The state would help cover up to half of the cost of a new stadium for the Royals and a refurbished Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs
BY: JASON HANCOCK
Missouri Independent
Gov. Mike Kehoe’s last-minute plan to convince the Chiefs and Royals to stay in Missouri cleared the state House Tuesday, though its fate in the Senate remains murky with only days left before the legislature adjourns for the year..
If lawmakers fail to send the bill to his desk this week, Kehoe said he’s ready to call them back to the Capitol for a special session later this year.
The bill passed on a 108-40 vote in the House, despite never having been introduced as a formal bill or ever having a public hearing. Instead, it was added as an amendment Tuesday afternoon to a Senate bill pertaining to student athletes.
Under the plan, the state would help pay up to half the cost of a new stadium for the Royals and a refurbished Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs, though the overall cost of the plan was not clear as the House was debating the proposal Tuesday.
The money would cover annual bond payments for the stadium projects up to the amount a team generated in state tax revenue the year prior to applying for the incentives.
“This is the exact same funding Missouri would lose out on if the teams moved to Kansas,” said state Rep. Chris Brown, a Kansas City Republican.
The teams would also be eligible for up to $50 million in tax credits for investing in their stadiums. A clawback provision would be triggered if either team relocates stadium, headquarters or a training facility to another state. Missouri will keep all of the new state revenue generated by the team for the duration of the program.
While a plan floated last week would have been targeted at helping the Royals move to Clay County, Kehoe’s proposal would allow the team to decide where it wants to build its new stadium.
“As long as it’s in Missouri,” Kehoe said of the new stadium. “The plan works as long as they stay in Missouri.”
Both the Chiefs and Royals have publicly expressed interest in moving from Missouri to Kansas after Jackson County voters rejected a proposal last year to extend a 3/8-cent sales tax to help finance a downtown Kansas City baseball stadium and upgrades to Arrowhead.
Kansas lawmakers responded by expanding a tax incentive program in the hopes of convincing one or both teams to relocate. The leases for both teams’ Jackson County stadiums run through the end of the 2030 season.
“We live in a world of competition,” Brown said. “Business to business. State to state. Country to country… We need to compete with Kansas, and we need to compete now.”
The Royals and Chiefs are major economic engines for Missouri, said state Rep. David Tyson Smith, a Columbia Democrat.
“We would be crazy to let this team get away from us,” he said. “I can’t believe we even have to debate this.”
State Rep. Jim Murphy, a St. Louis County Republican, estimated losing both teams would cost the state $50 million in tax revenue. Instead, the plan presented by the governor would allow Missouri to take that $50 million and invest in the teams.
“We lose that money either way,” he said.
Rushed process inspires resistance
Several legislators expressed concerns about the rushed nature of the debate, arguing that the proposal hasn’t been properly vetted.
“This is a tough one,” said state Rep. Emily Weber, a Kansas City Democrat, later adding the governor and GOP leadership should have brought everyone to the table sooner.
“I’m extremely disgusted and disappointed with this process,” Webber said.
State Rep. Del Taylor, a St. Louis Democrat, said lawmakers shouldn’t pass something if they don’t know what it will cost.
And state Rep. Richard West, a Wentzville Republican, accused the legislature of “playing Russian roulette with the people’s money.”
“This is not a good economic decision,” West said.
State Rep. Jeff Coleman, a Grain Valley Republican, said the last-minute nature and the lack of details on the price are concerns he can’t ignore.
“I’m a no on this bill,” he said. “And I’m sad to be, because no one loves the Chiefs more than I do.”
Others noted that just last week, House leaders stunned their colleagues and the Senate by refusing to allow a vote on a $500 million spending bill that would have funded projects for health care, education and law enforcement across the state.
But state Rep. Keri Ingle, a Lee’s Summit Democrat, said that while she shares in the frustration with the House’s decision last week, she hoped it wouldn’t cost her community its professional sports teams.
“I can talk for hours about what these teams do for the economy of this state and of the Kansas City region,” she said, later adding: “Please don’t punish the Kansas City region and the state of Missouri for generations.”
House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, shared in the frustration with how the stadium funding debate has played out.
“We are being asked to provide a vote on something that we have only been able to vet for the last 12 hours, for some of us. Three for others of us. And that’s hard. That’s hard to do,” she said. “It’s a big ask for the legislature, but I think that when we get 10 years down the line, I don’t think any of us wants to be part of a General Assembly that lost the Chiefs or the Royals.”
In the end, 40 Democrats joined with 68 Republicans in support, while four Democrats and 36 Republicans voted against.
Doomed in Senate?
Resentment over the House’s decision, however, colored reaction to the stadium proposal in the Senate.
“Seems a little hypocritical to me,” said state Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
State Sen. Brian Williams, a University City Democrat, said he can’t support stadium funding after the House’s decision last week killed so many needed projects across the state.
“If we take care of the most vulnerable Missourians,” he said, “then we can start talking about helping billionaires keep a stadium in Missouri.”
A two-page handout circulated among lawmakers in preparation for Kehoe’s Tuesday morning presentation made the case for the incentive package. It claimed the Chiefs generate $28.8 million in annual tax revenue for Missouri and $572.3 million of economic activity within Jackson County alone.
The stakes are high, Kehoe said, and Missouri must act — either now, or later this year in a special session.
“It’s an economic development proposal… any time the state has seen a major economic development proposal, whether that’s been Boeing or GM or Ford, governors of both parties have called special sessions to do that,” Kehoe said. “I think an economic development proposal on the west side of the state is that significant.”
State Sen. Ben Brown, a Washington Republican, said with so little time before adjournment, getting a stadium deal done will be “a heavy lift.”
“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “But you know, the governor, he’s been excellent at forming relationships with people within the legislature, and I know that his opinion carries a lot of weight. So we’ll just have to see if it can make it across the finish line before time runs out.”
The Independent’s Rudi Keller contributed to this story.