Inside Missouri governor’s closed-door talks as Royals eye stadium move
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Governor Kehoe held multiple private calls with Royals and Chiefs to retain teams.
- Missouri and Kansas trade incentive proposals as three stadium sites remain possible.
- Teams keep options open - stadium incentives, sites and negotiations remain active.
As the Kansas City Royals eye a move to the Northland, a series of recent closed-door meetings solidify that Missouri is still in the fight to keep the team at home.
Throughout the past month, Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe has held three private, 30-minute calls with leaders from the Royals and the Kansas City Chiefs. Two more calls, one with each team, are scheduled for the end of the month.
The meetings, revealed in records obtained by The Star and later confirmed by Kehoe’s office, illustrate the significant role the governor, a car salesman by trade, is still playing in negotiations over the teams’ future.
They come as Kansas and Missouri have jockeyed over the right to host the teams, with the states offering dueling incentives packages. Revelations and reports on both sides of the state line, including an Overland Park real estate deal tied to the Royals, have only intensified speculation about either team’s intentions.
The most visible debate centers around the future home of the Royals, who have expressed interest in leaving Kauffman Stadium after the 2030 season. Three locations, downtown Kansas City, North Kansas City and Overland Park in Kansas, have been floated as potential spots.
The records obtained by The Star, Kehoe’s internal calendar entries, did not reveal the substance of the governor’s recent talks. But Kehoe’s spokesperson said in a statement that the governor and his staff “remain in frequent communication with the Royals and the Chiefs to ensure that both teams stay in Missouri.”
Multiple officials across the Kansas City area also suggested in interviews with The Star that the private calls were a positive sign for Missouri’s bid to keep the Royals inside state lines, either downtown or in Clay County.
“Gov. Kehoe is a salesperson,” said Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat who helped craft legislation to lure a Royals stadium to Clay County. “He’s gonna stick to this until he seals the deal. And so I give him a lot of credit on this.”
Move to Clay County?
Over in Clay County, momentum has been building over the possibility of the Royals moving to North Kansas City. The effort reached a fever pitch last week when the city put out a news release and YouTube video that called discussions with the team “substantial,” suggesting a deal was in the works.
The news release was noteworthy and came just months after Kehoe signed legislation that allowed Clay County to create a sports complex authority, viewed as a key tool that could attract a Royals stadium to North Kansas City.
It’s unclear whether North Kansas City’s statement was related to Kehoe’s ongoing conversations with the Royals. But the news release came two days after Kehoe was scheduled to have a 30-minute call with the team.
Kehoe’s calendar shows that he had plans to join a call with the Royals on Oct. 7 and Oct. 14 and with the Chiefs on Oct. 8. The governor is scheduled to meet again with the Royals on Oct. 30 and the Chiefs on Oct. 31.
The meetings with the Chiefs are described on the calendar as “KC Update Call,” while the Royals meetings are listed as “KC-R Update Call.” Kehoe’s office confirmed the entries with The Star.
One local official said in an interview that Clay County was close to an agreement with the Royals and the county had told the team to focus most of its attention on conversations with North Kansas City and the state of Missouri.
“I would say we’re pretty much, we got a pretty good agreement if we were to seal the deal, but we’re not going to do anything without the city of North Kansas City being on board and the state,” said Clay County Western Commissioner Jason Withington.
“So, I think the governor’s office is just trying to facilitate that — those conversations — any way he can to help with the city,” Withington said.
Withington said he was under a nondisclosure agreement that prevented him from discussing the finer details of any potential deal with the Royals. But he suggested that Clay County’s bid for the team was in the hands of officials in North Kansas City.
His other concern is the taxpayers of Clay County, he said, and making sure that any potential move is a good deal. He also doesn’t want the county to be strung along in negotiations.
“I’m very protective of Clay County,” he said. “And I don’t want Clay County to be used as leverage to secure a deal somewhere else.”
North Kansas City Mayor Jesse Smith did not respond to a request for comment for this story. But the mayor last week touted the city’s conversations with the team.
Nurrenbern, the state senator, said she understood that officials in North Kansas City had a list of concerns they wanted the Royals to address, such as the potential stadium’s impact on public safety, quality of life and water mitigation.
“There’s a lot of issues for the city of North Kansas City that they wanted answered,” Nurrenbern said. “Some of those pieces are hopefully starting to fall into place.”
The Republican governor’s role in talking with the teams could also be by design. In order to secure an incentives package for any location in Missouri, the teams would have to prove to the Missouri Department of Economic Development that their stadium plans qualify for the program.
Missouri’s stadiums package sets a minimum project cost of $500 million to qualify and stadiums must have a seating capacity of more than 30,000.
Teams weigh in
Despite all of the energy in both Missouri and Kansas and speculation over the teams’ intentions, neither team has committed to a location on either side of State Line Road.
Both teams continued that trend in statements to The Star when asked about the focus of the calls with Kehoe.
A spokesperson for the Royals confirmed that “productive meetings with leaders in both states continue, with the general focus finding the best solution for the Royals and this region to thrive together.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Chiefs confirmed that “discussions continue on both sides of the state line, and we are actively engaged with leadership in both Missouri and Kansas.”
Those statements, which emphasized the teams’ conversations with officials in both states, illustrated that locations in Missouri and Kansas were still in the mix months after both states approved sweeping incentives packages to secure them.
Some leaders in Kansas City, such as Mayor Quinton Lucas, have for months touted a downtown location at Washington Square Park as the perfect spot for the Royals.
When asked about the ongoing meetings between Kehoe and the teams, a spokesperson for Lucas appeared to take aim at the flurry of speculation and rumors surrounding either team’s future.
“We’re professionals,” said spokesperson Megan Strickland. “We will continue to negotiate like professionals, not in the press, valuing our strong relationships with the Chiefs and the Royals, as we have throughout this ongoing process.”
Wes Rogers, a former Democratic state lawmaker turned Kansas City Councilman, said he prefers the Royals play in a downtown stadium, but he would also help secure a North Kansas City spot if that’s the preferred location.
Kehoe’s role in meeting with the teams “absolutely” suggests that the Royals are still considering locations in Missouri, he said.
“They’re not going to keep talking to people if they’ve made up their mind,” Rogers said.
But, for all the discussion about Washington Square Park and North Kansas City, the threat of the Royals moving to Kansas still looms.
The team in May confirmed that a Royals affiliate purchased the mortgage for the former Sprint campus, now Aspiria, giving the team some financial leverage over the site in Kansas.
Kansas lawmakers also ratcheted up the pressure on Missouri over the summer when they voted to extend their massive incentives deal for the teams through the end of the year. The Sales Tax and Revenue, or STAR bonds incentive package was initially slated to expire in June.
For Rogers, it isn’t a secret that there are three main locations vying for the right to house a new Royals stadium. And officials in all three spots are working to put together deals to attract the team.
“I think all three locations definitely feel like they’re still in the mix,” he said.
