Missouri Senate Approves Funding Plan to Secure Chiefs and Royals Stay

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The Missouri Senate passed legislation overnight incentivizing the Chiefs and Royals to stay in the state.

Lawmakers convened in a special session Monday to sort out several unresolved legislative matters, with a tax incentives package for the stadiums at the top of mind for many.

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Senate Bill 3 was introduced and included several elements previously outlined by Gov. Mike Kehoe.

The bill includes the "Show-Me Sports Investment" Act, which would allow professional sports teams to access state funding for stadium development through a new bonding mechanism with certain qualifications.

The bill was approved 19-13; it needed 18 votes to pass.

Now, it moves on to the Missouri House.

The bill is seen as a direct response to Kansas’ STAR bond program, which offers incentives to lure professional sports teams across the border.

Those Kansas incentives are set to expire at the end of June.

Under Missouri’s proposal, stadium projects would need to cost at least $500 million and be tied to a Major League Baseball or NFL franchise.

The state could commit up to 50% of the project cost.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said this plan would certainly boost the possibility of the Royals building a new ballpark, likely at the Washington Square Park location.

The measure does include some kind of local government funding.

Lucas said city funding for a ballpark could happen without a referendum vote; the sales tax vote in April 2024 to help the Chiefs renovate Arrowhead and the Royals build a new downtown stadium failed.

"We would go through a public process, but a public process that you'd see at city council, a public process at the parks board," Lucas said. "Something that doesn't necessarily have some of the same delays that you might see in some of the county based votes, just different forms of government, different types."

Jackson County Executive Frank White in a statement Thursday said this state contribution could level the playing field for stadiums government funding

He released a bar graph showing annual stadium funding for Jackson County is $54 million while only getting $6 million in tax revenue in return.

By comparison, the bar graph shows Kansas City spends $2 million while receiving $22 million in tax revenue. And the state of Missouri’s funding is $3 million while getting $40 million in tax revenues each year.

Jerry Nolte, Clay County presiding commissioner, said he'd like to get the public's opinion.

"My preference on most of these things is that it go to a vote of the people because we're talking about a very large transaction, and we're talking about a commitment here that I think we have to have very broad buy-in by the public," Nolte said.

Lucas said the last thing he wants to see is the Truman Sports Complex sitting empty without any teams.

The bill is heading to the state House, but even if it is approved there and signed by Kehoe, it will ultimately be up to the leaders of the Chiefs and Royals to decide if they want the deal or not. Right now, neither team has said which way they'll go.

Kansas lawmakers have already approved a plan to pay up to 70 percent of construction costs for new stadiums for both the Chiefs and Royals using STAR bonds.

State senators passed two other bills early Thursday: Senate Bill 4 aims to provide emergency aid to storm victims in St. Louis and Senate Bill 1 appropriates money for affordable housing and educational and workforce development.

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