Mayor Quinton Lucas defends new Royals ballpark plan: ‘It completes downtown Kansas City’

Kansas City officials announced a plan for a new downtown Royals stadium on Thursday, which would include $600 million in funding from the city.

The city would fund its part primarily using taxes on new economic activity around the site, and expects to get additional funding from the Missouri under an incentive package passed by state lawmakers.

The ballpark would be at Washington Square Park, right near Union Station and Crown Center. However, the Royals have yet to formally endorse the concept, and lots of questions remain.

During a live broadcast of KCUR’s Up To Date on Friday, from Rochester Brewing and Roasting Company in the Crossroads, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says there is a strong possibility this deal gets across the finish line.

“This is not just me talking like a cowboy and saying the deal will get done. This is me saying that there is an incredibly great likelihood that the Kansas City Royals will be playing at Washington Square Park,” he said. “To give a really tired baseball analogy, it’s like, you know, we have bases loaded. It’s the bottom of the ninth, our batters on and all we need to do is just make sure, you know, we get run one run in.”

Lucas says this plan is different from the proposal rejected by voters two years ago, which would have extended a stadium sales-tax by 40 years.

“What we are not doing is asking every man, woman and child in Jackson County to pay sales taxes towards it, every person in Kansas City,” Lucas said.

The latest financing plan would not require a public vote, drawing criticism from some city council members and a local worker coalition.

“I absolutely understand that, and I think there are public bodies under which they can weigh in,” Lucas said. “The people of Kansas City elect us to make sure that we can make important decisions for them. The public bodies absolutely will be engaging with the public, and that’s a promise, and not just a promise, it’s a legal requirement and regulation as we go forward.”

Economists and researchers widely agree that publicly subsidizing sports stadiums is a poor deal for cities.

But Lucas believes that building the new ballpark at the Washington Square Park location will “activate” that part of the city and make it one of the most “dynamic” communities in our region.

“What I think this is, is fundamentally great infill development in a part of the city where we need it,” Lucas said. “This gives us the opportunity to better leverage our hotel assets, our convention assets, and frankly, it completes downtown Kansas City, in a way for any of us who were here 30 years ago that makes it vastly more dynamic.”

Auditing news coverage

Lucas also continues to maintain that his office was not involved in an audit of news coverage from the Kansas City Star.

The Star reported earlier this week that city staff reviewed the newspaper’s coverage in 2024 for perceived instances of bias against city hall. The Star also reported that, despite the mayor’s denials, Lucas was in fact active in email chains regarding the audit. A member of the city manager’s staff also says Lucas ordered the review.

Lucas told KCUR that his staff does read and listen to media coverage.

“You know, you do try to make sure you get your message out there, but you should never really try to control someone else’s,” Lucas said. “Instead, you try to get your voice out as much as possible.”

Kansas City Council unanimously fired former City Manager Brian Platt last year, after losing a whistleblower lawsuit claiming that Platt encouraged employees to lie to the media. Documents later revealed that Kansas City spent $500,000 to settle with Platt over his firing.

World Cup travel ban

Lucas also blasted the Trump administration’s travel restrictions ahead of the World Cup as an “embarrassment.”

A travel ban heavily restricts people from dozens of countries from visiting the U.S. In addition, fans and players from fifty countries will have to pay up to 15,000 dollars to enter the country as part of a new visa bond system.

Lucas says the restrictions send the wrong message to the world, regardless of the difficulties it will post for this summer’s tournament.

“We are not working to try to find ways to make people either feel unwelcome or to get them kicked out of this country,” Lucas said. “And we’re going to do all that we can, from my position as mayor and everyone else in the city, to say that Kansas City is open and welcome for you.”

Algeria and Tunisia are both subject to the visa entry bond and scheduled to play matches in Kansas City. Algeria’s men’s national team is also making its base camp in Lawrence, Kansas.