Big Blow for Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs as Missouri Senator Protests $400M Offer for Super Bowl Champs to Stay in the ‘Show-Me’ State

There has been a development in the Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs and co-owned Royals battle to attract STAR Bonds to renovate/construct their respective stadiums. Revenues from hospitality, gambling, lottery, and sales taxes were proposed to be the saviors of the Chiefs’ long stay in Kansas City. About a week ago, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and Governor Laura Kelly expressed their keen interest in keeping the Chiefs where they are.

The mayor even put forth the idea of financially aiding one of the teams to stay within the city and the amount is huge. In an interview with KMBC9, Lucas assured, “I’m not going to be the one to talk about confidential negotiations, but the city of Kansas City, myself, I have been in meetings booked to put forward at least an offer of $400 million plus for one of our professional franchises to stay within the city.” But these numbers don’t sit well with Missouri US Senator Josh Hawley.

The Senator stood in solidarity with the Jackson City residents and supported their “No” vote on a recent bill that created 3/16 cent sales tax that would be redirected to the Kansas City Chiefs, but not the KC Royals. The Missourians love their sports franchises but are conflicted with the idea of paying their hard-earned money to sustain the sports team’s extravagant demands.

Acknowledging communal sentiments about the issue, Hawley spoke to Missourinet saying, “I know (the Chiefs and Royals) want all manner of tax breaks and handouts, but listen, I think the voters have made clear they’re not going to (accept that),” and that “They love these teams, (but) they’re not going to give them some special sweetheart deal, a whole bunch of taxpayer money that voters never get paid back.” The Kansas City Chiefs might slowly lose the trust of the Senator, who has still managed to maintain an air of congeniality.

Hawley’s plea appears to have an emotional sentiment behind them, which is what most of the Missourians feel. “These are proud Missouri teams, have been for decades. Nobody has done more for them than the people of the region,” the Senator said as he asked the parties involved to consider the moral implications of their actions and added, “That’s the reality here, and I just hope these teams will do the right thing.”  But while the Senator is lobbying for the people of Missouri, there are other forces at play.

Has the countdown started for the Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs?

In late February, Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt toyed with the idea of renovating the Kansas City Chiefs home stadium. But here’s the catch: A whopping $800 million was quoted at the time to renew the 52-year-old Arrowhead Stadium. Hunt proposed to pitch $300 million for the renovation given that “We would not be willing to sign a lease for another 25 years without the financing to properly renovate and reimagine the stadium.”

The Kansas City Chiefs’ lease on the Truman Complex expires after the 2030 season and with each passing day, the Chiefs staying put feels like a dream. Despite Mayor Quinton Lucas’ potential $400 million future aid, there’s no guarantee that Clark Hunt will still choose to stay at the current facility. Let’s crunch some numbers to complete the complicated puzzle.

The STAR bonds mentioned earlier would only provide as high as 70% of the needed amount. This is important to know because the KC legislators have already passed a tax cut bill to keep the Chiefs in Kansas City. A new stadium will cost around $2 Billion to build, per some reports. Also, some sources suggest that about $71.5 million from gambling revenues will be redirected towards the project.

However, as mentioned earlier, despite the support from the mayor and the Governor, Clark Hunt still thinks of Kansas City as an “option.” The success of STAR bonds-funded projects has also been dicey in the past but with the exception of the Kansas Speedway, which is deemed to be the most successful STAR bond-funded project. Another project, Prairiefire in Overland Park failed to make payment of $15 million on time, hence serving as ground zero for risk assessment.

Then there’s the problem of the bondholders not getting paid because of the defaulting. Also, a 2022 empirical study pointed out that there are “little to no tangible impacts of sports teams and facilities on local economic activity.” Despite these supposed drawbacks, Governor Laura Kelly seemed ebullient about the future of Kansas and its beloved sports franchises.

“Kansas now has the opportunity to become a professional sports powerhouse with the Chiefs and Royals potentially joining Sporting KC as major league attractions, all with robust, revenue-generating entertainment districts surrounding them providing new jobs, new visitors, and new revenues that boost the Kansas economy,” per Gov Laura Kelly trying to keep the Chiefs in the “Show-Me” state.