Powerful MO senator to head sports authority as Chiefs and Royals consider options
John Rizzo, the minority leader of the Missouri Senate, was offered a contract Tuesday to become executive director of the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority, replacing Jim Rowland, who retired after 18 years overseeing the Truman Sports Complex.
Rizzo said in an exchange of text messages with The Star that he plans on accepting the job offer, assuming his attorney approves of the contract language. It was one of “multiple” job offers that the 43-year-old Independence Democrat said he has received as his career in Jefferson City winds down due to term limits, but the one for which he had the most passion.
“This is the job I’ve always wanted, and if we can agree on a contract I would love to be part of a team and utilize my skill set to make sure that the Chiefs and Royals are in Jackson County for another generation,” Rizzo told The Star. “Bottom line is I think this shows you how serious and committed the Sports Authority is to keeping the Chiefs and Royals in Jackson County/KC.”
The change in leadership comes at a time when the future of the sports complex is uncertain. Its two tenants aren’t sure where they will be playing their games after their 25-year leases expire in January 2031.
The Royals had hoped to leave Kauffman Stadium for a new $1 billion-plus ballpark near downtown in 2028. The Chiefs had plans to take over that space, once Kauffman was demolished, as part of an $800 million makeover of Arrowhead Stadium.
But voters rejected a ballot issue on April 2 that would have funded part of those projects with a 40-year sales tax. The teams have not announced what they plan to do now, but it could involve one or both leaving the sports complex for other locations in the metro area or outside of it.
Rizzo was not at the meeting when the sports complex authority board of commissioners voted 5-0 to approve his employment agreement. He was on vacation, resting up from the legislative session that ended Friday and considering his career choices, he said.
Board members did not discuss their choice during the brief meeting in the sports authority’s offices at Arrowhead, referring only to an employment agreement for an executive they did not name. No news release was issued.
But Rizzo’s impending selection had long been rumored. Board chair Shawn Foster “aggressively recruit(ed)“ Rizzo for “a year or so,” Rizzo said. Foster and others felt Rizzo’s experience and contacts in Jefferson City would be helpful in future stadium negotiations, which would include possible state funding. Before he became a senator in 2017, Rizzo served six years in the Missouri House.
The sports complex authority board did not advertise for job applicants. Rowland was in his second term on the Kansas City Council when he, too, was recruited for the job in a closed process to replace the authority’s first full-time executive director, John Friedmann, who was murdered in a robbery two years earlier.
Rowland was hired n January 2006 as new stadium leases were being signed and three months before Jackson County voters approved the current stadium sales tax that paid for most of the cost of the $575 million in renovations of Kauffman and Arrowhead.
Rizzo’s employment agreement will run from July 1 until June 30, 2027, if he agrees to it, and is similar to Rowland’s in terms of pay and benefits. His base salary will be $150,000 with the potential for annual raises of up to 4%, along with the benefits provided other county employees, according to the agreement obtained by The Star.
