Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s 2024 budget is out, and it doesn’t include any state money for Kansas City Royals or Chiefs stadiums. And from the sound of it, it’s unlikely to have any added, since the state budget has to be finalized in May and Jackson County residents aren’t going to vote on a sales tax surcharge extension until April:
“Governor Parson will do what he can to support the Chiefs and Royals. Their economic impact in Missouri is too great to lose. However, the unknowns of the Jackson County sales tax situation need to be resolved before any state proposal can be finalized,” Parson’s Deputy Communications Director/Press Secretary Johnathan Shiflett said in a statement sent to FOX4 Friday.
This would be at least a small big deal, since right now the sales tax surcharge is only expected to generate around $250-350 million in present value for each team, and Royals owner John Sherman, at least, is talking about needing $2 billion total, and there’s been speculation from one local elected official that Sherman alone would ask for $350 million in state funds. If there isn’t time to squeeze in that ask between the April referendum and the end of the state legislative session the next month, the two teams would have to wait for the 2025 session, which they could certainly do, though they’ll be dealing with a new governor then, who could be lots of people.
About that April referendum, meanwhile, former Kansas City Star columnist Dave Helling has returned to the paper’s op-ed page to express some concerns about how voters aren’t being told the whole story about what they’ll be voting on:
- The sales tax extension isn’t technically a sales tax extension, but rather a repeal of the current 0.375% tax surcharge that still has seven years to run and the imposition of a new 40-year tax surcharge at the same rate. This means that the state will have to quickly refinance the existing bonds on the last round of stadium renovations paid for by the tax, and figure out how to pay those off while still having something left over for the teams.
- Nobody knows how the rest of the Royals’ $2 billion cost will be paid for, or what the Chiefs owners are even planning in terms of renovation costs at their stadium.
- “It’s possible the teams are wobbly on these details because they don’t know the answers. Here’s a more cynical view: They’re hoping voters ignore the lack of facts and cast yes ballots because they like baseball, or the Chiefs reach the Super Bowl.” Mmm-hmm.
And how are things going up in North Kansas City, which was thought to be in the running for a Royals stadium (and getting stuck with Royals stadium bills) but now is seen mostly as an afterthought? No worries, they’ll just build something else there:
Even if the Royals stay in Jackson County, North Kansas City remains poised for its “fair share” of new development investment over time, in the words of an Axiom Strategies campaign launched last year to draw a baseball stadium to 90-plus acres assembled by the Merriman family of Financial Holding Corp.
If Missouri Gov Parsons was smart, which he is not, he’d put forth a half hearted effort to “save” the Chiefs, but then let them move to across the river. Kansas City, Missouri would still have a team to follow, but Kansas City, Kansas would be paying for it. And he’d have more time to learn how the internet works.
Agree. Also, the land the Chiefs and Royals currently occupy in MO can be turned into housing, office, and retail, which would likely generate more tax revenue than the current stadiums and parking lots.
STOP PICKING ON JORDAN LYLES HE’S MY FAMILY
(actually he’s not, and the career WAR is pretty funny, and good for him! Get that owner money, my man!)
Hey now!! I can make fun of my Royals but you can’t*
Jordan Lyles excluded, of course*