Chiefs or Royals in Clay County? Missouri Senate OKs new plan to lure teams
Amid a protracted fight over the future of the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals, the Missouri Senate on Monday passed legislation that could attract one of the teams to the Northland.
The legislation would allow Clay County to create a sports complex authority similar to the one in Jackson County that controls the leases for both teams — potentially opening the door for a new Chiefs training facility or a Royals stadium in Clay County.
“In the General Assembly, we are working hard to keep these teams in Missouri and we continue to explore every option for keeping these organizations, these jobs and these economic powerhouses in the Show-Me State,” said Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat who filed the legislation along with Sen. Kurtis Gregory, a Marshall Republican.
The state Senate passed the legislation on a vote of 26 to 6, sending the bill to the House with just roughly four weeks left in the legislative session. If approved by both chambers, it would head to Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk.
The vote came nearly ten months after Kansas lawmakers passed an aggressive financing proposal to lure one or both of the teams across the state line. Kansas launched the effort after Jackson County voters rejected a stadium tax that would have effectively guaranteed the teams would stay in Missouri after their leases expire in 2031.
While Missouri officials have hosted closed-door talks with the teams and local officials on how to respond to Kansas, no publicly available plan has emerged. Kansas City-area lawmakers have filed other bills to create a stadium funding mechanism in Missouri, but they face an uphill battle as the end of the session draws near.
The lack of movement in Missouri has frustrated some Kansas City-area lawmakers, who have recently started expressing fears that one or both of the teams will leave. The Clay County proposal is the first stadium-related legislation to pass either chamber this year, but it’s unclear how much interest either team has in moving to the Northland.
A representative from the Chiefs declined comment on the vote. A spokesperson for the Royals did not respond to a request for comment on the legislation.
If passed, the bill would authorize Clay County to create a sports complex authority “for the purposes of developing, maintaining, or operating…sports, convention, exhibition, or trade facilities.” If the authority secures a professional sports team, lawmakers would be able to contribute up to $3 million in state funding each year to help pay for its operations.
Lawmakers were able to tack the Clay County language onto a sweeping sports-related bill filed by Gregory that also deals with tax credits for college sporting events and compensation of future college athletes.
Gregory and Nurrenbern previously told The Star that the proposal could entice a Chiefs headquarters and practice facility or a new Royals stadium in Clay County. But both made clear that the legislation wasn’t about enticing the teams to choose Clay County over Jackson County. It’s about keeping the teams in Missouri, they said.
Throughout the legislative session, top state lawmakers, including House Speaker Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, have consistently argued that Jackson County officials needed to lead on any stadium-related financing plan.
Patterson, in an interview with The Star on Monday, expressed interest in the Royals potentially moving to Clay County.
“I do think that North Kansas City site in Clay County is attractive in that it takes off half the pressure on Jackson County,” he said.
While the closed-door negotiations continue and the teams weigh their futures in Missouri, Nurrenbern, who represents Clay County in the state Senate, said she was thrilled by Monday’s vote.
“This will make sure that our community is ready if either the Chiefs or the Royals want to move to Clay County with their stadiums or training facilities,” she said.
