A negative vote by Jackson County, Missouri voters may have opened the door to the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals more seriously pondering a move out of their long-time home.
Despite the Royals making a pair of trips to the World Series in 2014 and 2015, and the Chiefs going to the Super Bowl in five of the last four seasons, neither organization conducts their business on the field in a state-of-the-art arena.
It is surprising considering how many new stadiums have been built across the country in recent years. Unsurprisingly both teams are looking to make upgrades or changes on their current venues and seemed to have an understanding with local officials on how to do that.
However, voters in Jackson County decided to derail those plans on Tuesday night when they voted against a new sales tax measure that would have helped fund a downtown ballpark for the Kansas City Royals and major renovations to Arrowhead Stadium, the current home of the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Royals pledged to pay at least $1 billion for the project and wanted to use their share of the revenue that came from the new sales tax pay for a $2 billion-plus ballpark district. The Chiefs, who committed $300 million in private money, were planning to use their share of the revenue for a much-needed $800 million overhaul of Arrowhead Stadium.
In a report from ESPN, the disappointing news for both franchises could lead to the organizations looking for better venues in locations more willing to give the teams what they need to erect new stadiums in the future.
“The Chiefs could try again with a reworked plan more agreeable to voters, change their entire funding approach to include more private investment, or listen to offers from competing cities and states — such as Kansas, just across the state line to the west — that would provide the public funding they desire.”
– ESPN report
The funding plans have received pushback from locals from the start due to early plans being vague and lacking transparency. The Truman Sports Complex lasts through Jan. 2031, but Royals owner John Sherman has already stated he will not have his team there passed 2023.
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