Talks between North K.C. and the Royals to build a new ballpark there “appear to be getting more serious as the mayor says the city is working out the framework of a deal,” according to Chris Higgins of the K.C. STAR. North K.C. Mayor Jesse Smith in a statement said that the city “is working on a deal framework that would then involve the state and the county.” The city in a news release on Thursday said discussions with the Royals are “substantial.” Smith said that the city is now “entering a ‘brief period’ where talks will remain confidential.” He added that the city “will communicate four major priorities with the team as talks move forward,” including protecting the city’s long-term financial health, safeguarding neighborhoods, leveraging investment for the city’s infrastructure and engaging the community and region with open communication if a deal framework is reached. Higgins noted Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a bill earlier this year that allows Clay County to “create a sports complex authority,” a board that would “help structure and manage a future stadium deal.” A “lingering question” has been whether Clay County voters would be “called to a sales tax vote if the Royals target North Kansas City.” Smith suggested that “they could,” adding that “nothing will sneak up on residents and they’ll know if there’s any deal even on the table well ahead of any public vote” (K.C. STAR, 10/17).
WHO SAYS NO? In K.C., Kacen Bayless writes voters across Missouri “could have a chance to repeal” the previously passed “sweeping incentives package” for the Chiefs and Royals venues. A St. Louis-based law firm with a “strong connection to Missouri politics” has laid the “groundwork for a campaign that would ask voters to strike down the stadium-financing law” intended to keep the Chiefs and Royals in Missouri. A pair of proposed ballot measures “would direct the state to notify lawmakers how much money was saved from clawing back the incentives.” The goal is for lawmakers to “direct that money towards protecting Medicaid coverage amid a wave of federal cuts.” Whether either of Ketcher Law Firm’s proposals reaches the November 2026 ballot is “far from a certainty.” The petitions “cleared their first hurdle” this week when Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins allowed the campaign to start “collecting signatures and crafted ballot language for the proposals.” Hoskins, in his proposed ballot language, claims that Ketcher’s plan would likely “result in the Chiefs moving to Kansas.” When asked why the question mentioned the Chiefs and not the Royals, Hoskins’ spokesperson Rachael Dunn said that the language focused on the “clearest, most immediate potential consequence based on information available at the time of review” and was “not based on any internal knowledge of either teams’ plans” (K.C. STAR, 10/20).
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.sportsbusinessjournal.com ’
