JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Should Missouri offer incentives to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals to keep them from relocating to Kansas? It’s a topic that the leading Republican candidates for governor seem to disagree on.
As Gov. Mike Parson works with local leaders and the two teams on a plan, some Republican gubernatorial candidates said this is not the state’s problem. Instead, the candidates said they want to focus on cutting taxes, not giving handouts for sports teams or stadiums.
“I think everybody that I know, we want to try to figure out a way to keep the Royals and the Chiefs in Missouri,” Parson said. “I mean, I think that’s a no-brainer to make sure we keep them.”
Standing in front of both Super Bowl trophies in his office last month, Parson promising the state will be competitive as Kansas tries to lure both teams across state lines by offering bonds to pay for new stadiums.
“I think Kansas City is very aggressive in wanting to have a professional team in downtown Kansas City; it seems like where they are headed,” Parson said. “I will also tell you that Clay County is very serious about trying to be a player in all these decisions.”
Back in June, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill in hopes of enticing the Chiefs and the Royals to the Sunflower State by offering bonds to help pay for up to 70% of the cost of new stadiums.
Earlier this spring, the Jackson County voters rejected a stadium sales tax which would have helped fund a new ballpark for the Royals and renovated Arrowhead Stadium.
Parson’s successors don’t necessarily feel the same way. Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, blames the Republicans in Jefferson City, who want to waste money on sports stadiums upgrades instead of cutting taxes.
“Whenever I hear this question, I immediately think to myself that I can’t believe that $12 for a hot dog and $18 for a Budweiser is not enough for these billionaires,” Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, said.
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said offering subsidies to sports teams is wrong. He said if he is voted governor, he will make Missouri a state where individuals, companies and pro-sports teams want to be by prioritizing education and public safety and by getting rid of the state income tax.
“I remember when St. Louis had a basketball team; I remember the St. Louis Rams football team, it doesn’t work and it’s not right for government to take your money and give it to someone else,” Ashcroft said. “I’m not going to take money out of your pocket to give it to some billionaire.”
Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, who Parson endorsed for governor, said this is a business decision, but does not support spending public tax dollars on stadiums.
“What we have to do is look at it as an economic development situation,” Kehoe said. “I think we have to look at it as always, always, always as a good investment for taxpayers and a good return on the investment and what economic development tools we would use for any business to stay in our state, to make sure those two businesses stay here.”
Kehoe said he’s not a fan of the STAR bond program that Kansas passed.
“Jackson County has a sports authority that would be able to look at maybe some financing options and I think it’s a combination of all those things to look at,” Kehoe said. “The fact that this particular business is called Chiefs and Royals has tried to create this whole new level of conversation.”
Eigel said he believes the two teams would stay if the state cut income and personal property taxes.
“Let’s do those things that are going to encourage them to stay here without having to offer these economic development bribes, which is exactly what they are and getting into these border wars with our neighboring states,” he said.
Parson said his office has been talking with both teams and acknowledges the state is going to have to spend money to remain competitive. The governor said he plans to have something in place by the end of the year.
