Ahead of Kansas meeting, Jackson County pitches putting Chiefs tax on April ballot
As Kansas lawmakers prepare to discuss a financial proposal between the state of Kansas and the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday, Jackson County is hoping to rapidly emerge as a competitor that could woo the Chiefs to stay put – regardless of what offers the team gets across the state line.
At a Friday afternoon news conference, Interim Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota said county officials have put together a last-minute financial plan — hinging on a revamped county sales tax that would need voter approval — to keep Red Kingdom in its current home.
“The Chiefs want to stay here in Jackson County,” Legislative Chair DaRon McGee said. “We wouldn’t be fighting for them if we didn’t believe that. And so we’re going to put an offer on the table.”
LeVota said he feels Kansas’ advancing negotiations with the Chiefs have been falsely portrayed as a “done deal.” He stressed that to his knowledge, the team has not made a final decision on its future home.
The Kansas Commerce Department released a statement on Thursday emphasizing that while it is “aggressively pursuing” a new Chiefs stadium in Kansas, the state has not finalized a deal with the team for a cross-state move.
Meanwhile, LeVota told reporters Friday that he has been having weekly conversations with Chiefs president Mark Donovan, and that he spoke to Donovan and team representatives Thursday night and Friday morning to confirm that the team’s fate has not been determined.
“We talked yesterday, we talked today, he has told me there’s no done deal,” LeVota said.
Operation Save Arrowhead
LeVota’s plan to give the Chiefs a new set of financial incentives, titled Operation Save Arrowhead, hinges on successfully passing a new version of the county sales tax that currently funds both the Chiefs and Royals.
“I don’t think the Kansas people have an appetite to raise their taxes,” LeVota said. “The Chiefs need to stay in Jackson County. I’m passionate about it. They don’t need to go to Kansas.”
The county executive proposed putting a question proposing quarter-cent sales tax on the Jackson County ballot during the April 7, 2026 general municipal election. Jackson County residents and visitors currently help pay for both teams’ facilities with a ⅜-cent sales tax countywide. The current tax is set to expire in 2031, which is when LeVota’s newly proposed tax would kick in.
LeVota presented the quarter-cent tax, which would run for 25 years, as a reduction for taxpayers. However, Jackson County voters are currently set to stop paying sales taxes toward the Chiefs and Royals entirely in 2031.
Voters rejected a similar sales tax pitch — which would have been in effect from 2031 to 2061 — when it appeared on county ballots in April 2024. Previous County Executive Frank White Jr. strongly opposed the tax, which he has since publicly credited as a motivating factor behind his September recall from office.
Though residents shot down a stadium sales tax at the time, LeVota said he believes Jackson County’s love of the Chiefs will be enough to change voters’ minds.
“I believe they want the Chiefs to stay,” LeVota said. “And I believe they will overwhelmingly pass a ballot initiative extending the tax and even lowering it.”
Putting a new quarter-cent sales tax on the April ballot would require legislative approval.
LeVota and McGee said that an ordinance proposing a ballot measure for tax could appear on the legislature’s agenda as early as its first meeting of 2026.
Promise of more money?
Operation Save Arrowhead also entails what LeVota described as a triple financial commitment from the city of Kansas City, the state of Missouri and the Chiefs themselves, funding a significant renovation of Arrowhead.
LeVota said that he had secured a $400 million verbal commitment from the team toward the renovations but that Jackson County planned to press the Chiefs for additional money too. The team would also assume sole financial responsibility, LeVota said, for paying the property and casualty insurance on the Truman Sports Complex.
LeVota said that he has also discussed potential financial contributions from the city of Kansas City and the state of Missouri, but declined to share specific numbers with the public until after Monday’s meeting in Topeka — or until “the Kansas City Chiefs realize they need to be in Jackson County and stop this silly dancing.”
“That [Kansas City] council and that mayor are big Chiefs fans, and they’re committed to doing their part as partners,” LeVota said.
LeVota declined to specify if any renderings have been created or commissioned depicting the potential stadium upgrade. He did describe the proposed updates as “state-of-the-art” but clarified that they would not include a dome or any other type of retractable roof over Arrowhead.
No plans for Royals
Operation Save Arrowhead would entail a new lease, giving the Chiefs sole use of the Truman Sports Complex, LeVota said, which the county would intend to have ready to sign by the April election.
LeVota stressed that his newly proposed financial incentive plan is not necessarily an attempt to also retain the Kansas City Royals, who have expressed interest in multiple new sites. However, LeVota said that he has also been speaking with Royals owner John Sherman weekly and that he will continue to do so.
“We are attacking these teams as separate entities in our package dealing,” LeVota said. “[The Royals] have told us that they don’t want to be at Truman Sports Complex, and we’ve gotta take them at their word on that.”
As LeVota introduced the funding proposal, he swapped his blazer for a red Kansas City varsity jacket. He spoke from behind a large printed poster of a full Arrowhead stadium, a birds-eye view of thousands of cheering fans in red.
This story was originally published December 19, 2025 at 4:06 PM.
