The optics of Kansas legislators debating whether to support an effort to lure the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals across the border during Tuesday’s special session are somewhat jarring.
Initially, the session was to solely focus on a tax cut package that will help ease the burdens on everyday Kansans.
And while that may happen with relatively little debate, it will get second billing to the fawning over two billionaires to look our way.
Since the overwhelming April 2 defeat by Jackson County, Mo., voters of a 40-year sales tax that would keep the Chiefs and Royals in Missouri, Kansas legislators have been eying the two teams.
The Missouri measure would have extended a stadium sales tax to go toward building a new stadium for the Kansas City Royals in the downtown Crossroads district and renovating Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs.
Naysayers viewed it as a $2 billion transfer of public funds to private enterprise.
The Royals’ lease at Kauffman Stadium expires in 2031, with owner John Sherman saying the team would not play there beyond the 2030 season.
As for the Chiefs, owner Lamar Hunt has said he’s not willing to sign another lease without public financing to “reimagine the stadium,” and now is reassessing the situation.
On the table in Topeka is up to $1 billion in financing.
Is this corporate welfare or economic development?
By necessity, both.
Sherman and Hunt are billionaires whose teams each year make hundreds of millions.
At issue is whether those revenues benefit taxpayers.
According to indepth studies, the return on investment in athletic stadiums often falls short in part because the facilities are not used all that often as compared to an industry nor do they employ a large percentage of full-time workers.
But sometimes the investments do pay off. And such ventures are always worth considering.
