{"id":672599,"date":"2026-04-10T16:57:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/672599\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T16:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:57:41","slug":"k-c-royals-ballpark-plan-in-downtown-leaves-question-on-additional-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/672599\/","title":{"rendered":"K.C. Royals ballpark plan in downtown leaves question on additional funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

K.C.\u2019s funding plan for a downtown Royals ballpark<\/a> is \u201ccrucial step,\u201d but it also leaves \u201copen questions about additional funding — and a firm commitment\u201d from the team — for the nearly $2B project, according to Bayless & McDowell of the K.C. STAR. Mayor Quinton Lucas introduced a massive funding plan for a new Royals downtown ballpark, with $600M towards a $1.9B project at Washington Square Park. The plan would still \u201cseek state financial support from a sweeping funding package\u201d Missouri lawmakers approved the plan last summer in an attempt to keep the team inside its lines. The law allows Missouri to pay for up to 50% of a new stadium for the team — but that does not mean it will \u201csimply raise its hand for half the costs.\u201d Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe said that he was \u201ccommitted to working alongside Kansas City and the Royals to secure a stadium near downtown.\u201d But a Kehoe spokesperson, in a statement, left it \u201cuncertain how much that commitment will cost the state and its taxpayers.\u201d In the previous plan for a downtown ballpark, Jackson County voters would have done the \u201cheaviest lifting.\u201d But they \u201crejected that structure at the ballot box\u201d (K.C. STAR, 4\/10<\/a>).<\/p>\n

GIVE EM THE DETAILS: A K.C. STAR editorial stated Washington Square Park might \u201cbe a perfectly fine place for a new baseball stadium,\u201d but taxpayers \u201cneed to know the details first.\u201d This time, the plan does not rely on passing a new tax. Instead, it is to be financed by issuing municipal bonds, tax increment financing or TIFs, and other mechanisms. These are \u201cstill public monies we\u2019re talking about.\u201d And without a \u201crobust plan\u201d to engage taxpayers before moving forward, \u201canyone with a vested interest in a transparent process should balk at what looks like yet another rushed plan, rolled out as a surprise.\u201d Lucas and City Hall leaders \u201cwould be afraid of losing the Royals so soon after the Chiefs announced plans to relocate to Kansas just months ago.\u201d No one \u201cwants that to happen again.\u201d But \u201cshould the public be on the hook for more than a half-billion dollars for a downtown baseball stadium and entertainment district without a say in the matter?\u201d (K.C. STAR, 4\/9<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"K.C.\u2019s funding plan for a downtown Royals ballpark is \u201ccrucial step,\u201d but it also leaves \u201copen questions about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2387],"tags":[5,936,2123,55,2596,2595,4,252],"class_list":{"0":"post-672599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-royals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-kansas","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-royals","12":"tag-kansascity","13":"tag-kansascityroyals","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116381472942483648","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}