One of the many, many remaining questions about the plan to build a new Kansas City Royals stadium atop a downtown public park and adjacent properties is how much exactly the state government would be putting in. (The city has declared it can kick in $600 million, though it hasn’t exactly figured out where that money is coming from yet beyond a stadium tax district of some kind.) And now we have an answer from House Speaker Jonathan Patterson, if by “an answer” you mean “some sentences with numbers in them”:
“I think with stadiums these days, you’re seeing public-private partnerships,” Patterson said. “So, 900 [million], I think, would be the highest amount that you could get.”
“Public-private partnership” doesn’t actually have to mean the public and private partners go halfsies, but it is what the state’s Show-Me Sports Investment Act sets as the maximum in state sales and income taxes that Missouri could use toward a Royals stadium. And with a stadium estimated to cost $1.9 billion, half of that is $950 million, which is … not the $900 million figure Patterson gave. Where did you come up with that number again, Mr. Speaker?
“I think if you look at the numbers, and there was an audit in 2023, the teams generate almost $60 million, and so if you take half of that, then it would be $30 million, then times 30 years, it could be that number. I think those are good estimates that you’re working with.”
That audit actually showed that the entire sports complex that currently hosts the Royals and Chiefs generated $55.8 million in 2023 in income, sales, and other taxes — for the state, county, and city combined. So not all of that money is flowing to the state, meaning if Missouri gave Sherman $30 million a year, it would be taking a significant loss. And that’s before accounting for any tax money that might go to the state regardless of a new stadium: Given that Royals owner John Sherman seems to have largely given up on moving across the border to Kansas, if the remaining options are all in different parts of Missouri, any Royals-related tax revenues would end up in the same state coffers regardless.
But that’s not the worst of Patterson’s math, because he’s not actually proposing giving the Royals owner $30 million a year for 30 years. Rather, he’s talking about spending $900 million now — which, if the state sold bonds, as it would likely do, would require additional interest payments. If Missouri were to get, say, a 4% bond rate, the annual cost of $900 million in bonds would be more like $50 million a year, to be paid off with whatever share of the roughly $28 million a year in state, county, and city taxes attributed to the stadium actually goes to the state, and is actually new money. And sure, the tax proceeds could go up over time as the Royals raise ticket prices and salaries, but it would have to go up a crazy amount to make the state treasury whole.
Maybe this is why K.C. Mayor Quinton Lucas said last week he believes the state will look at other state revenues as well to offer to Sherman. Or maybe nobody in state or city government knows or cares what the numbers will actually look like, so long as they can claim that it’ll totally pay for itself, if you don’t trouble yourself too much with how actual budgeting works. There are rumblings we may get more stadium plan details tomorrow — let’s hope that this time, someone actually thinks to bring a calculator.
Basically ANY money spent on a new downtown stadium is money spent beyond that needed to stay in The K, notwithstanding some funds to ensure The K’s structural integrity, maybe 10% of that for a new stadium.
And let’s quit brushing aside the traffic and parking issue. Right now I can leave from Liberty 60 minutes before a game, drive to TSC to a waiting parking space, walk a couple hundred feet to the stadium, buy a beer on the way to my seat, and be comfortably seated 15 minutes before first pitch. Under exactly what scenario will that level of convenience be available at a downtown stadium,?