American Royal’s move to KCK hits a snag. When construction could start back up
Long-awaited plans to move the home of Kansas City’s largest barbecue contest across state lines from the West Bottoms and into Wyandotte County are still in the works.
It just might not look like it at first glance.
Seven months after Wyandotte County commissioners approved a $155 million sales tax and revenues (STAR) bond deal, created a Community Improvement District and finalized a project development agreement with the American Royal to finance its move into Kansas City, Kansas, construction remains halted.
Why? American Royal leadership say they need the local government to help them sell the approved bond funds so they can access public funding to keep things moving along.
Should all go according to plan, that bond sale could happen in early 2026, Jackie McClaskey, American Royal’s president, told The Star. The first phase of the $450 million project will total about $375 million, including the STAR bonds and private funding.
McClaskey said American Royal has largely relied on private funding to carry construction up to this point and that it needs the government’s promised public investment to continue. Relying only on the private funds without having any of the public funding in the mix isn’t the most financially responsible move, she added.
American Royal’s request to change some language in the development agreement and discuss a bond sale is scheduled to come up during the Dec. 1 Economic Development and Finance Commission meeting.
The nonprofit initially wanted to complete a bond sale back in late 2024 or early 2025, although extended negotiations between the government and American Royal on the development agreement delayed that, McClaskey said.
Behind the scenes, McClaskey and American Royal leadership are still continuing conversations, such as plans to conduct a revenue study on the project, with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK.
American Royal is also drafting up signage for the new facility, like for wayfinding and educational design materials.
McClaskey said the nonprofit wants to start moving its activities into the barns being constructed on the property by late summer or fall in 2026. Arenas will likely reach completion in 2027 or 2028, she said.
Officials first broke ground on the new campus, which will feature three arenas, a barn and exhibit hall, community kitchen, education center and more, back in 2023. The project fell to a standstill amid lasting COVID-19 pandemic supply chain delays and parties’ struggles to firm up a development agreement as the project’s size and scope changed.
The total project cost grew to $450 million in 2025, up from the $160 million officials estimated when negotiations began in 2016. American Royal’s bond ask also grew in that time. The $155 million approved by commissioners in April was notably larger than the $80 million deal they approved in 2016.
The local government, and American Royal, have previously said in public meetings that they anticipate the relocation and new campus’s features will put KCK at the center of agricultural activity and events in the country.
This story was originally published November 25, 2025 at 6:03 AM.
