In today’s most confusing edition of stadium drama..
Since this has been a continuing theme throughout the year so far, I’ve decided that we’ll just have a section dedicated to the stadium drama throughout the league. Today I don’t have anything else to talk about so it’s just this today.
Getting to that very confusing headline, let me clarify just a little so it actually makes sense: The Kansas City (Missouri) Royals could move and become the Kansas City (Kansas) Royals. Before we get into how that could potentially happen and how that would work, let’s go into some basic background information.
Since their very first game in April of 1973, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium, located about 30 minutes from downtown Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. Next door to the Royals is where the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs play, Arrowhead Stadium, which opened in Autumn of 1972; Together the two stadiums make up the Truman Sports Complex. Kauffman Stadium underwent its most recent renovations in 2009, and both the Royals and Chiefs are currently under a lease that runs through 2030.
A little over a year ago, in April of 2024, Jackson County voters rejected a referendum that would levy a 3/8th cent sales tax that would have funded a new stadium in the Crossroads district of downtown Kansas City. One Kansas City resident and Royals fan that I talked to described the proposal as “making absolutely no f***ing sense” and then went on to describe how it would destroy local businesses in the area, mess up traffic, and a host of other issues that would result from the proposed location of the new stadium.
A few months later, in June of 2024 the Kansas Legislature passed incentive bill to lure Kansas City Chiefs and Royals across state lines. The bill would expand the state’s Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) Bond program, which is meant to help finance tourism and entertainment districts to help pay for a professional football or baseball stadium of at least $1 billion. A developer building a stadium under the program would be eligible to finance up to 70% of the project cost by issuing bonds and repaying them with the increased sales tax collections from the stadium site. The expansion would have initially allowed up to 75% of project costs but was tweaked before introduction. Debt on a stadium constructed under the expansion wouldn’t have to be repaid for 30 years instead of the normal 20.
Missouri’s house passed a measure earlier this year, but that ended up stalling out in the state senate before the legislative session ended last week. Missouri Governer called for a special session this week, although when that will be has not been announced yet, but I’d imagine it’ll be within the next month. Why do I say that? Well, the Kansas Star Bond program expires July 1st, 2025. I can’t say for sure if Missouri will get a stadium funding bill passed before that deadline, but if they don’t, I’d imagine we’ll be seeing the Royals and/or Chiefs move across the border to Kansas.