American Royal seeks way more STAR bond money to revive long-stalled move to KCK
The home of Kansas City’s famous annual barbecue competition might finally cross state lines to Wyandotte County after nearly a decade of talk about relocating from the West Bottoms.
The American Royal wants its long-anticipated new campus to become a hub of agricultural events in the region — with three arenas, a barn and exhibit hall, a community kitchen, an education center and 120-acres of festival grounds for livestock shows, education and entertainment events.
Wyandotte County residents will have a chance to weigh in on plans to potentially issue $155 million in sales tax and revenue (STAR) bonds that would help finance the nonprofit organization’s move to Kansas City, Kansas, just northwest of the Kansas Speedway.
American Royal, which offers agricultural and food-based education and entertainment, is asking the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK to approve significant changes to its initial proposal from 2016.
In the last decade, the project cost for its proposed complex has ballooned to $450 million, up from an estimated $160 million in 2016 and nearly double the 2019 estimate of $250 million.
American Royal’s bond request has also nearly doubled. The organization is seeking $155 million in STAR bonds to build its complex, up from its initial ask of $80 million that was approved in 2016. It hopes to be able to pay back those bonds by diverting local sales tax money generated in the project area in addition to the state sales tax money that was already approved.
The local government and group representatives believe the move would put Wyandotte County at the epicenter of agricultural education and events and bring millions in revenue annually.
A big bet
Representatives from American Royal said during an April 10 special meeting that they want to raise a collective $375 million in bonds and private and public funding to help bring the long-awaited $450 million project to completion.
Officials first broke ground on the site in 2023, but the project fell to a standstill amid lasting COVID-19 pandemic delays and parties’ struggle to finalize a development plan as the size and scope of the project continued to change.
Unified Government commissioners, after a scheduled public hearing, are likely to vote on a new STAR bond agreement, plans to convert the property located near the Plaza at the Speedway in northwest Wyandotte County into a community improvement district and a revised development agreement during an April 24 meeting. The commission is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m.
Kansas municipalities use STAR bonds to pay for major development projects intended to promote tourism. Local governments pay off the bonds by using sales tax revenues generated by the development over the course of the bond’s lifetime. The success of paying off that STAR debt hinges on a developments’ success over the course of the bond.
The campus must also be financially self-sufficient by 2045, or when the bond is paid off if that comes first. Sales tax revenues from the property would funnel back into the state and Unified Government after that period.
Wyandotte foot traffic
Agriculture is a key economic driver that brings billions to both Missouri and Kansas annually. Tom Burroughs, District 2 at-large commissioner and chair of the Wyandotte County Economic Development Commission’s board, told The Star on April 17 that the project would complement other attractions in the county and offer another opportunity to increase tourism and local revenues.
“This just adds another destination location for people interested in agriculture,” Burroughs said, adding he’s excited that the county is earning recognition and outside investment for its status as a growing tourism destination.
Burroughs said the commission wasn’t certain on when the project would reach completion given the state of inflation and supply chains. The proposed agreement suggests the developer would begin payments to a fund controlled by the Unified Government beginning in May 2026.
Part of the agreement between American Royal and the Unified Government includes a promise from the group to host its annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue competition in Wyandotte County throughout the course of the bond’s lifetime.
American Royal anticipates its events will continue to bring eventgoers from across the country to the Kansas City metropolitan area. The group in a March 2025 report said that over the course of 280 scheduled event days, it drew 412,242 in-person visitors and 628,554 people that participated in events virtually.
“The return on investment to the State of Kansas and Unified Government will be significant and long lasting, and will be measured in the form of increased annual retail sales, job creation and significant construction and other economic activity, and a number of other direct and indirect benefits including from substantial surrounding and supportive development the Overall Project is expected to attract,” according to the agreement’s legal description.
Should commissioners approve the $155 million STAR bond agreement, American Royal would first seek $210 million in private funding from its “friends and family” and then seek out public funding. A group representative during the April 10 informational meeting said American Royal anticipates a finalized agreement would incentivize additional private funding.
