Kansas City loves their sports, and right now, there's a lot of excitement surrounding the Chiefs and Royals in the NFL and MLB. With the Chiefs, it's clear why there's excitement, as Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid continue leading the team to Super Bowl championships. For the Royals, they finally may be finding their way back to success with star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. leading the way.
While fans are obviously fired up about their teams, there has been a pretty big blow dealt to their potential future in Kansas City. A recent sales tax measure that would have helped both teams fund improvements to their respective stadiums was voted down in convincing fashion, opening the door for questions about how long the teams will stay in KC.
“The future of the Royals and Chiefs in Kansas City was thrown into question Tuesday night when residents of Jackson County, Missouri, resoundingly voted down a sales tax measure that would have helped to fund a new downtown ballpark along with major renovations to Arrowhead Stadium.”
“More than 58% of voters ultimately rejected the plan, which would have replaced three-eighths of a cent sales tax that has been paying for the upkeep of Truman Sports Complex — the home for more than 50 years to Kauffman and Arrowhead Stadiums — with a similar tax that would have been in place for the next 40 years.”
“The Royals, who had pledged at least $1 billion from ownership for their project, wanted to use their share of the tax revenue to help fund a $2 billion-plus ballpark district. The Super Bowl champion Chiefs, who had committed $300 million in private money, would have used their share as part of an $800 million overhaul of Arrowhead Stadium.” – ESPN
Chiefs, Royals future in Kansas City up in the air
What this means for the future of the Chiefs and the Royals is up in the air for the time being, but it's clear this is a pretty significant roadblock in their quest to stay in town for the long-term future. The two teams could rework their proposal, seek other avenues for funding, or ultimately choose a new location to build a new and improved stadium, with the latter being a last-resort idea.
Both franchises were surely hoping that this tax would have been passed, but they admitted in the buildup that they were expecting it to get shot down in the way it has been. Now, they will have to find an alternate route forward, and with the door open for them to potentially move elsewhere, that will obviously add to the stakes of these upcoming discussions. There are still a lot of possibilities for what could happen in the future, but for now, it doesn't look like the long-term future of both the Chiefs and Royals is all that secure.
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