Missouri House backs new stadium incentives to try to keep the Chiefs and Royals

The Missouri House on Tuesday endorsed a new framework of financial incentives to try to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals from possibly leaving the state by helping fund new or renovated stadiums for them.

The legislation, which has the backing of Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, would authorize the state to issue bonds valued at up to half the cost of the stadium projects and allow tax credits of up to $50 million. But the plan doesn’t list a total cost or a location for the stadiums, leaving those details to be negotiated later.

Missouri lawmakers are scrambling to try to counter an offer from neighboring Kansas, which authorized its own package of incentives last year after voters in Jackson County, Missouri, turned down a sales tax extension that would have helped finance a $2 billion ballpark district for the Royals in downtown Kansas City and an $800 million renovation of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium.

The clock is ticking for Missouri lawmakers. The state Senate would still need to approve the plan before a Friday deadline to wrap up work in the annual legislative session. But the legislation encountered immediate resistance when it was brought up later Tuesday in Senate. Republican state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman denounced it as “special interests for billionaires” and foreshadowed a lengthy debate.

The Chiefs and Royals have played for more than 50 years in side-by-side football and baseball stadiums built in eastern Kansas City, drawing fans from both states in the split metropolitan area. Their stadium leases run until 2031, but Royals owner John Sherman has said the team won’t play at Kauffman Stadium beyond the 2030 season.

Kansas amended its laws last year to allow bonds that would cover up to 70% of the costs of new stadiums for the Chiefs and Royals.

Materials distributed Tuesday by the Missouri governor’s office said, “Kansas is aggressively negotiating with both teams.” Some lawmakers said they felt pressure to act now or potentially miss their chance to retain teams that generate thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of tax revenue annually.

“I can’t imagine the economic landscape without the Chiefs and the Royals in Missouri,” said Republican state Rep. Chris Brown, of Kansas City, who presented the plan to colleagues. But more than that, “the Chiefs and the Royals literally are a part of us to some degree, they are a fabric woven within the state of Missouri.”

Missouri has experience with losing professional sports teams. The National Football League’s Rams were the most recent to depart, leaving a publicly financed domed stadium that had lured the team St. Louis to return to a gleaming new stadium in Los Angeles that opened in 2020.

But many economists contend that public funding for stadiums isn’t worth it, because sports tend to divert discretionary spending away from other forms of entertainment rather than generate new income.

State Rep. Del Taylor, a Democrat from St. Louis, denounced “fearmongering” suggestions that the Chiefs and Royals might also leave, calling it “unfair” and “conniving” to come to lawmakers with a plan so late in the session.

“I don’t like making decisions because someone has put my back against the wall,” Taylor said.

Kehoe has been working for months with team representatives, lawmakers and community leaders to develop “a competitive package” for the Chiefs and Royals, said Gabby Picard, a spokesperson for the governor. The state aid ultimately also must be accompanied by local support.

“Choosing a location is a business decision that must be made by the teams, and any proposed tools put forward by the state will work in whatever Missouri location they select,” she said.

Sports teams have been pushing a new wave of stadium construction across the U.S., going beyond basic repairs to derive fresh revenue from luxury suites, dining, shopping and other developments surrounding their stadiums.

The Washington Commanders and the District of Columbia announced a deal two weeks ago for a new stadium complex, with the football team contributing $2.7 billion and the city investing roughly $1.1 billion. Last month, the Ohio House endorsed a plan for $600 million of bonds to help build a new $2.4 billion football stadium complex for the Cleveland Browns. But that plan also must pass the Senate and has led the Cincinnati Bengals to re-up a request for $350 million of aid for their own stadium.