Top GOP state official notes Royals’ next steps in Show-Me Sports Investment Act | Opinion
After the Kansas City Royals unveiled plans for a new downtown ballpark and entertainment district just south of Crown Center, I spoke with Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson, a Republican from Lee’s Summit.
“I’m just thrilled that they didn’t go anywhere,” Patterson said. “Just leaving the region, we heard that wasn’t an option, but there were always whispers. I was glad to hear today that it was never on the table.”
Because the Royals will benefit from the Show-Me Sports Investment Act, a stadium funding measure passed in a special legislative session last summer to help keep pro sports franchises from leaving the state, I wanted to get information — or, for the sake of this column, a little inside baseball (pun intended) — on the next steps in the funding process.
“Today is a good day for Kansas City and the state,” Patterson said.
Under the Show-Me Investment Act, the Missouri Office of Administration and Department of Economic Development will help with the planning and financing of the Royals proposed downtown stadium at Crown Center, a $3 billion public-private partnership with Hallmark, Kansas City and the state.
“I think the public should feel good that only a third is coming from public money and then, again, the public money that was negotiated is a pretty responsible, fair plan,” minority house leader and Democratic state Rep. Ashley Aune told the Associated Press.
While I’d hoped Kansas City’s $600 million investment in the new $1.9 billion stadium and surrounding entertainment district would be placed before voters, Wednesday’s announcement represented another layer in the often complex nature of these sorts of negotiations. I talked to Patterson about the state’s role in the project, the next steps and the benefits of keeping the Royals in Kansas City when the team’s lease expires at Kauffman Stadium in 2031.
Below is a brief summary of that conversation. Some responses have been edited for clarity and length.
Show the receipts
Toriano Porter: Speaker, just tell me a little bit about the next steps when it comes to the state of Missouri getting this ball rolling on a new baseball stadium.
Jon Patterson: It’s very well spelled out (in the Show-Me Sports Investment Act) that the ownership team and Kansas City have to come to the Capitol. They have to meet with our director of economic development. They have to show what their receipts were for 2025. In terms of what sales tax revenue, you know, they generated at Kauffman and what income tax withholdings from their employees, and also the athletes and entertainers tax that we collect. And then so they’re going to say, “Hey, in 2025, we collected this much.” Let’s use this much and invest that, and the state will make bond payments every year.
We’re thinking that amount would be probably at about $15 to $17 million a year. Instead of it going to the state, like it does, now it’s going to be used to make bond payments on this facility, and what the thinking is that, let’s say, the Royals had just left. Well, we would be getting zero, right? So we kind of said, well, if we’re going to get zero, let’s just do this.
TP: How does that work exactly?
JP: Let’s take whatever tax revenue they are generating. Put it towards the construction of a new entertainment and sports facility, which can also be used for parking, by the way, and so the state will contribute that much. The city has said they’re going to contribute their amount of $600 million, I believe. And then the ownership team is going to come and say, well, we’re going to put up this much, and then I think that’s going to add up to somewhere close to $1.9 billion that’s going to the stadium. But then they’re going to make this whole district around it. Think of all the development that’s going to happen. And I think we heard today, there’s going to be $3 billion invested into this district. And that’s the first phase, so I think the state is getting a good return on its dollar. The ownership team is putting in the majority and the state and city are contributing. And I just think it’s a much better deal for the state taxpayers.
TP: How long will the state pay for the project?
JP: For 30 years, we’ll make those bond payments. The city’s going to kick in a certain amount. The ownership team’s going to come in with an amount, and we’re going to build this beautiful new facility in the Crown Center area, which the more I think about it, the more excited I am about it. You saw the renderings today. … I just think it’s a partnership between two of Kansas City’s iconic companies, the Royals and Hallmark. It’s funny that they both have crowns as their logo.
TP: I know that during the press conference, Gov. Mike Kehoe mentioned the hard work that you did. Can you tell us something behind the scenes on how you guys were able to work across the aisles and bring some of the minority members along?
JP: Well, that was very kind of the governor to say, but I think with something like this, it was bipartisan, because you’ve got Kansas City Democrats who represent constituents who are going to directly benefit from a stadium downtown. So this was a bipartisan issue — it didn’t take a lot of arm-twisting. For those members, I think you had some members that were just adamantly opposed to any sort of public-private partnership.
We had enough Republicans who saw the value in it, and Democrats, … whose constituents are directly affected by it, that we were able to have a large enough coalition to pass the Show-Me Sports Investment Act.
‘Gold standard’ for MLB parks
TP: OK, so the Royals and the city officials, they have to go through the process. Will they have to come back before you guys next session?
JP: No, they don’t have to come to us. They’ll go to the Department of Economic Development, and they will negotiate the terms of what the state is going to contribute. And again, that’ll be the Royals coming to Jeff City and saying, “Hey, this is the sales tax we collected from hot dogs and cotton candy last year.” This is the income tax that you generate because you have employees there and this is the athletes and entertainers tax. Let’s use that amount to invest in a stadium, and then we’re going to have growth. We’re going to have more investment that would come to the state.
TP: House Speaker, maybe there’s some inside baseball you can tell us that our readers may not know to help them as they digest everything that’s happened over the last couple of weeks.
JP: I think the governor and the Royals, I think they were in pretty frequent communication. I think the location was kept a secret right until a couple days before the big announcement. So yeah, I was a little surprised they were able to keep that a secret for so long, given how exciting the news is.
TP: I couldn’t picture Washington Square Park as the location. I kept trying to picture it but thought it was way too tight. But with the renderings and the location now, it makes sense.
JP: I think it could be the gold standard for Major League downtown baseball stadiums. Going forward, I absolutely would bet on that. It could be a gold standard.
