If Kansas City Royals owner John Sherman was hoping that the Chiefs announcing a move across the border to the state of Kansas in exchange for around $4 billion in subsidies would spark a bidding war for his own team, well, not so much, it appears. Kansas house speaker Dan Hawkins declared this week that the December 31 deadline for the Royals to pursue state-backed STAR bonds was set in stone, and the offer is now off the table. (Though with the legislature set to consider expanded STAR bonds beyond 2026, it’s always possible to put it back on the table.) On the Missouri side of the border, meanwhile, potential Royals suitors are getting cold feet as well:
On Wednesday, Clay County Commissioner Jason Withington said that he was done negotiating with the team.
“Like Kansas, I’m done negotiating with the Kansas City Royals,” he wrote on Facebook….
“As the August deadline approached, we were then told they wanted to move to the April 2026 ballot at the earliest. Tomorrow was the deadline we gave the team to meet that timeline. They’ve now told us they aren’t ready for that either. At some point, you stop negotiating–and start being honest about what’s actually happening.”
One would think that this leaves Sherman with only the option of Jackson County and downtown Kansas City, Missouri, which should put local officials there in the driver’s seat to limit taxpayer subsidies, especially after Jackson County voters made their feelings clear in April 2024. Or one would hope, anyway — after all, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt didn’t have anyone else offering him $4 billion before Kansas put its deal on the table, but that didn’t stop that state from seizing the winner’s curse with both hands.
Yet Hunt may still have a chance to seize defeat from the jaws of victory. The city of Kansas City, Kansas and Wyandotte County still must sign off on the deal, and Mayor Christal Watson and other local officials are concerned that kicking in city and county sales taxes — as the state wants them to do to keep its costs to a dull roar — could force local governments to raise property taxes to compensate. And there are still questions about whether even the proposed giant 330-square-mile stadium sales tax increment district can generate enough funds to pay off the STAR bonds, or at least to convince bondholders that the bonds are safe. And that, University of Chicago bond expert Justin Marlowe tells the Kansas City Star, could lead the state to go back on its “no new taxes” pledge:
“Do we default on the bonds and hope that the bondholders are willing to take a haircut, which they won’t be. Which they never are,” Marlowe said. “If it goes to court and there needs to be some sort of negotiated settlement, it’s fair to say that at some point, everyone will look to the state to provide some kind of relief to prevent the Chiefs from leaving, to prevent this otherwise potentially successful development from failing before it has a chance to succeed.”
The discussions over how to draw the STAR bond district should be interesting indeed … or would be, if Kansas didn’t have a special state law allowing talks to be conducted in secret, only making a plan public once it’s been finalized. State officials won’t even reveal what non-disclosure agreements they’ve signed regarding the Chiefs deal, citing that same confidentiality clause that was approved as part of the expanded sports STAR bonds package in 2024 — refusing to disclose what you can’t disclose is some next-level stonewalling, excellent work, Kansas state obfuscatorians.
If Missouri doesn’t bid against itself Sherman’s only options are to stay at Kauffman stadium or try to move the team to another city.
I suppose if he moves the team the Chamber of Commerce could revoke his Kansas Citian of the year award.
But he could get an Oakland chamber of commerce award by moving them there… and usurp Mark Davis’ position as most favoured failson (but not get the ’97 Grand Voyager… hey, there are always limits…)
Gotta go with what has worked before…
economically, isn’t the best move for the royals is to stay put? Are the royals really going to generate more revenue after taking into account paying for a new park (half a billion over thirty years or so)?
Even if they can get someone to pay a billion of a say, 1.5 billion park, when do they make back that half a billion?
I think too many teams fantasize over building an entertainment complex with someone else’s money, and don’t see the solution in front of them. If the Vegas? A’s just settled for a ballpark in the Coliseum parking lot, they would be in the new ballpark already, and still have a trademark.
If Sherman can keep his cost down to $500m, then get, say, half that in naming rights, he can probably make the rest back on higher ticket prices, new wine bars, etc. A team owner trying to recoup $1 billion in any but the largest cities, though, I agree is implausible.
Economically, the best move for Sherman is to get a $1 billion+ check. If he has to build a stadium to get it, he’ll make it work.
If the Royals can acquire (at no cost) the land the Chiefs current stadium sits on plus some of the parking lot, and turn that into their housing/retail complex, they might be able to turn a decent profit.
If Missouri and Jackson County refuse to fund a new stadium that leaves KCMO to fund a billion dollars. I can’t see how that would work.
The Royals screwed themselves by dragging their feet. The Chiefs are the marquee franchise for the metro area. The state of Kansas has no incentive to offer the Royals a sweetheart deal.
Kansas lost out by paying a huge price to gain an overbuilt monolith (ask the folks in Pontiac) for use 10 days a year. Sure, they’ll get just one Super Bowl, if they can figure out where to accommodate the mass influx of attendees, press, and lookyloos).
KC Mo may come out slightly ahead. The logical outcome – new Royals stadium downtown in KC Mo with another round of renovations to Arrowhead- appears dead in the water.