{"id":809863,"date":"2026-03-13T12:17:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T12:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/809863\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T12:17:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T12:17:17","slug":"kansas-plan-would-give-chiefs-a-vote-on-stadium-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/809863\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas plan would give Chiefs a vote on stadium authority"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Kansas lawmakers rush to pass legislation<\/a> designed to solidify a Kansas City Chiefs stadium<\/a> in their state, the draft proposal would grant the team extraordinary influence over the project.<\/p>\n

The proposed nine-member sports authority in charge of overseeing construction of a new stadium would include a representative from the Chiefs. The arrangement has raised a series of questions from critics who say it would give the team an unusual amount of sway over a publicly-financed stadium.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers on the House commerce committee advanced the legislation Thursday, setting up a vote of the full House early next week on a crucial part of the team\u2019s plans in Kansas. The bill outlines the powers and limitations of the quasi-governmental entity that will own, manage \u2014 and oversee construction of \u2014 a $3 billion Chiefs stadium in Wyandotte County.<\/p>\n

Under the legislation, a representative from the Chiefs organization would have voting power on the authority\u2019s board, granting the team the ability to vote on major decisions related to the construction and operation of the stadium.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the mayors of Kansas City, Kansas, and Olathe \u2014 where the Chiefs plan to build their new practice facility and team headquarters \u2014 would only serve as non-voting members of the public corporate body.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s spot on the board sparked concern at a hearing over the legislation on Tuesday. During the hearing, Rep. Rui Xu, a Westwood Democrat, pressed a Chiefs representative about the language, pointing to the authority\u2019s broad powers, including the ability to buy and sell property.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow is it not a conflict of interest for a member of the Chiefs to be on that board?\u201d Xu asked the Chiefs representative. \u201cThey could be able to grant or sell land to themselves or vote to do so. They could vote to charge fees or not charge fees to themselves. They get to act as both the tenant and the landlord in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Korb Maxwell, a Kansas City real estate attorney and representative of the Chiefs, emphasized the team would represent just one member of the board.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Chiefs, the authority would include the Kansas commerce secretary and one appointee each from the governor and the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Kansas House and Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now one single member out of a nine-member board, and whatever the decisions of the Legislature are, we will be very much a minority,\u201d Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

In defense of the team\u2019s position on the board, Maxwell pointed to the idea that the team would have to bear the responsibilities of maintaining the stadium, such as any potential cost overruns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team is the one that is very much responsible for all of the cost of this,\u201d Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

A Chiefs spokesperson did not respond to a series of follow-up questions from The Star. Those questions included who the Chiefs would like to serve on the board and whether the team would commit to recusing itself from votes that might present a conflict.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, before the House commerce committee advanced the sports authority bill, Xu proposed amending it to make the team representative a non-voting member of the board. He said he couldn\u2019t find another example of a sports authority anywhere in the country that gave a team voting privileges on major financial decisions.<\/p>\n

That amendment failed on a voice vote, as did Xu\u2019s second amendment, which would have prohibited the Chiefs\u2019 representative from serving as chair of the board.<\/p>\n

Rep. Lynn Melton, a KCK Democrat, proposed making the KCK and Olathe mayors voting members \u2014 a change that the Kansas Department of Commerce endorsed earlier this week. Republican lawmakers voted that down, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepresentation is not valid if we have no vote, and so it would be important for us to be able to have that seat,\u201d KCK Mayor Christal Watson told lawmakers on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Instead, lawmakers prioritized giving the Chiefs representation. Rep. Sean Tarwater, a Stilwell Republican, who chairs the commerce committee, said cutting the team out of the decision-making process would be unfair.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team itself is putting over $1 billion into the stadium,\u201d Tarwater said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they don\u2019t have a say, the board could do a lot of different things that put a lot of financial strain on the team,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

To fund the rest of the stadium, Kansas plans to issue $1.8 billion in sales tax and revenue, or STAR bonds, that will divert new sales tax revenue in much of Johnson and Wyandotte counties to pay down stadium debt for decades to come.<\/p>\n

\u2018Straight up conflict\u2019<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s position on the board would signify a major departure from how it operates in Missouri. The five-member Jackson County Sports Complex Authority, which controls the team\u2019s lease at Arrowhead Stadium, does not give voting power to the Chiefs or the Kansas City Royals.<\/p>\n

In Illinois, for example, the sports authority in charge of overseeing the Chicago White Sox\u2019s stadium expressly prohibits \u201canyone with financial interest in any facility regulated by the Authority\u201d from serving on the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the Chiefs really want to do this if they think about it,\u201d Mike White, an attorney who represents the Jackson County authority, said in an interview. \u201cIt\u2019s going to create some problems for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

White, a former Jackson County executive, said the arrangement would present a host of potential conflicts for both the authority and the team. He pointed to the fact that sports authorities, unlike other quasi-governmental agencies, have the power to issue bonds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a member of the board\u2026you\u2019d be voting to approve your own request for the funds that you\u2019re turning in to be paid,\u201d White said. \u201cThat would be a straight-up conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another situation that would be ripe for conflict is any potential litigation involving the Chiefs. White said that while the Jackson County authority has never been in litigation with the team, they have \u201ccome close.\u201d<\/p>\n

White said the team should recuse itself from any votes \u201cwhere there is a conflict between the unbiased judgment of the authority and an economic interest of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lacing concerns about the sports authority is a provision in the legislation that exempts the board from the state\u2019s competitive bidding requirements. White said that line could create \u201cenormous problems\u201d for the authority and the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime you\u2019re spending taxpayers\u2019 dollars, you want to make sure that you\u2019re getting the best price and that there\u2019s no nepotism involved,\u201d he said. \u201cYou definitely want to have competitive bidding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loading\u2026<\/p>\n

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Kacen Bayless is the Democracy Insider for The Kansas City Star, a position that uncovers how politics and government affect communities across the sprawling Kansas City area. Prior to this role, he covered Missouri politics for The Star. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he previously was an investigative reporter in coastal South Carolina.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n


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Matthew Kelly is The Kansas City Star\u2019s Kansas State Government reporter. He previously covered local government for The Wichita Eagle. Kelly holds a political science degree from Wichita State University.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Kansas lawmakers rush to pass legislation designed to solidify a Kansas City Chiefs stadium in their state,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,25466,112977,7,16922,118,110,112275,2438,2437,6],"class_list":["post-809863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-chiefs","tag-chiefs-stadium","tag-conflic-of-interest","tag-football","tag-kansas-chiefs","tag-kansas-city","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-kansas-sports-authority","tag-kansascity","tag-kansascitychiefs","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116221828478430255","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}