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After an election that did not produce the expected results, KC may be about to lose its home since 1972.
The future of the Royals and the Kansas City Chiefs could be in danger.
That’s because this past Tuesday, there was a vote in a part of Kansas City to decide whether the population would pay for the renovation of Arrowhead Stadium (through more taxes) or not. The aim of the project was to help fund a new downtown ballpark, as well as some extensive renovations to Arrowhead.
The people of Jackson County voted ‘no’ to the idea. This decision jeopardises the KC Royals and Chiefs staying in Kansas City and they could move to another city in 2030.
Royals’ owner John Sherman and Chiefs’ president Mark Donovan recognised long before the final decision that the initiative would fail – more than 58 per cent of voters stood against the proposal.
Clark Hunt, owner of the Chiefs, said that with the population’s rejection, he will start listening to proposals from other cities that want to have the franchise as their team. The mayor of Kansas City, Quinton Lucas, said he hopes to negotiate with the Chiefs’ owners to remain in KC.
READ MORE: One player in the NFL can compete with Patrick Mahomes and knock off the Chiefs, says Louis Riddick
What could the Chiefs do to avoid having to move to another city
Mike Florio, on the latest edition of Pro Football Talk on NBC, delivered his take on the situation, given that the organisation needs to make a decision before its lease expires.
“You’re never going to win an election that is solely up or down, yes or no, taxpayer money or no taxpayer money, for a stadium project.”
“The vast majority as we see in Jackson County, Missouri, where the Chiefs have won three Super Bowls in five years – that’s not even enough – it’s never gonna happen. Don’t even try to have a public vote in any city.”
“And see, I think there’s a segment that doesn’t care. They’re never going to vote. The segment of the population that doesn’t care about sports is always going to vote. And of those that do, there’s a segment of those who say ‘I love the team, but pay for your own damn stadium’.”
He didn’t hesitate to suggest what can be done to solve it: “So getting away from the Royals would be the first thing I would try to do, explore any and all possibilities to work with local politicians without having to go to The Ballot Box to get this stadium project going.”
“And if it doesn’t work by way of renovation (are there) in the Kansas City area? So you can still call it the Kansas City Chiefs even though they play in New Jersey.
If the NFL could do something to support the initiative
Analyst Chris Simms joined Florio on the live show and raised a question that is worth considering.
“The NFL is pumping out money and it’s got so much money, it doesn’t know what to do with.”
“When I think about these things all the time, is why can’t the NFL come up with a fund or figure it out as a whole, the shield, the 32 (teams) to where they can figure out to get this done with the particular owners to stop burdening the cities and the public and people who are like ‘wait, I make $12 an hour working on tables and stuff. I don’t wanna pay taxes for Mr. Hunt to get an extra $100 million in his pocket book next year’.”
Mark Donovan, the Chiefs’ president, spoke publicly about the result of the sales-tax measure.
“We respect the process. We respect the decision of the Jackson County voters today. We’re disappointed. We feel we put forth the best offer for Jackson County. We are ready to extend the longstanding partnership that the teams have enjoyed with this county.”
At this point, some action needs to be taken as soon as possible. It seems a long time to think that the Chiefs’ contract with the Truman Sports Complex (the facility that hosts the stadiums) expires “only” in January 2031, but when it comes to money and bureaucracy, you need to plan ahead.