On Thursday, the Kansas City Royals and lead architect Populous released official renderings of their new stadium, set to open in April 2030. The Chiefs, on the flip side, are slated, unless something changes, to open the 2031 season in their new Kansas City, Kansas, home. Yet politics and public sentiment could delay both timelines.
I’m not going to get into the weeds on the legal challenges in Kansas City, Kansas, for the Chiefs, or the challenges in Missouri surrounding the Kansas City Royals. In my view, both legal entanglements that could affect when the stadiums are ready to host games remain slightly unclear.
The Chiefs and Royals gave Jackson County every chance to keep both franchises via a public vote, and it failed massively. After the Chiefs announced a move to Kansas last year, the Royals finally landed the Crown Center project, despite small fractions that want to control the narrative – insisting on another public vote – which will fail.
My suggestion to those putting up roadblocks: stop talking and stop impeding progress. After all, change is inevitable, and the facts remain: since the Truman Sports Complex was built, the governing body, the politicians, and the bureaucrats have understood who will pay for these sports cathedrals.
However, today, a small group of naysayers can torpedo a project or raise the costs with debate and delays.
Still, the truth remains: if Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, didn’t offer massive incentives to cover construction costs, a bidding war from Nashville that would include 100% funding of a stadium for the Royals would have forced Owner, John Sherman to head east.
For the Chiefs, I doubt they would have left the area, but it’s not impossible to assume that Chairman Clark Hunt could entertain offers in another city. His options remain few, but reports from Dallas said some government entities hoped to convince the Chiefs to move back to Dallas/Fort Worth.
Now Jerry Jones would have a significant say in the potential move, but if it’s good business for the NFL, he would kick and scream; it’s likely he’d be active in the move if the Chiefs indeed moved back to Dallas, where the franchise began as the Texans in 1960.
I know many of you are upset about the Chiefs going to Kansas, and the legal maneuvering that is putting into question the entire financial package for the new Domed Stadium, Team Headquarters, and state-of-the-art practice facility. Still, you must keep one thing in mind: Clark Hunt is also putting up a boatload of cash to supplement the Star Bonds.
The Royals are doing the same thing, via budget appropriations, and taxes are complicated; there’s nothing anyone can do about it – especially those near the Crown Center location.
Yes, the financial scope of this stadium business will change even after both facilities open; it will be an ongoing discussion, and with each transition to a new political governing body, getting re-elected on a hot topic will keep the financing in the news regardless of party affiliations.
Again, I feel for fans, but this is the reality, and with both the Chiefs and Royals putting up a ton of their own money, why is anyone complaining? Both teams had enough leverage after the failed votes and political nonsense surrounding former Kansas City executive Frank White; they could have taken their ball and run away.
They didn’t, and the deals struck, which appear lopsided to some and the cost of business to others, raise significant questions about who ultimately pays for new construction and maintenance; it will always fall on city leaders and the fans, who will see some of their sales tax money allocated to the Chiefs and Royals.
My dentist told me last time I had some work done, and he had to do some magic to fix a decaying tooth, that nothing in the dentist’s office tastes good. Same goes for stadium projects; it might not be good for everyone, but it’s better to complain about this than to watch both teams leave for another city. In other words, though it will linger, I can chew again without pain.
So, in the end, we should celebrate these new stadiums and enjoy the progress as we witness the birth of our Kansas City-based architects, who get to build their vision of Rome in Kansas and Missouri.
