Kansas won the Chiefs. Now it needs that same spirit with biotech | Opinion

Kansas just pulled off one of the great regional upsets in modern economic politics. A multibillion-dollar stadium deal. A domed facility. The Chiefs — the Chiefs — crossing State Line Road into Kansas. After decades of watching Missouri play the lead, Kansas made its move.

Now the harder question: What exactly did we win?

A stadium is a trophy. A biotech economy is a legacy. And right now, Kansas is in danger of mistaking one for the other.

Whatever you think of the stadium deal, it signals something real: Kansas can compete at the highest level, move fast and close. That political capital is valuable. The question is what we spend it on next — because stadiums concentrate spending, while innovation economies compound it. A new stadium creates game-day revenue: a great day out, twice a month, for half a year. A biotech cluster creates careers — high-wage, year-round, generational. Thirty years from now, the stadium will need renovation. The innovation economy will still be hiring.

And here’s the thing nobody wants to say out loud: A biotech economy doesn’t depend on one team, one quarterback or one knee.

That’s not a knock on the Chiefs. It’s a clarity about what we’re actually building.

In 2023, the Kansas City region received federal designation as a Tech Hub under the CHIPS and Science Act — specifically for advanced biologics and biomanufacturing. It’s one of only 31 regions selected from nearly 400 applicants. You can see the foundation already here — the University of Kansas Health System, Children’s Mercy, Saint Luke’s and the KC Animal Health Corridor stretching across the region.

Then came the harder test. The KC BioHub consortium applied for $75 million in federal implementation funding, which required a 10% local match raised in roughly two months. It went down to the wire. The region needed coordinated public commitment to compete — and it didn’t fully get it. The bid was submitted. And it failed.

Kansas’ limited participation in the match-funding effort likely weakened the region’s bid. Federal reviewers don’t just evaluate ideas — they look at commitment. Kansas has the opportunity to lead the next phase — and the resources to do it.

Kansas has taken some steps — a new Small Business Innovation Research matching program, a bioscience recruitment push — but those efforts remain fragmented and underscaled for what this moment requires. That’s not a failure of strategy. It’s a sequencing problem, compounded by a decade of fiscal constraint. That work is done. Kansas has rebuilt its foundation. Now it needs to build on it.

The KC BioHub is competing in the current round of applications. There is still roughly $220 million in federal Tech Hub funding available to deploy. The window is open — but it won’t stay open.

Tennessee built around Nashville. Texas scaled around Austin. Each benefited from concentrated, aligned investment over time. But Kansas City has something different: a legitimate partner across a state line ready to build something together. Most regions share an economy. Kansas City can share an economic policy. Two state treasuries making coordinated contributions can be more competitive than any single state acting alone.

The policy path is clear: Commit matching funds to the KC BioHub’s next federal application. Develop targeted biotech incentives that match Missouri’s. This is not government picking winners, but clearing the path for private capital to flow. This is entirely consistent with a pro-growth, pro-market approach to economic development.

This isn’t a new idea. Republican Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran backed the region’s Tech Hub effort. Kansas built this foundation. Kansas should lead what comes next.

Johnson County has one of the most educated workforces in America. We have the federal designation. We have the partner. We have a live opportunity in front of us.

The only thing missing is the decision to treat this like the Chiefs. When the opportunity was a stadium, Kansas moved fast, put real money on the table and closed. Here, the approach has been conditional, incremental, and late. One wins headlines. The other wins the future.

Kansas won the Chiefs. The celebration is deserved.

Now win the future.

Trophies fade. Economies compound.

Josh Dambacher is a Kansas native, lawyer and spokesman for Republicans Overseas, and a regular commentator on American politics for the BBC and GB News.