Latest news with #STAR
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Experts question whether Kansas can afford its plan to lure Royals, Chiefs from Missouri
GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals, are pictured on Feb. 8 (Anna Spoerre/The Missouri Independent). Kansas is the only state or local government to pass a plan to fund a Kansas City Chiefs or Royals stadium project. Dysfunction in the Missouri General Assembly might also mean the Show Me State has nothing to offer. A last-minute plan by Gov. Mike Kehoe to help finance stadium projects for the Royals and Chiefs derailed in the state Senate. Missouri lawmakers return Monday for a special session to, among other things, pass a stadium proposal. But as it stands now, Kansas is in the driver's seat to get, in theory, both the Royals and Chiefs. Notably, an affiliate of the Royals recently purchased a mortgage in Overland Park secured by the Aspiria campus, which is at 119th Street and Nall Avenue. But economists say Kansas can't afford both teams. 'You are not going to generate enough net revenue to cover one of the facilities, let alone two,' said Geoffrey Propheter, an associate professor of public finance at the University of Colorado Denver. Propheter did say there's a way Kansas could afford both stadiums, but that requires 'cannibalizing activity from other businesses.' A majority of Kansas lawmakers disagree, and say getting the Chiefs or Royals is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But whether STAR bonds can support one or two teams depends on who you ask. STAR bonds, or sales and tax revenue bonds, are bonds that are paid by taxes generated in a bond district — hence the name. In a stadium proposal, taxes collected from bars, restaurants or any other businesses in the bond district would pay back the debt. Typically, STAR bonds are paid off in 20 years. '(Kansans are) not going to pay a dime unless they visit the district,' Rep. Sean Tarwater, a Stilwell Republican, said last year. That's the logic behind the state's proposal. Lawmakers last year approved a plan that would authorize Kansas to finance up to 70% of stadium costs with the bonds. Supporters say the Chiefs and Royals would spark an economic boom that will bring new dollars into Kansas. All that economic activity would literally and figuratively pay off in the long run. Almost 80% of STAR bonds projects are on track to be paid off early, the Kansas Department of Commerce said in 2024. STAR bonds have been used to finance other sports stadiums like the Kansas Speedway and Sporting Kansas City's Children's Mercy Park. But STAR bonds have never been used for projects of this magnitude. A Chiefs or Royals stadium would be by far the largest project in the program's history. And previous STAR bonds have only funded at most 50% of construction costs, not 70%. The Kansas Speedway's original bond was $24.3 million for a stadium that opened in 2001. That's equivalent to about a $47 million bond when adjusted for inflation. Children's Mercy Park received a $150 million bond before its 2011 opening. Those figures would only cover a small fraction of the construction for a new Chiefs or Royals stadium. New stadiums for the Texas Rangers, Las Vegas Raiders and the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers opened in 2020. They had $1.2 billion, $1.9 billion and $5.5 billion price tags, respectively. A 2021 audit from the Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit found questionable returns from some STAR bonds. Notably, the Prairiefire project in Overland Park defaulted on its STAR bonds last year. Topeka Heartland Park and the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas, also failed to pay back their bonds. And Strataca, the Hutchinson salt museum, is only projected to break even in 43 to 118 years. Propheter, the University of Colorado Denver associate professor, knows a lot about stadium funding plans. He said they don't always work as advertised. He said risk is unavoidable with these types of projects and they never start off profitably. It takes years to build the stadium and the surrounding district. That's years of debt not being paid back. Propheter said most of the money generated from the stadiums won't be new to the metropolitan area. The Royals aren't going to bring in tens of thousands of out-of-town fans for a Tuesday night game. But they will bring out tens of thousands of people who would already be spending money locally. These fans are spending money at the stadium instead of at a movie theater, bowling alley, restaurant or other local business. Kansas wants projects financed by STAR bonds to attract 30% of their visitors from 100 miles away and 20% from outside Kansas. The 2021 audit of STAR bonds found that only three of 16 projects — the Hutchinson salt museum, Topeka Heartland Park and Kansas Speedway — met both goals. A Chiefs or Royals stadium would likely draw a fair share of out-of-state visitors because the teams have been based in Missouri for so long. But Propheter isn't convinced the economic activity will be worth it. 'A lot more people would travel to Kansas,' he said. 'Would it be enough to generate the money needed to pay the debt? No.' Nathaniel Birkhead, associate professor of political science at Kansas State University, also is wary of sales and other tax dollars being used to pay off bonds. He said STAR bonds have struggled to pay off up to 50% of project costs before. Now, these bonds could pay up to 70% of one or more billion-dollar projects. That's concerning to Birkhead. 'There's some logic behind the STAR bonds,' he said. 'However, I still fundamentally think it's dishonest to say that something will pay for itself.' Birkhead said the Chiefs, for example, are guaranteed no more than nine regular season games. The teams also could host concerts or other events to keep their stadiums busy, but there is no guarantee that happens. He wonders how busy the STAR bond district will look when a game is not being played that day. Then there's uncertain economic projections. Ongoing concern about inflation and uncertainty around federal tariffs could make construction more expensive. A possible recession also would prevent people from spending money on sports events. Brian Mayes, a lead political strategist who also worked on the Vote Yes! Keep the Rangers campaign in Texas, said there was a point in his life where he might have agreed that stadium debt is hard to pay off. But Mayes, who has worked on the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers stadium funding, said new stadium development is just different. There's just so much economic development around these stadiums, he said. Mayes said Rangers and Cowboys games always keep the businesses around the stadiums busy. But so too do the concerts, conventions and other stadium offerings. The Cowboys offer tours of the locker rooms, and people show up. That's not to mention mega events like hosting a Super Bowl. Mayes remembers when the Cowboys left Irving, Texas, for the new stadium in Arlington. The old site of the Cowboys stadium still sits undeveloped. Meanwhile, Arlington now has a booming tourism district that is helping pay off other government projects. '(We said) put the Cowboys to work for Arlington,' he said. 'It was the economic generator, and the additional tax revenue that was made by the Cowboys helped the city pay for roads and parks and police.' Scott Sayers is a senior technical architect with Gensler Kansas City. Gensler has worked on dozens of sports projects, including the Rams Village in Los Angeles, Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., and M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Sayers said more people want to spend time before or after the game hanging around. Maybe they are talking about what they just saw or wanting to enhance the pregame experience. Sayers doesn't have specific opinions on STAR bonds and whether Kansas can afford one or two teams. But he does know that the Chiefs or Royals can create a prosperous stadium district if they work toward it — whether that would be in downtown Kansas City or suburban Kansas. The state already did that when it created The Legends next to the Kansas Speedway and Children's Mercy Park. Sayers said that area used to be an empty field before becoming a bustling, dense shopping and entertainment district. The teams can build thriving entertainment districts when they treat the stadium and its surrounding areas as one cohesive community, he said. 'People have expectations,' Sayers said. 'No longer are the days where 7:05, the event starts. I get dropped off at 6:40 … I want to start those experiences at 5 o'clock, at 4:30.' This article first appeared on Beacon: Kansas and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Real estate attorney shares potential future of Aspiria Campus
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — More details were revealed on Thursday, May 29, about the mortgage purchase an affiliate of the Kansas City Royals made on the old Sprint Campus, now known as Aspiria. The team confirmed the news with FOX4 on Wednesday, but said no stadium decision has been made yet. According to the Kansas City Business Journal, Occidental Management, which owns the property northwest of 119th and Nall, needs to make a more than $232 million loan payment by August 9. ACLU accuses Leavenworth facility of breaking the law, violating ICE detainees' rights Levy Craig Law Firm Real Estate Attorney Tracey Steele said on Thursday that the Royals' affiliate didn't buy this mortgage to give the borrower, Occidental Management, better loan terms. They have their own agenda for the property. 'We don't know if they actually want to build a stadium there or if this is about leverage in negotiating with lawmakers, you know, both in Missouri and in Kansas,' Steele said. When the Royals confirmed the affiliate's mortgage purchase Wednesday, the team said they still had not determined where they wanted to build their new stadium. Steele says that if Occidental Management can't make that payment in two and a half months, the property could be foreclosed on. 'The Royals' affiliated entity, they're not a bank, but they are the lender,' Steele said. 'They're the holder of the mortgage. They're the entity that has security interest in this piece of property, so if they foreclose, they will get the deed.' The August 9 timeline falls after the Missouri Legislature returns for a special session where a stadium package will be discussed. It also falls after the Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) Bond package expires on June 30 in Kansas. The STAR Bond package can be extended for another year. Steele says the affiliated entity buying the mortgage on the property allows the Royals to talk to Missouri lawmakers about the opportunity that they could have in Kansas. 'They can say, 'We have this Special STAR Bond that we can use to incentivize this development in Overland Park,'' he continued, talking about the Royals. 'We have a piece of property in Overland Park that we don't own yet, but we have an interest in that land that may turn into full ownership of the land in August, so if you don't give us a sweet deal to develop somewhere in Missouri, we already have bird in hand in Kansas.' Kansas Policy Institute Chief Executive Officer Dave Trabert says he hopes Kansas' Legislative Coordinating Council (LCC), made up of State House and State Senate leadership, does not extend the STAR Bond offer. The LCC can do that without having the full State House and State Senate vote on it. Lawrence police searching for person who stabbed elderly woman 'It would be sad if they did, given that this is the same legislature that was unable to do property tax relief as they promised for individual property owners, some of whom are being taxed out of their homes, to turn around and give billion-dollar subsidies to private entities. [That] would be a real slap in the face, as well as bad economic policy,' Trabert said Thursday when asked about the possibility that the LCC extends the STAR Bond package. FOX4 reached out to the office of LCC Chair and Republican State Senate President Ty Masterson Thursday afternoon to see if they were interested in extending the STAR Bonds. Masterson's spokesman said that an extension would most likely be short-term and would be decided at a date closer to the deadline. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Scoop
2 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Measures To Encourage Student Attendance At School Strengthened
Press Release – New Zealand Government The Ministry of Education is proactively contacting Attendance Service providers and schools to ensure parents who repeatedly refuse to send their children to school are referred to the Ministry, Mr Seymour says. Associate Minister of Education Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government is going to take a firmer approach to school attendance. The Ministry of Education is ready to pursue prosecutions of parents who repeatedly refuse to ensure their children attend school. 'The Ministry of Education is proactively contacting Attendance Service providers and schools to ensure parents who repeatedly refuse to send their children to school are referred to the Ministry,' Mr Seymour says. 'Prosecution is a reality for parents who refuse to send their children to school and ignore supports to ensure their children are in class and learning. The Ministry will not prosecute parents of students who are absent because of chronic illness or health conditions associated with a disability, or who are genuinely engaging with a school and the supports offered. 'Last year I directed the Ministry to exercise its powers and take a more active role in prosecutions to make them viable. I encourage school leaders to seek that support when all other measures have failed' Mr Seymour says. 'Although we are facing an attendance crisis, green shoots are present, and we need to keep building on them. In every term in 2024 attendance improved on the same term in 2023. 'I expect this momentum to continue as phases of our attendance action plan come into force. For example, it will be mandatory for schools to have their own attendance management plan, aligned with the Stepped Atten dance Response (STAR) (STAR) in place by Term 1 of 2026. 'The basic premise of the STAR is that no child is left behind. The STAR clarifies the roles and responsibilities that school leadership, boards, parents and the Ministry have in supporting students to attend school. 'Around 10% of students are absent for 15 days or more in a school term. Students in that bracket would trigger the 'red light' in the general framework. At this point, prosecution would be considered a valid intervention. This means every day at school is important, and interventions will follow if absences build up. 'Attending school is the first step towards achieving positive educational outcomes. Positive educational outcomes lead to better health, higher incomes, better job stability and greater participation within communities. These are opportunities that every student deserves.'
Scoop
2 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Measures To Encourage Student Attendance At School Strengthened
Associate Minister of Education Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government is going to take a firmer approach to school attendance. The Ministry of Education is ready to pursue prosecutions of parents who repeatedly refuse to ensure their children attend school. 'The Ministry of Education is proactively contacting Attendance Service providers and schools to ensure parents who repeatedly refuse to send their children to school are referred to the Ministry,' Mr Seymour says. 'Prosecution is a reality for parents who refuse to send their children to school and ignore supports to ensure their children are in class and learning. The Ministry will not prosecute parents of students who are absent because of chronic illness or health conditions associated with a disability, or who are genuinely engaging with a school and the supports offered. 'Last year I directed the Ministry to exercise its powers and take a more active role in prosecutions to make them viable. I encourage school leaders to seek that support when all other measures have failed' Mr Seymour says. 'Although we are facing an attendance crisis, green shoots are present, and we need to keep building on them. In every term in 2024 attendance improved on the same term in 2023. 'I expect this momentum to continue as phases of our attendance action plan come into force. For example, it will be mandatory for schools to have their own attendance management plan, aligned with the Stepped Atten dance Response (STAR) (STAR) in place by Term 1 of 2026. 'The basic premise of the STAR is that no child is left behind. The STAR clarifies the roles and responsibilities that school leadership, boards, parents and the Ministry have in supporting students to attend school. 'Around 10% of students are absent for 15 days or more in a school term. Students in that bracket would trigger the 'red light' in the general framework. At this point, prosecution would be considered a valid intervention. This means every day at school is important, and interventions will follow if absences build up. 'Attending school is the first step towards achieving positive educational outcomes. Positive educational outcomes lead to better health, higher incomes, better job stability and greater participation within communities. These are opportunities that every student deserves.'
Independent Singapore
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Independent Singapore
Stage set for Mediacorp 987 STAR grand finale: Who will take the mic?
Courtesy of press release SINGAPORE: After weeks of high-pressure challenges and non-stop hustle, just four talents are left standing in the race to become the next Mediacorp 987 STAR. Georgina, Lex, Nicolette and Shaniah have earned their place in the spotlight—and now, it all comes down to the live grand finale at the Ultimate Showdown. Only one will take the crown. Star power Since the beginning, the challenges have not been easy. The top 10 contestants sat through two high-pressure challenges that put their creativity, grit and star power to the test earlier this week. Contestants were given complete control over the scripting, filming, and editing of their video for the first challenge, 'Messy Is The Message,' provided that it advertised the competition finale. Striking and memorable It all came down to originality, inventiveness, and digital production skills in order to produce the most visually striking and memorable film for the judges, influencers Faris Samri and Avi Dixit, and Mediacorp 987's Germaine Tan. The next challenge, 'Going Viral', contestants have to step into the spotlight through a TikTok Live session where they entertain viewers in real-time with their energy and charisma. They then went into the radio booth to co-host with the personalities of Mediacorp 987 for 30 minutes. Without breaking a beat, they managed to spin tunes, interact with listeners, and provide traffic and weather updates while live on air. Zhu Zeliang of Mediacorp YES 933, Nity Baizura of RIA 897, and Gerald Koh of 987 were the judges of this real test of multi-platform wizardry. Final four Georgina, Lex, Nicolette, and Shaniah stepped up to the task, passing every exam and earning their places in the final four despite the extreme difficulties. They will now go to the last round, The Ultimate Showdown, which will take place live at 313@somerset on Saturday, May 31 at 5 p.m. The last four will compete in an exciting series of challenges unlike any other challenge before, in front of an enthusiastic live audience. They will be put to the test on their stage presence, originality, and vocal skills while interacting with the audience. What's at stake? Imagine this: you could be the next Mediacorp 987 STAR! That means landing an awesome gig with 987, plus you'd walk away with a cool $5,000 in cash. In addition to witnessing all the action live, viewers can expect exclusive performances from local singer WhyLucas and singer-songwriter Shazza, as well as the opportunity to interact with their favourite Mediacorp 987 characters. The contestants have reached the final stretch! It sounds like it's been a real adventure getting here. Who will take over the microphone? Attend the launch of the next Mediacorp 987 STAR! Tune in to watch the full episodes now on Mediacorp Entertainment on YouTube and mewatch , and enjoy exciting highlights on Mediacorp 987's TikTok .
