Top Royals official applauds KC stadium plan: ‘a great project’
A top Kansas City Royals official on Tuesday called a new stadium funding proposal near downtown “a great project that will ultimately come to pass,” a statement that appeared to illustrate the team’s strongest endorsement yet of City Hall’s plan.
Brooks Sherman, the team’s president of real estate and development, made the comments in a brief gaggle with reporters on Tuesday after a City Council committee gave initial approval to the plan.
The underlying proposal would allow City Manager Mario Vasquez to negotiate a deal of up to $600 million for a $1.9 billion stadium project at Washington Square Park near Crown Center and Union Station.
“We look very much forward to the continued process,” Sherman told reporters. “We’ll continue our work with Mario and his staff toward an agreement, as was put forth in the ordinance today.”
He added that “this stuff isn’t easy,” an apparent reference to the team’s yearslong search for a new stadium that has frustrated and exhausted political leaders and fans alike.
“It takes a lot of hard work, it takes time, dedication, thoughtfulness on a lot of people’s parts and we very much appreciate it. We’re very grateful for it,” he said. “And we think we have a great project that will ultimately come to pass — that we are very appreciative of this process and we will maintain our work in it.”
Sherman did not take questions about his statement. But the comments from a high-ranking Royals representative are likely to be a welcome sign for Mayor Quinton Lucas and other city officials, who have cast the funding plan as a major step towards a downtown baseball stadium.
Despite Sherman’s statement, the Royals still have not formally announced a move downtown or thrown their full-throated support behind City Hall’s plan. In addition to the lack of a formal announcement, the full financial picture of the stadium is still not fully fleshed out publicly.
It remains unclear how much money state officials will contribute to the project and whether Jackson County will partner with the city at all. The city’s proposal authorizes Vasquez to apply for state funding from a sweeping stadium financing package signed into law last summer that required a local funding source, but how much the state might provide is not yet public.
Separately on Tuesday, Lucas characterized final approval of the proposal — which is likely to come at a City Council meeting on Thursday — as the last step ahead of “a big, fancy announcement.”
He then referenced an announcement across the state line in Kansas last December, when Kansas City Chiefs officials stood alongside Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and announced plans to leave Missouri.
“When do we get to a Chiefs-esque announcement?” Lucas said. “With the steps that have been taken now, after Thursday, probably any day after we’re ready to do that.”
