Lawmakers Want the Chiefs and Royals to Come to Kansas, but a Stadium Plan Fell Through

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Some Kansas lawmakers see a chance to lure Kansas City’s two biggest professional sports teams across the Missouri border, but an attempt to thwart the Super Bowl champion Chiefs and Major League Baseball’s Royals in funding new stadiums in Supporting Kansas failed to address concerns about what it might look like for taxpayers.

Members of the Republican-controlled Legislature introduced a bill Tuesday that would have allowed Kansas officials to approve at least $1 billion in bonds to cover the full cost of building any new stadium and the To pay off debts with the tax revenue generated in the region over 30 years. But GOP leaders did not bring it to a vote before lawmakers adjourned their annual session early Wednesday.

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Some critics derided the plan as corporate welfare. Others were receptive but didn’t want to pass the proposal until the Legislature approved a comprehensive package of tax cuts for their constituents that Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly would sign – which also didn’t happen.

Lawmakers’ work on a plan began in earnest behind the scenes after voters on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area resoundingly refused earlier this month to extend a local sales tax that pays to maintain the complex that houses the Chiefs ‘Arrowhead Stadium and the Royals have been used’ Kauffman Stadium for more than 50 years.

The bill’s biggest supporter, Kansas House Commerce Committee Chairman Sean Tarwater, a Republican from Kansas City, said supporters wanted to give the two professional sports teams another option if they consider leaving Kansas City, which he said is for would be devastating for both states.

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” Tarwater said. “We need them to stay in the Metroplex.”

The idea is not dead yet.

Kelly and her aides signaled Tuesday that she would likely veto the latest tax package approved by lawmakers, which would cut income, sales and property taxes by a total of nearly $1.5 billion over the next three years provides. Lawmakers expect Kelly will call a special session of the Legislature to try to get lawmakers to pass a tax plan she will accept — and they could then consider the stadium funding proposal.

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“We just need a little bit of time to do it — we’ll get it done,” said Senate President Ty Masterson, a Republican from Wichita. “I mean, we’re serious about trying to get the Chiefs to go our way.”

The proposal would allow the bonds to finance 100% of the construction of two new professional sports stadiums with at least 30,000 seats. State and local officials would have a year to sign the bonds, and teams would be on the hook if local tax revenues weren’t enough to pay off the bonds.

“All we cared about was running it before giving real tax relief to our voters — sort of a juxtaposition of what appears to be corporate welfare before getting tax relief for the people,” Masterson said after deciding against such a vote in the Senate.

Before Missouri’s local sales tax vote, the Chiefs wanted to use their share of the revenue to fund an $800 million renovation of Arrowhead. The Royals planned to use their share to finance a new $2 billion-plus stadium district, part of a larger wave of sports construction projects nationwide.

The two teams’ current lease at the complex runs through Jan. 31, 2031. Royals owner John Sherman said the Royals will not play at Kauffman Stadium beyond the 2030 season, but the Chiefs hope to remain at Arrowhead Stadium.

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“We’re going to be in a situation where we’re going back to the drawing board,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt told reporters last week. “I feel the urgency very much and we will approach this from a broader perspective in the future.”

Proponents argue that the Kansas plan is ideal because the money to pay off the bonds would come from new taxes that only apply if the area around each stadium develops. Additionally, professional players must pay state income tax on the portion of their revenue earned at Kansas stadiums.

But Americans for Prosperity-Kansas, a small, low-tax government group that has long opposed the use of such bonds, also opposed the stadium financing proposal. The group is influential among Republicans and told lawmakers it would consider their votes when evaluating its record.

Critics have long argued that allowing the bonds to finance large projects is a sign that the government is picking economic winners and losers, rather than the free market. The same type of bonds have financed several projects, including NASCAR’s Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.

A lawmaker from northeast Kansas, Democratic Sen. Tom Holland, called the stadium proposal “economic development for millionaires.” He added that it was “total nonsense” to have taxpayers subsidize the stadiums – either through taxes they pay when they visit or because the state forgoes revenue that would flow into its coffers.

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Another northeast Kansas lawmaker, conservative GOP Sen. Dennis Pyle, said, “We have a lot of priorities in Kansas, and I’m not sure that’s one of them.”

Other lawmakers were critical because the Legislature held no public hearings or debates before three senators and three House members met publicly this week to discuss the details of the proposal.

“As much as I would like to see both the Chiefs and Royals come to Kansas, this is a very large tax expense that needs to be carefully considered and not a last-minute plan,” said Democratic State Representative John Carmichael from Wichita.

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Skretta reported from Kansas City, Missouri.

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