Will Missouri help Royals pay for new KC stadium? It could depend on upcoming tax vote
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A new Royals ballpark district in Kansas City’s Crossroads?
The team proposed a stadium with a footprint from Grand Boulevard east to Locust Street and from Interstate 670 south to 17th Street. Jackson County residents will decide on April 2 whether to subsidize the potential new ballpark.
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Gov. Mike Parson on Tuesday signaled that the potential for Missouri to help fund the Kansas City Royals’ proposed downtown ballpark may depend on Jackson County voters approving a local stadium tax in April.
A Parson spokesperson told The Star that the Republican governor would “do what he can to support” the Royals and Kansas City Chiefs and their economic impact in the state.
“However, the unknowns of the Jackson County sales tax situation need to be resolved before any state proposal can be finalized,” Parson spokesperson Johnathan Shiflett said, “but we remain optimistic in seeing that the sales tax extension process is moving forward.”
The comments from Parson’s office came less than an hour after the Royals officially announced plans for a new stadium at the site of The Star’s old Press Pavilion in the Crossroads.
It’s unclear how much money Parson would seek for the stadium, if he eventually asks for funding. Lawmakers would have to approve any additional spending.
The stadium and surrounding development is projected to cost upwards of $2 billion. The Royals are expected to contribute about $1 billion.
Parson was referring to an upcoming April 2 election in which Jackson County voters will decide whether to approve a 40-year, 3/8th-cent sales tax to help finance the new ballpark and renovate Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs.
Parson’s latest budget proposal, released in January, didn’t include funds for Royals or Chiefs stadium projects. Several Missouri lawmakers on Tuesday appeared to share Parson’s uncertainty about state funding. Some also expressed reservations about the idea of using state dollars to fund the project.
Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican who chairs the Missouri Senate’s budget-writing committee, said he hadn’t had any conversations with the Royals about a potential funding partnership ahead of the upcoming April vote.
“Let’s see what happens there, let’s see what they’re asking for and see if we can partner with them and figure out a way to make it work” Hough said of the tax vote.
State funding will likely face resistance from some Republican lawmakers. Rep. Michael Davis, a Kansas City Republican, said he would not support funding the new stadium and even voiced concerns about the planned downtown ballpark.
“I don’t think taxpayers should be on the hook for that. It’s a private entity,” Davis said. “I personally don’t have any issue with the current complex … The public will get to weigh in on it, but I don’t see an immediate need for a brand new state-of-the-art facility.”
Davis said he was concerned about parking and crime near the location for the new stadium, which would be located in the heart of the city’s entertainment district, just across from the T-Mobile Center.
Some Kansas City-area Democratic lawmakers appeared generally supportive of state funding, but were still unclear about details in the immediate aftermath of the Royals’ announcement.
Rep. Robert Sauls, an Independence Democrat, said he was unsure whether there was an appetite in Jefferson City to contribute state funding to the project, pointing to a slew of recent tax cuts imposed by the GOP-controlled General Assembly.
Lawmakers may look to cut back on spending this year, he said.
“I don’t know how much in theory it’s gonna cost and…there’s still a lot of questions out there,” he said. “I think it’s absolutely important to keep the Royals and I think it’s important we keep the Chiefs. I would like to see us be able to do that.”
The Star’s Mike Hendricks contributed to this story.
This story was originally published February 13, 2024 at 5:08 PM.
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