Clark Hunt needs more time to decide on his stadium.
The owner of the National Football League Kansas City Chiefs franchise, Clark Hunt, is singing to Kansas lawmakers this song. “Give Me Just a Little More Time”. Hunt is evaluating his stadium options in Missouri and in Kansas. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe has signed a bill that would give state money for the construction of a venue for Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals owner John Sherman and provide cash to Hunt to renovate his home field. Hunt’s front office needs the time to compare the offers but the Kansas proposal was due to end on June 30th. Kansas lawmakers are open to extending the deadline retroactively at a July 7th meeting.
The stadium problems began in April 2024 when Jackson County, Missouri voters said no to extending a sales tax that would have funded a Royals’ downtown Kansas City stadium and a renovation of Hunt’s Chiefs’ football venue. There is nothing new from Kansas where local politicians have indicated that they might want the Chiefs and Royals’ businesses in their state. Kansas lawmakers are still mulling over a proposal that would see STAR bonds used to help pay 75% of the cost of building two stadiums in Kansas. Additionally, sports gambling and lottery gaming and sales tax revenue from businesses in the stadium development districts would cover bond debt. Another source of revenue to pay off the debt would come from a liquor tax. Kansas lawmakers could use a mechanism that would allow up to 100% of sales tax revenue on alcoholic liquor sales within a stadium district to pay off bonds for the structures. Missouri politicians will pay up to 50 percent of the construction costs of two venues in an attempt to keep Hunt’s franchise and Sherman’s business in the state. The stadium game is going into overtime in Kansas and in Missouri.
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