How Royals’ tie to Overland Park real estate deal intensifies stadium border war
As Missouri lawmakers prepare to debate a sweeping plan to keep the Kansas City Royals in the state, the team has been planting seeds of its own for a potential stadium site — in Kansas.
Revelations of a recent real estate deal related to an Overland Park site have left lawmakers, fans and other stakeholders speculating about the team’s intentions.
Once referred to as “just a rumor” a statement the team posted this week confirmed that a Royals affiliate purchased the mortgage for the former Sprint campus, now Aspiria, through “an arms-length bidding process,” giving the team some financial leverage over the site and signaling its continued interest in a Kansas-based stadium.
“The Kansas City Royals continue to explore all options throughout our community to develop a new stadium for the team,” the Royals statement said. “We have not yet decided on a site and any assertion to the contrary is inaccurate.”
According to reporting from the Kansas City Business Journal, the nearly $230 million loan backed by the Aspiria campus sold to the Royals’ affiliates for roughly $164 million. The team’s affiliate will now receive Aspiria’s debt payments and could be poised to take over the property in the case of a default.
Just days after the loan sale, which occurred earlier this month, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe unveiled a last-minute stadium financing plan to keep both the Royals and Chiefs in his home state.
While state lawmakers failed to pass that plan in the final days of the legislative session, they’ll try again during a special session next week. News of the loan purchase circulating more widely in recent days could put pressure on legislators to pass the funding proposal.
A Kehoe spokesperson did not answer questions about whether the Republican governor knew about the Kansas loan purchase when he first unveiled his plan. But the spokesperson, Gabby Picard, said Kehoe understood and respected the team’s decision to evaluate multiple locations in both states before making a final choice.
“This is clearly a very timely and competitive process, which is why Governor Kehoe has called the General Assembly back to Jefferson City to address this next week,” Picard said in a statement. “The governor hopes that legislators will take this seriously so that Missouri can offer a competitive package to keep the Royals and the Chiefs within our state’s borders.”
What does the Kansas loan purchase mean?
Scott Slabotsky, the CEO and co-founder of Slabotsky Family Office — which invests in commercial real estate opportunities — said that this was a “brilliant move by the Royals.”
By purchasing the loan, the Royals now oversee Aspiria’s mortgage, said Slabotsky, who also serves on a board at the Jewish Community Center, which is located next to Aspiria. The team’s affiliate has the opportunity to make roughly $66 million if the borrower can pay off their loan by its Aug. 9 due date.
“If they foreclose on the loan — if the borrower doesn’t pay — (the Royals’ affiliate) then control(s) the property,” Slabtosky said. “So they can make a decision with building a stadium or not building a stadium.”
The Royals would still need subsidies from the Kansas Legislature in order to build a new stadium on the former Sprint campus, but some lawmakers have recently told The Star they’re hesitant to extend its supercharged stadium-funding incentive beyond its June 30 expiration date.
The move by the Royals to get involved in purchasing the loan for the Overland Park site also puts a lot of pressure on the state of Missouri to come up with a “very attractive economic incentive package,” Slabotsky added.
“They don’t want to lose that economic revenue that … a baseball team brings in: hotel nights, restaurant nights, people coming in. Tourism, the value of tourism for stadiums is huge,” he said.
“Now the state of Missouri is getting their Senate and House back in session to provide some kind of incentive because they now know there’s a location at a 40,000-foot-level that the Royals sort of control.”
Missouri’s big push
The future homes of both the Chiefs and Royals have been in doubt since last April, when Jackson County voters rejected a sales tax that would’ve helped pay for a new Royals stadium in the Crossroads and renovations to Arrowhead Stadium.
Shortly after that vote, Kansas lawmakers in June passed a supercharged bonding plan in an attempt to lure the team across the state line.
Kehoe’s proposed financing plan, which he unveiled in the final days of the legislative session, was largely viewed as Missouri’s most aggressive response to keep the teams in the state. However, the plan fell apart when it reached the Senate amid bitter fights over abortion rights and paid sick leave, among other issues.
Kehoe has called on lawmakers to return to Jefferson City to pass the plan.
Some lawmakers who spoke with The Star feel that news of the Royals loan purchase could further complicate — or at least put pressure on — Missouri’s efforts to approve Kehoe’s proposal.
“I do think that there’s a lot of pressure right now,” said House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat. “I think that that pressure is squarely sitting on the shoulders of the super majority that is in charge of the state.”
Lots of sites still in play
While news of the loan purchase appeared to catch Missouri lawmakers off guard, Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat, said she’s heard that the Royals were still having conversations about a potential stadium in Clay County.
“I think everybody was aware that conversations were happening, quite frankly, on both sides of the state line,” Nurrenbern said. “Obviously I would like full honesty and transparency…as to what their intentions really are. But unfortunately, it looks like we’re not going to have that as we go into special session.”
A spokesperson for Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who touted Kehoe’s efforts to keep the teams in Missouri, said in a statement that the city has also offered the Royals “compelling reasons, unique sites, and substantial support” to build a stadium downtown.
“We love the Royals and believe downtown can deliver all that they are seeking for a world-class facility for the next generation,” said spokesperson Megan Strickland. “We understand, however, any team will ultimately make the best business decision for their ownership.”
In addition to the stadium-funding plan, Missouri’s special session will also focus on providing disaster relief for the eastern part of the state after recent tornados near St. Louis as well as hundreds of millions in project funding that lawmakers failed to pass this year.
All of those issues could lead to a potentially volatile special session.
“Obviously we know we are under a time crunch and I don’t know if this necessarily does anything to change that,” Nurrenbern said. “I think we all recognize, every legislator that’s headed back to the special session recognizes, we are in for a bumpy road in terms of the special. I do think there’s a path forward, but I do expect it to be a bumpy one.”
Like Nurrenbern, one Kansas City Republican said he would also like to see more transparency from the Royals.
“Like most of us, I learned of the Aspiria...purchase through the news,” said Rep. Bill Allen, a Kansas City Republican.
Allen acknowledged that he did not know where the majority of the General Assembly stands on the stadium-funding proposal. But he said that the upcoming special session was already going to be challenging before he knew about the Royals’ loan purchase.
“Now that we know about the purchase, I think we need some very clear communication from the teams,” he said.
This story was originally published May 29, 2025 at 5:20 PM.
