratic state representative from Kansas City, Rep. Susan Ruiz, claimed that “the Chiefs and the Royals are pretty much using us” in her vote against the plan.
Advocates for relocating the teams to Kansas cautioned that one or both teams may relocate to a different state if neither state takes immediate action. Relocating a team or finding a new home location would not be financially advantageous for many economists who have studied professional sports; also, the NFL and MLB require a supermajority of owners to authorize franchise movements.
All over Kansas, including roughly half of the state’s politicians from western Kansas, 200 miles from any new stadium, supported the concept.
The stadium finance plan was approved by Kansas lawmakers on Tuesday during a one-day special session. The Chiefs and Royals aren’t mentioned by name in the financing rule, but it does apply only to stadiums for MLB and NFL clubs “in any state adjacent to Kansas.”
Following Kansas lawmakers’ approval of the proposal, Mayor Quinton Lucas of Kansas City, Missouri, stated during a press conference that “it’s fairly clearly about how you poach.” He continued by saying that the teams “are in an exceptional leverage position” and that his city would “lay out a good offer” to keep both teams in the city.
