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KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2014 As the Royals plan an \u201cimportant update on the future of the Royals in Kansas City\u201d Wednesday, groups are already gathering support for potential opposition to a publicly financed downtown stadium.<\/p>\n
The Committee Against New Royals Stadium taxes helped defeat funding for a stadium proposal two years ago. They say they are still 10,000 members strong and weighing options as no public vote is planned this time around, at least for now.<\/p>\n
New downtown Royals stadium site may shift slightly <\/a><\/p>\n Missouri Workers Center is organizing a rally on May 1 at 5:30 p.m. The event is tentatively planned for Washington Square Park, but may have to relocate after Tuesday\u2019s curveball that the stadium could now go to the other side of Crown Center.<\/p>\n Terrence Wise with the Missouri Workers Center isn\u2019t excited about Wednesday\u2019s joint announcement by the Royals owner John Sherman, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a mayor that is still going around the will of the people and still finding a way to fund this baseball team and new stadium,\u201d Wise said.<\/p>\n He was at the table just over two years ago as the team worked on a community benefits agreement ahead of a failed vote of an extension of the Jackson County sales tax that would have funded Arrowhead renovations and a new Royals stadium in the Crossroads.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he thought a community benefits agreement was free tickets and $1 hot dog nights. So when I think about the people sitting at the table in the morning the Mayor, Governor and John Sherman those are folks who have shown us who they truly care about and it\u2019s not taxpayers and Kansas Citians,\u201d Wise said.<\/p>\n Bobby Witt Jr. responds to fans booing after Royals slow start <\/a><\/p>\n After last week\u2019s vote by Kansas City\u2019s City Council cleared the way for a comprehensive lease and development agreement, Lucas called it \u201ca historic day\u201d finding a way to fund a transformational new stadium and baseball district including the city committing up to $600 million in bonds backed by stadium generated revenues. The state will also contribute to funding for the project expected to include a billion-dollar stadium and billion-dollar surrounding district.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they are sugarcoating to the people they aren\u2019t going to be funding it, yes they are, they are going to be funding it one way or another,\u201d former Kansas City Councilwoman Becky Nace said.<\/p>\n Despite successes on the field, Nace says Jackson County has been losing out on potential revenue from its teams since it gave up revenue sharing in 2006.<\/p>\n \u201cMy advice on lessons learned from Jackson County is they should ask for revenue sharing back or those numbers are going to be challenging for their ability to deliver basic services,\u201d Nace said.<\/p>\n