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On Tuesday, the Royals announced plans for a new downtown stadium in Kansas City’s East Crossroads neighborhood.
But conversations about baseball in downtown Kansas City go back a few years, building up to local elections in April, when Jackson County voters will decide whether or not to approve a 40-year sales tax for help pay for a new Royals stadium and renovations for the Chiefs. in arrowhead.
Here’s a timeline of how we got here.
2019
John Sherman buys the Royals, and officials close to him suggest he’s open to the idea of downtown baseball.
2021
Sherman begins to talk openly about his desire to move downtown and then about how a new stadium could boost Kansas City’s economy.
2022
Sherman wrote a letter to the public in November, proposing a Royals stadium downtown with a $2 billion price tag, calling it “the largest public-private development project in Kansas City history.”
He described a “stadium district” that would include a stadium, restaurants and shops, office space, hotels and housing, including affordable housing options.
The team faced questions about how it plans to pay for the project and whether taxpayers should help pay for a new stadium for a team with a losing history.
Sherman said the Royals would not ask Jackson County residents to contribute more taxes than they already do through the current stadium sales tax.
In December, the team held a “listening tour” with forums in Kansas City. The Royals tell residents they have visited 14 sites and plan to stay in KCMO. Big questions remain.
2023
June: Negotiations on the stadium deal with elected officials are not progressing as expected, and the Royals are talking about bringing a sales tax for the team to a public vote anyway.
August: The royals say they will choose between two final sites: East Village or North Kansas City in late September.
The team releases renderings of the two final sites and team leaders talk about how they still need the support of elected officials to carry out the downtown stadium development.
October: The Royals remain committed to seeking a long-term sales tax even though many teams fund stadiums through tourism taxes.
The economic benefits of a new stadium are in doubt, and a financial analysis shows that the stadium would cost much more than the team says, which the team counters.
November: The Royals have not yet chosen a site and reintroduce the Kansas City Star Press Pavilion as a favorite.
Businesses in Crossroads are surprised, and local labor groups note that the team has not entered into any negotiations to have a community benefits agreement be part of the stadium deal.
December 14th: Jackson County Legislator DaRon McGee is proposing to put a 40-year stadium sales tax on the April ballot without a site selected, a lease or any other public commitment from either team.
December 15: Jackson County Executive Frank White says he wants a stadium deal that is most beneficial to the county and wants more formal binding commitments from the teams before the county decides to put anything on the ballot.
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2024
January 5: Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca adds the possibility of a chiefs-only tax to the county’s legislative agenda.
The Royals and Chiefs issue a joint statement promising some concessions to the county if voters approve a sales tax for both teams.
January the 8th: The Jackson County Legislature approves McGee’s ordinance to put the stadium tax on the ballot with an 8-1 majority.
12th of January: White says he wants a commitment from the Chiefs to keep their practice facility and headquarters in Jackson County, something the team has not promised to do.
January 18: White vetoes the ordinance that the county legislature passed on Jan. 8, and four lawmakers (enough votes to avoid an override) issued public statements saying they support White’s veto and plan to maintain it.
Some of the statements include lists of conditions that lawmakers would need the teams to address before supporting putting a tax on the ballot. Abarca issues a statement criticizing White and the legislators who supported him, threatening that the teams will leave Kansas City if this tax does not appear on the April ballot. (The teams have never said this publicly.)
Together, these actions raise questions about whether more would be done to meet the Jan. 23 deadline to submit the stadium tax decision to voters this spring.
January 19: Teams and county lawmakers negotiated over the weekend to try to reach a deal that satisfies all sides, addressing where the discrepancies are between what the county wants and what the teams have publicly promised so far.
January 22: Two lawmakers who had planned to uphold the veto Thursday decided over the weekend that they will vote to override it, after the teams sent the county a new signed letter of intent committing in writing to some of the requests lawmakers had.
The Jackson County Legislature then votes to override White’s veto, placing the stadium sales tax on the April 2 ballot.
26 of January: The Church of the Resurrection at Crossroads is moving forward with major renovations despite being in the area where the Royals potentially want a new stadium.
February 2: Royals owner Sherman says the team will make an important announcement soon as early voting will begin for some Jackson County residents starting February 16.
February 12: The Star breaks the news that the Royals chose the Crossroads site.
February 13th: The Royals are releasing renderings of their proposed stadium, which would cover blocks of East Crossroads where several local businesses are located, and offer few details about how they plan to pay for it.
The Star’s Mike Hendricks, Sam McDowell, Blair Kerkhoff and Vahe Gregorian contributed reporting.
Allison Dikanovic is The Star’s assistant business and accountability editor. She has been in Kansas City since 2021 and previously led the service journalism team. She has worked in newsrooms and classrooms in Milwaukee, Oakland and New York. She has degrees from Marquette University and CUNY’s Craig Newmark School of Journalism.