The Royals did “not have a deal on the table for consideration” at yesterday’s meeting of the Legislative Coordinating Council for a new ballpark in Kansas, according to Alatidd, Harvel & Keating of the TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL. It was the last scheduled LCC meeting for the year, meaning the baseball team will “not meet the Dec. 31 deadline” for a ballpark deal imposed by the lawmakers. However, the deadline under the law “is June 30, so legally a deal could still be made if lawmakers are willing to consider one after their self-imposed deadline” (TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL, 12/22).
FOLLOW THE LEADER? The AP’s Dave Skretta wrote one of the “prevailing questions” now following the decision by the Chiefs yesterday to depart Arrowhead Stadium for a new domed facility in Kansas is whether the Royals “will follow the Chiefs across the Kansas-Missouri line.” The Royals insist they will not play at Kauffman Stadium “beyond the 2031 season,” and their “preference has been to build a new downtown ballpark.” But a sales tax extension that would have paid for an $800M renovation of Arrowhead Stadium and a new home for the Royals “was soundly defeated” last year by voters in Jackson County, Mo., leaving “both to look elsewhere.” Through an affiliate, the Royals have “purchased the mortgage for a tract of land in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kansas” (AP, 12/22).
IS THE GRASS GREENER? In K.C., Hancock & Shorman wrote as Missouri mourns the loss of the Chiefs, the fate of the Royals “remains in flux.” K.C. Mayor Quinton Lucas said yesterday that his “hope is for a downtown baseball stadium,” while other Missouri officials “continue pushing for a North Kansas City site.” State Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern and House Speaker Jon Patterson both said that as far as they were aware, negotiations with the Royals “are ongoing” (K.C. BUSINESS JOURNAL, 12/22). Patterson added, “As easy as it would be to now play the blame game here in Missouri, I think it’s best we regroup and get together as city, state and county leaders and see what we can do about maybe keeping the Kansas City Royals in Missouri” (K.C. STAR, 12/22).
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