And then there are those stories that are initially just baffling:
[Jackson County] legislators voted 5-1 to give County Executive Frank White 48 hours to get back to them with his recommendations on the Royals latest reply and term sheet offer.
Uhh, okay? Let’s see what we can come up with for context here:
- White (yes, that Frank White) and Kansas City Royals owner John Sherman have been going back and forth on how much money the county would contribute to a new downtown stadium, with White most recently offering $300 million over 20 years instead of Sherman’s request of $300 million over 40 years, which definitely seems like not how you’re supposed to haggle.
- The county legislature is apparently steamed that it’s being shut out of the talks, with county legislator Manny Abarca saying, “I thought there’d be much more collaboration and opportunity to co-work together on these things. Unfortunately it becomes more clear now that we need to enact legislation that requires those processes to be in motion.”
- Back in July, county legislators were already griping about not having enough information, with Abarca complaining that their counterparts in neighboring Clay County, which is also under consideration as a stadium site, have “had a terms sheet for a long time” but Jackson County hadn’t seen one yet, adding, “the fact that there’s not been transparency around this topic and discussion unless he wants to have that is kind of disappointing.”
All this may well just be the usual political bickering over who gets to drive the car over the cliff, but it could be important nonetheless, since White is going to need the county legislature to approve whatever funding scheme he and Sherman come up with and put it on the ballot. White has previously run afoul of the legislature for spending county money on such things as his chief of staff’s truck without getting it authorized, so clearly this beef goes back a while, and any cracks in a pro-stadium coalition can lead to roadblocks, as we’ve seen in Wisconsin.
Also left in the dark so far: the Kansas City council, where councilman Kevin O’Neill groused last week: “Right now, we’re kind of in the dark. I don’t think the team has done a real good job of keeping us on track.” And, you know, you and me and actual Kansas City residents, who still have only vague details on what Sherman is asking for and what White is offering, beyond “$300 million, somehow.” All Sherman has committed to, don’t forget, is putting “hundreds of millions of dollars” into a $2 billion stadium-and-surrounding-development project, which leaves more than a billion dollars unaccounted for, so some details would be nice. But Sherman has made clear he’s going to keep the behind-closed-doors haggling phase going for as long as he feels like, so unless the county legislature succeeds in shaking loose some details from White, and then shares them with the class, probably not a good idea to hold your breath for too much transparency.
Whot? No comments all day?
This is the KC Royals people!
Can’t have Neil be no-hit!
OK, so the rumor I heard from my friends sisters hairdressers neighbors mechanics wife’s lawyers executive assistant is that Taylor Swift is tiring of Travis Kelce (means she already has the song written) and is laser focused on a member of the Kansas City Royals!
No indication that Royals owner John Sherman was involved in any way! None!
He’s too busy playing 5-D chess with local politicians.
You heard it here first!
I mean, it’s gotta be Frank White, right? Doesn’t it?
He seems to be (ok, believe…) the lynch pin for this whole stadium operation…. fighting the good fight for the people of, errrm, I dunno….
I think sometimes you just gotta chalk it up to Hanlon’s Razor. Local governments being generally dysfunctional can cut both ways, as the whole Harry Sidhu fiasco in Anaheim should have made abundantly clear…
I think the big difference is the county’s proposal is just a $15M annual payment with the Royals financing the stadium over 20 years, while the Royals want county bonds and an extension of the 3/8th cent sales tax over 40 years to pay it down. The whole process has been rather opaque though.
It’s supposed to total $300 million in either case, though? And $15m a year for 20 years is worth more in present value than $7.5m a year for 40 years, so … I’m baffled what exactly White is up to.
The important thing here is that the Brewers get $300m. Whether that is $300m over 40 years, $300m over 20 years, or $300m every year I don’t think anyone should be too concerned about.
Don’t get bogged down in details. That’s my advice here. You can often lose sight of the forest for the Horns. Or is it tiger tail? I can never remember exactly. But the main thing is $300m from taxpayers to the owner of the Brewers.
I think you meant the Royals, Rob. The Brewers are getting $500m, and that’s a point you can’t possibly back down on, somebody think of the children!
Whew! That was a close one! Thanks. I’ve never been good with numbers, everybody knows that. Or PR. Or really speaking in general. Fortunately, you don’t have to be good at any of those things to be the commish.
If cities would just cough up an even Billion for every owner, my job would be a lot easier. It’s a lot to keep track of, you know. And unlike Goodell, I don’t get $80m a year for shaking the hand of a draft pick.
And you’ve given me an idea – I mean, it’s my idea and you had nothing to do with it but still – I think I’m gonna talk to legal about my contract.
Ok, that wasn’t it, I was always going to do that. But the main thing is I think we are going to come up with some sort of reserve clause for cities where they have to pay every year or we might start talking about moving. Sure, there are those so called binding agreements, like Fisher has several of at present. But nothing about those matters. And besides, we don’t actually have to move, we just have to start talking vaguely about demand from other cities and bonehead politicians will shower us with loot.