Missouri House Committee passes Chiefs, Royals stadium plan

Yahoo

a day ago

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The stadium package for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals cleared another hurdle at the Missouri State Capitol Tuesday.
The House Committee on Economic Development endorsed the package following more than three hours of discussion.
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What was talked about had to do with Senate Bill 3. It's the same package that body approved early Thursday morning. It funds any stadium plans for the Chiefs and Royals with tax revenues that the stadiums generate.
Republican State House Rep. Sherri Gallick from Cass County, heads the Economic Development Committee. On more than one occasion during the committee meeting, she expressed her support for the bill. She discussed how much the Chiefs and Royals do for charities on the west side of the state.
'Those things may not exist, or they may exist on the Kansas side,' Gallic said of 15 and the Mahomies. 'I would like them to continue to exist on the Missouri side.'
Gallick was alluding to the fact that the Kansas Legislature passed a Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) Bond package one year ago, aimed at trying to lure either the Chiefs and or the Royals to the west side of the state line.
The Show-Me Institute's Senior Fellow Patrick Tuohey is against the bill and was the only one who testified against the State Senate Committee on Fiscal Oversight passing it. Tuohey came back to the capital city Tuesday.
'The package of STAR Bonds offered by Kansas is not at all competitive, and there's plenty of reporting on this,' Tuohey said to the Economic Development Committee. 'Kansas refuses to put public taxpayer money to back up the bonds if they don't generate enough tax revenue, and that means that investors are not going to be invested in buying this.'
One person who came to the capitol to support the stadium package was Kansas City Sports Commission and Visit KC President and CEO Kathy Nelson. Nelson did not testify in Topeka in June of 2024 when Kansas lawmakers passed the STAR Bond package.
'In 2024, sports driven media coverage equated to more than 300 million total impressions, highlighting Kansas City as a travel destination,' Nelson said to the committee. 'Due to our sports teams, last year Kansas City, Missouri was highlighted as a top global travel destination by publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Travel and Leisure, Lonely Planet and TIME Magazine. Nothing else puts us on a global map like these teams.'
After the hearing, Nelson was asked whether she thinks the teams will stay in the region now that Kansas and potentially the Missouri legislature, will have tried to keep the teams through pieces of legislation.
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'I hope so,' Nelson said in response. 'I know both owners personally. I believe their hearts are here in the Kansas City region, and I think they want the opportunity to stay here. They don't want an opportunity to leave.'
The full Missouri House of Representatives will likely take up the stadium package Wednesday. The session starts at 10 a.m.
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