‘Tax’ing times to stop Chiefs-Royals flight

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The Missouri lawmakers will return to Jefferson City (Missouri, US) next month for a special session to debate providing tax breaks to keep the National Football League (NFL) team Kansas City Chiefs and the Major League Baseball (MLB) team Kansas City Royals in the State (Missouri), the Governor of Missouri Mike Kehoe said in a presser recently.

‘MISSOURI INDEPENDENT’ stated that the special session could also consider a $500 million spending Bill for construction needs around the State, he said, but a final decision has not been made.

Despite the late reveal, the Missouri House passed the proposal on a 108-40 vote. But the Senate balked at the deal with many Members saying they could not support it because a $513 million Capital Construction Bill died when the Missouri House refused to allow it to come up for a vote.

The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri (US). The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference West Division.

The 76,416-capacity Arrowhead Stadium is an American football stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL).

The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri (US). The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League Central Division.

The 37,903-capacity Kauffman Stadium is a ballpark located in Kansas City, Missouri (US) and the home of the Major League Baseball (MLB) team Kansas City Royals. It is next door to the Arrowhead Stadium, home of the National Football League’s (NFL’s) Kansas City Chiefs.

‘MISSOURI INDEPENDENT’ further stated that in the final days of the regular session which ended recently Kehoe unveiled a plan to use tax revenue generated by the Chiefs and the Royals to finance bonds for their stadiums. The Chiefs would use the money to upgrade the Arrowhead Stadium while the Royals would use it for a new stadium in Missouri.

Kehoe did not see the delay of the stadium proposal as a final defeat – “We introduced that in the last week of the session to try to find what the feelings were.”

The exact date for the special session has not been determined, Kehoe said.

The Chiefs and the Royals face a deadline at the end of June on whether they will accept an offer from Kansas to pay 70 percent of the cost of building new stadiums in that State (Kansas). The proposal floated by Kehoe would pay up to half the cost as well as up to $50 million in tax credits for any direct investments made by the teams.

Remodeling the Arrowhead Stadium and building a new baseball stadium would cost up to $3 billion, Kehoe said.

“I would consider that significant economic development,” Kehoe said of the stadiums comparing them to the manufacturing projects that won incentives from the lawmakers in the past.

The Missouri House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, said she agrees that the State should work to keep the Chiefs and the Royals from moving to Kansas but blamed Kehoe for the late introduction of his plan for the need to hold a special session.

Averred Aune, “We are at this point because Governor Kehoe committed gross legislative malpractice by springing his stadium plan on lawmakers with no warning and just days left in the regular session without bothering to first build support for it.”

The hurdles for a successful special session are both political and financial. The stadium plan died in the regular session when the Senate twice used a rare procedural rule to end debate on controversial Bills on abortion and sick leave rights.

Complicating the debate is the lingering anger over the projects that were lost when the House sunk the Capital Improvements Bill.

One of the biggest boosters of the Chiefs and the Royals, State Senator Barbara Washington, a Kansas City Democrat, said she could not support a stadium funding Bill if the Capital Improvements Bill is not part of a special session – “Those things are more important to me and to my colleagues than the Chiefs.”

Kehoe did not rule out including the capital spending in a call for a special session but did not commit to it either.

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