Missouri Senate Approves Plan to Support Sports Teams and Tornado Relief
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Senate approved a plan that will allocate over $100 million in aid for the reconstruction of St. Louis, affected by tornadoes, and authorized hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to persuade the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals to continue playing in Missouri, whether in new or improved stadiums.Lawmakers are acting with urgency in a special session, as the Chiefs and Royals face a deadline at the end of June to accept a competitive offer from Kansas. In addition, St. Louis residents are struggling to recover from the May storms, which caused an estimated $1.6 billion in damage.
The aid measures advanced in a series of morning votes, after Republican Governor Mike Kehoe reached an agreement with some undecided members, which included more disaster relief funds and the possibility of property tax reductions for some homeowners facing increasing tax bills. The package also contains funds for construction projects across the state, including $50 million for a nuclear research reactor used for cancer treatments at the University of Missouri.Although approval from the House is still needed, the Senate vote marked a significant hurdle, as stadium incentives stalled last month. Tornadoes struck St. Louis and other parts of Missouri on May 16, a day after lawmakers finished their work in the regular session.
The future of the Chiefs and the Royals has been up in the air for a while. Currently, the teams play in adjacent stadiums in eastern Kansas City, in Jackson County, Missouri, under lease agreements that extend until January 2031.
Last year, Jackson County voters rejected a sales tax extension that would have helped fund a $2 billion stadium district for the Royals in downtown Kansas City and an $800 million renovation of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium.
This led Kansas lawmakers to authorize bonds last year for up to 70% of the cost of new stadiums in their state.
The Missouri counterproposal would authorize bonds for up to 50% of the cost of stadium projects, while providing up to $50 million in tax credits, along with unspecified support from local governments.During his testimony before a Senate committee on Tuesday, Chiefs lobbyist Rich AuBuchon described Missouri’s offer as “legitimate” and “competitive.”
Rich AuBuchon
If the Chiefs stay in Missouri, he said they would likely begin a $1.15 billion plan to renovate Arrowhead Stadium and improve the team’s practice facilities in 2027 or 2028. It would take three years to complete.
AuBuchon pointed to other recent publicly funded stadium projects in Baltimore, New Orleans, Nashville, and Buffalo, New York.“Across the country, states are funding stadiums. They are a great economic development. They are a great business,” AuBuchon said.
Rich AuBuchon
However, many economists argue that public funding of stadiums is not worthwhile, because sports tend to divert discretionary spending from other forms of entertainment rather than generate new revenue.
“What the teams are doing is facing Kansas and Missouri against each other,” said Patrick Tuohey, a senior fellow at the Show-Me Institute, a free-market think tank whose headquarters in St. Louis was hit by the tornado.
Patrick Tuohey
“When cities and states do this, they empty their tax base for the benefit of multi-million dollar team owners… they lose the ability to provide public safety and basic services,” Tuohey said.
Royals lobbyist Jewell Patek said that even with state incentives, a planned stadium district would likely need voter approval for local tax incentives in Jackson or Clay counties, which couldn’t happen until later this year.
He didn’t guarantee the Royals would choose Missouri over Kansas, but Patek added: “We love the community, we love the state… we believe this is a step in the right direction for the state of Missouri.”
