Governor’s plan for Chiefs, Royals stadium funding derailed in the Missouri Senate

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s plan to cover up to half of the cost of a new stadium for the Royals and a refurbished Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs ran into a buzzsaw of bipartisan opposition in the state Senate Tuesday night. 

The proposal passed on a 108-40 vote in the Missouri House earlier in the day despite never having been introduced as a formal bill or ever having a public hearing. Instead, it was added as an amendment Tuesday afternoon to a Senate bill pertaining to student athletes. 

By the time it reached the 34-member Senate — with only three days left before the legislature must adjourn for the year —  a bipartisan group of lawmakers declared it dead on arrival.

“I’m not sure this has 18 votes,” said state Sen. Stephen Webber, a Columbia Democrat. “I’m not sure it even comes to a vote.” 

Senators complained that they were being asked to vote on a stadium funding plan that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars with only days left in the session and with no advanced notice. And they resented the fact that it was approved by the House just days after it refused to allow a vote on a $500 million spending bill that would have funded projects for health care, education and law enforcement across the state.

“They wouldn’t spend $1.2 million for a rural hospital in Pemmiscot County. That was a bridge too far,” said state Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican.“Now they want to spend hundreds of millions building stadiums? Seems a little hypocritical to me.”

State Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, an Arnold Republican, said with so much left on the legislative agenda and so little time before adjournment, lawmakers shouldn’t be wasting time on “special interest money for stadiums.”

“I don’t know anybody who goes to the Missouri Senate or the Missouri legislature to pass special interest money for billionaires,” she said, “but that’s what we’re being asked to do here.”

After six hours of debate, the bill was set aside. The legislature adjourns for the year at 6 p.m. Friday.

Both the Chiefs and Royals have publicly expressed interest in moving from Missouri to Kansas after Jackson County voters rejected a proposal last year to extend a 3/8-cent sales tax to help finance a downtown Kansas City baseball stadium and upgrades to Arrowhead.

Kansas lawmakers responded by expanding a tax incentive program in the hopes of convincing one or both teams to relocate. The leases for both teams’ Jackson County stadiums run through the end of the 2030 season.

Under the plan, the state would help pay up to half the cost of a new stadium for the Royals and a refurbished Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs, though the overall cost of the plan was not clear as the House was debating the proposal Tuesday.

The money would cover annual bond payments for the stadium projects up to the amount a team generated in state tax revenue the year prior to applying for the incentives.

“This is the exact same funding Missouri would lose out on if the teams moved to Kansas,” said state Rep. Chris Brown, a Kansas City Republican.

The teams would also be eligible for up to $50 million in tax credits for investing in their stadiums. A clawback provision would be triggered if either team relocates stadium, headquarters or a training facility to another state, and Missouri will keep all of the new state revenue generated by the team for the duration of the program.

While a plan floated last week would have been targeted at helping the Royals move to Clay County, Kehoe’s proposal would allow the team to decide where it wants to build its new stadium.

“As long as it’s in Missouri,” Kehoe said of the new stadium. “The plan works as long as they stay in Missouri.”

Special session? 

Kehoe presented the plan for the first time Tuesday morning to the House GOP caucus. 

A two-page handout circulated among lawmakers in preparation for Kehoe’s presentation claimed the Chiefs generate $28.8 million in annual tax revenue for Missouri and $572.3 million of economic activity within Jackson County alone.

The stakes are high, Kehoe said, and Missouri must act — either now, or later this year in a special session.

“It’s an economic development proposal… any time the state has seen a major economic development proposal, whether that’s been Boeing or GM or Ford, governors of both parties have called special sessions to do that,” Kehoe said. “I think an economic development proposal on the west side of the state is that significant.”

Based on the plan laid out in the bill, the Chiefs’ $28.8 million in annual tax revenue, if applied to a 30 year bond, would cost the state $900 million, Hough said. 

The Chiefs previously said proposed renovations of Arrowhead Stadium would cost roughly $800 million, with the team’s owners willing to pitch in $300 million.

State Sen. Barbara Washington, a Kansas City Democrat, noted that the Chiefs stadium would continue to be publicly owned. And the community would continue to benefit from things beyond football, such as concerts or the 2026 World Cup.

“That is Jackson County’s stadium,” she said, “and we do a lot of things there.”

But even Washington, who spoke in support of the funding plan, expressed frustration that even though she represents the area where the stadiums are located, she wasn’t consulted about the governor’s proposal. 

State Rep. Keri Ingle, a Lee’s Summit Democrat, said during House debate that while she shares in the frustration with the process and with the House killing the $500 million construction package, she hoped it wouldn’t cost her community its professional sports teams.

“I can talk for hours about what these teams do for the economy of this state and of the Kansas City region,” she said, later adding: “Please don’t punish the Kansas City region and the state of Missouri for generations.”

House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, agreed that frustration with the process shouldn’t mean the state gives up on keeping its teams. 

“We are being asked to provide a vote on something that we have only been able to vet for the last 12 hours, for some of us. Three for others of us. And that’s hard. That’s hard to do,” she said. “It’s a big ask for the legislature, but I think that when we get 10 years down the line, I don’t think any of us wants to be part of a General Assembly that lost the Chiefs or the Royals.”

This story was updated at 9:40 p.m. to reflect debate in the Missouri Senate.