Kansas City officials are proposing $600M in stadium bonds to keep MLB’s Royals in Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri, would issue $600 million in bonds for a new downtown stadium for Major League Baseball’s Royals under a proposal officials are pursuing months after Kansas lured professional football’s Chiefs over the state line with a massive stadium subsidy.

Mayor Quinton Lucas and nine of 12 City Council members introduced a proposed ordinance Thursday to allow the city manager to negotiate with the Royals over a new stadium near the city’s historic Union Station and its World War I museum, about 6 miles northwest of the Royals’ current Kauffman Stadium.

The city expects the new stadium to cost $1.9 billion, and Missouri last year enacted a law allowing the state to cover half, or $950 million. If Kansas City issued its bonds, the Royals would need $350 million in private funds.

Kauffman Stadium sits beside the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium in the Truman Sports Complex, owned by Jackson County, Missouri, and home to both teams since 1973. Their stadium leases expire in 2031, and in April 2024, county voters rejected extending a tax that would have helped pay for renovations of both.

The Royals also have considered another site for a new stadium about 5 miles north in neighboring North Kansas City.

Kansas legislative leaders who would have to approve a deal to attract the Royals have shown little appetite for one after the state committed in December to issuing $2.4 billion in bonds to cover 60% of the cost of a new, $3 billion domed stadium for the Chiefs in Kansas City, Kansas. Two of them, House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Republican, and Minority Leader Brandon Woodard, a Democrat, issued a joint statement Friday congratulating Missouri, adding, “We’re looking forward to what’s ahead.”

The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council could vote on the proposed ordinance as early as Thursday, but City Manager Mario Vasquez said the work toward keeping the team “is just beginning.”

The team said in a statement Friday: “We are grateful for their engagement in this process, as well as for the critical work of the State of Missouri, and look forward to more detailed conversations as we consider solutions that are best for our team, our fans, and our community.”

Economists who have studied pro sports teams have concluded for decades that subsidizing stadiums isn’t worth the cost for their communities because the venues pull economic activity away from other parts of the area instead of expanding the overall economy. Yet states and cities continue providing subsidies to renovate stadiums or build new ones.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe called the Royals “a key economic catalyst” for his state.

“The State of Missouri is committed to continue working alongside the Kansas City Royals organization and the City of Kansas City to ensure the Royals remain in Missouri — where they belong,” Kehoe said.

Of the 60 stadiums used by MLB and NFL teams, 49 are publicly owned or sit on public land.

New York state and Erie County together chipped in $850 million, or 40% of the cost, for the Buffalo Bills’ new $2.1 billion NFL stadium. Ohio state and local governments have pledged $1.2 billion to cover half the cost of a new stadium for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, though the state’s portion is held up by a lawsuit.

Kansas officials have described the Chiefs’ stadium as the largest economic development project in state history. The team also plans a retail district around the stadium and a new training complex in Olathe, Kansas.