Kansas hopes to lure Chiefs, Royals across the border

(NewsNation) — The possibility of the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs relocating from Missouri to Kansas could reignite an economic war in the two-state Kansas City metro area.

Kansas lawmakers are scheduled to meet in a special session starting Tuesday, primarily to consider a new tax proposal. But they may also approve a plan to authorize state bonds to build two new stadiums.

Revenue from sports betting, the Kansas Lottery and additional tax dollars generated in and around the new venues would pay off the bonds, proponents say.

Earlier this month, the MLB’s Royals said the club is open to making a move in light of the April 2 defeat of a sales tax hike to fund a new ballpark near the team’s current home in Jackson Co., Missouri.

“Since April 2, we must evaluate all options that may be available to us with respect to the new stadium. The Royals need a place to play baseball in the near future and the recent … discussions in Kansas provide a path for us to explore,” the team said in a statement.

The NFL Super Bowl Champion Chiefs have made no public statements about a possible move to Kansas. Last week the leaders of both bodies of the Kansas legislature sent a letter to Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt asking him to consider a new stadium in the Sunflower State.

Kansas’ entreaties could renew an economic “border war” that festered for years, as state and county officials in both states came up with tax breaks and other incentives to lure businesses from one state to the other. Both sides called a truce in 2019.

The greater rivalry goes back nearly 200 years, as far back as the lead-up to the Civil War, before Kansas was even a state. People from Missouri came from the east, hoping in vain to create another slave state like their own. Both sides looted, burned and killed across the border.

The Missouri-Kanas border runs through the Kansas City metropolitan area, which is home to about 2.3 million people. The Missouri side accounts for about 60% of the region’s population, but the Kansas side is rapidly expanding. If Kansas were successful in attracting one or both teams, they would move only about 25 miles west.

Economists have studied pro sports teams and subsidies for stadiums since at least the 1980s. J.C. Bradbury, an economics and finance professor from Kennesaw State University in Georgia, said studies show subsidizing stadiums is “a terrible channel for economic growth.”

While supporters of the Kansas effort have cited a report indicating large, positive economic implications, Bradbury said “phony” reports are a staple of stadium campaigns.

One prominent conservative economic group has come out against public financing for new venues in Metro Kansas City.

“I have no problem with Clark Hunt spending his own billion dollars or financing it on his own dime in order to have the Chiefs come here,” Americans for Prosperity legislative director Michael Austin said.

“But when you’re dealing with other people’s money, I think we need to take more time and possibly look at less riskier options.”

The Associated Press and Nexstar station WDAF contributed to this report.