Down to the wire on new Kansas City Royals ballpark

It looks like a new proposal for a new Kansas City Royals ballpark is once again imminent, but what side of the state line the team lands on remains to be seen.

We know from various media reports that team reps continue to talk with government officials throughout the region in both Kansas and Missouri about a new Kansas City Royals ballpark, with one site in Kansas and two sites in Missouri in play. We know Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe expects the team to remain in his state, though he can’t say where a new stadium would be located. We know Kansas has authorized STAR bonding for a new ballpark, the same financing tool used to finance Children’s Mercy Park, home of MLS’s Sporting Kansas City—but the legislation authorizing the bonding expires at the end of the year. We know the Royals have already financially invested in Kansas, with a team-affiliated company acquiring the mortgage on the former Sprint campus, now branded as the Aspiria campus, in Overland Park. And we know the team is set to meet with the Kansas state Legislative Coordinating Council (LCC) in late November or early December, with Republican State Senate President Ty Masterson saying he expects a ballpark proposal from the Royals.

Kehoe noted the changed circumstances on his side of the border:

“I’ve had great meetings with the ownership groups. Obviously, there’s at least one county, potentially two counties, in the Kansas City area that are involved in that. And they understand what they need to do,” Kehoe said.

“We have a new county executive in Jackson County. I’ve spoken with county executive-elect LeVota, and he’s very interested in making sure we do what we can to make sure the Chiefs stay a Missouri team, where they belong.”

Those two Missouri sites: Washington Square Park on Pershing Road in downtown Kansas City (near Union Station and Crown Center) in Jackson County and North Kansas City in Clay County. But there’s some political opposition to the specific Washington Square Park ballpark location.

While North Kansas City is much smaller than Kansas City, the location is alluring—just across the river from downtown Kansas City—and the mayor there has been aggressively wooing the Royals. State legislation allowed the city to form a sports complex authority, a tool that could be used to bond and back a new ballpark, and North Kansas City Mayor Jesse Smith has been regularly meeting with Royal officials. From the Kansas City Star:

North Kansas City Mayor Jesse Smith said in a statement that the city is working on a deal framework that would then involve the state and the county. The city is now entering a “brief period” where talks will remain confidential, Smith said….

“As mayor, I remain committed to transparency throughout this process and want to share the priorities I have consistently communicated on behalf of our community,” Smith said.

In Jackson County, the fortunes of a new Kansas City Royals ballpark may be brighter now that voters recalled Frank White in a September election. White, the former Kansas City Royals star, was a firm opponent of a new downtown ballpark and preferred to see the team stay at Kauffman Stadium. (It’s hard to say whether White was recalled because of the Royals/Chiefs situation, as there were plenty of issues surrounding the county’s performance.) 

So where do all these developments leave us? Though there has been plenty of action behind the scenes, it’s also true that there are plenty of moving parts here. The Royals have already said staying at Kauffman Stadium isn’t an option once their lease expires in 2030, and as we approach the end of 2025, time is starting to be of the essence. While their fates are not directly intertwined, both Kansas and Missouri are contemplating the future stadium needs of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and whether the team stays at Arrowhead Stadium or moves to Kansas. But a three-way bidding competition between three entities is certainly not bad news for team owner John Sherman—and it looks like we will see plenty of news about the new Kansas City Royals ballpark between now and the end of the year.

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