KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Leaders in Kansas City, Missouri, are focused on trying to keep the Kansas City Royals from leaving as the Chiefs did with their Monday announcement.
The future home of the baseball team has been up in the air ever since the failed vote in Jackson County, Missouri, in April of 2024.
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Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas discussed another stadium site at 18th and Troost, located just west of the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) headquarters. If the team was willing to stay in the city in 2031, one unclear thing is whether the Royals would agree to a vote of the people, whether that be the voters of KCMO or the voters of Jackson County.
The 2024 county election would have paved the way for the Royals to build in the East Crossroads of KCMO. It also would have helped fund a Chiefs’ renovation to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. That vote failed by 16%, part of the reason the Chiefs plan to build in Kansas now.
On Tuesday, Mayor Lucas talked about how Jackson County residents were not supportive of a broad sales tax to support development.
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“That’s why we’ve talked about a pathway that allows us to do it through public body approval rather than perhaps having to go to the ballot box,” he said.
Mayor Lucas added that when he talked to former KCATA CEO Frank White III, he believed there were federal grants that tied RideKC to the area of 18th and Troost.
“Removing them from that site presents a good deal of challenge,” Mayor Lucas said.
“But I know that there are people who actively continue to push it and pursue it, and I won’t stand in their way.”
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Mayor Lucas also talked about Washington Square Park, a city park’s piece of property just east of Union Station that he’s been pushing for more than a year now. He says a substantial assessment has been done there, and he thinks that site would work out with its access to interstates and highways.
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The Royals wouldn’t comment on Wednesday.
The survey the team put out in November asked fans’ opinions of a downtown location, a North Kansas City site in Clay County, or an Overland Park location in Johnson County, Kansas.
On Tuesday, Republican Kansas State Senate President Ty Masterson said he did not envision state leaders discussing sales tax funding for the Royals by the end of the year. Masterson is also running for governor in 2026 in a crowded field.
“Well, I mean, there was a lot of noise around that,” Masterson said when asked if he thought not supporting 119th and Nall gives him more approval among Johnson County Republicans come August.
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“You know, I heard that, and I think the Royals knew that was a difficult thing, so we just didn’t take it up.”
On Tuesday, Masterson said if the Royals are granted an extension, it would likely be up to Republican House Speaker Dan Hawkins to do that. He takes over as Legislative Coordinating Council (LCC) Chair on Jan. 1.
On Dec. 18, Hawkins said he had hoped the Royals would come to an agreement with state leaders by Dec. 31, though.
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