Royals subsidy could top $1.4B for new site in Jackson County, $2B counting tax money for Chiefs

It must be sweeps month or something in the Kansas City Royals stadium drama, because they’re suddenly pulling out all the plot twists:

• Clay County commissioner Jason Withington posted on Xitter last Friday that Royals execs told him “they’ve put all the chips in on the #KCStar building” — meaning the alternate site that was first revived as an option just last week — after the city of Kansas City “made the team a sizable offer.” Withington subsequently added that “the @Royals will need half of the 3/8 cent sales tax from @JacksonCountyMO AND $300-$400 from the @KansasCity AND another $350 million from the State of Missouri. The full #KCMO council still hasn’t been briefed.”
• Jackson County legislator Jalen Anderson threatened Monday to reverse the county’s vote to put a 40-year sales tax extension to fund Royals and Chiefs stadium projects on the April ballot if the teams don’t sign term sheets spelling out lease extensions by January 20. Term sheets were already a requirement in the ordinance, but Anderson’s deadline is new; it’s not clear if he speaks for the whole county legislature, but stadium proponent Manny Abarca seems to be on board, so he probably speaks for enough of them.

If Withington’s numbers are correct, then adding $500-700 million worth of county sales tax kickbacks, $300-400 million from the city, and $350 million from the state of Missouri would bring the public cost to somewhere between $1.15 billion and $1.45 billion, which would have a shot at being the most expensive sports subsidy in history, if nobody else gets there first. (Adding in another $500-700 million for the Chiefs would make this potentially $2 billion in taxpayer money going to the two teams combined.)

In addition to the crazy public price tag, Royals owner John Sherman still has some hurdles to clear for the former Star printing plant site, like the fact that the stadium would have to be built on top of some existing businesses whose owners have said they have no intention of selling. Could eminent domain come into play? So long as we’re throwing around hypotheticals, sure! Right now all we know is … well, we don’t know anything at all, since Withington didn’t provide a source for his subsidy figures, but the numbers are headed in a worrisome direction, let’s just say that.