Downtown Baseball Stadium

[DColeKC]

You might get a chance to vote on Arrowhead again, but the Royals are in serios limbo. And sadly it really seems like most of KC doesn't care about the Royals.

Oh they care. They were just naïve enough to think they held all the cards. Unlike Beauty from Ashes, I don't think the Crossroads lost the vote for the Royals. There were just too many forces outside the city for Kansas City to overcome (and KC had its share of detractors too). Independence, Raytown, Lees Summit and just about every Mo suburb most likely had no votes well in excess of the final percentage. The folks on Save Kaufman Stadium honestly believed they were forcing Sherman's hand to remain at Royals Stadium and were determined to do just that.

I actually am excited to see the vote results by area. I bet Eastern Jack shot this down big time. They probably will lose both teams eventually but this bought them some time.

I just skimmed over it. Eastern JaCo played a massive role in the no vote. Shockingly, many precincts in Lee's Summit voted YES.

[GRID]

I think the save the crossroads did more damage than anything. You already had to overcome the suburban vote so once everyone latched onto "destruction of the crossroads", it was all over.

[beautyfromashes]

I think the save the crossroads did more damage than anything. You already had to overcome the suburban vote so once everyone latched onto "destruction of the crossroads", it was all over.

East Village would have won.

[ericwyner]

but how do you please the "save the K crowd"?

[WoodDraw]

I feel so disconnected from the comments I'm reading here. The general consensus among people in my life was that this was a disastrous campaign.

It was late and felt rushed on the royals side. They didn't get community buy in ahead of time, and the behind the scene machinations left questions.

It was a mix of vapor renderings and unclear investment, along with the lack of details on the surrounding crossroads and the concern for the long term neighborhood.

Somehow the chiefs did worse and just kinda said give us the money and we'll kinda do nothing with it.

It was a historically bad campaign. My KC group tends to lean heavily towards the vote for anything group, and they broke overwhelmingly no.

Entitled voting campaigns don't work, especially forrich billionaire owners people are already skeptical of.

I think the royals got some very bad advice, especially later on, and this went down in predictable flames. Be careful of people trying to throw blame now.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Interesting results. Not surprised by the vote percentages but was definitely surprised by the large NO vote percentage in the KC portion of the county.
It looks like some on here blame Frank White but I think his stance was more in alignment with the NO voters and maybe more of the YES side should have listened to him and his points. But go ahead and say what you want about him, KC Tenants, Save the Crossroads and others who pushed for a NO vote but this failure falls squarely on the shoulders of the Royals and to a degree the Chiefs and the County Legislature. The rush to put it on the ballot was the first big mistake which led to the other mistakes. Too many questions and issues remained unanswered and solved when early voting started. The YES side was busy, and likely not prepared, to answer the questions and resolve the issues once the voting started in a timely matter. I know the YES side promoted the 40,000 parking spaces but to say parking isn't an issue because of the number of spaces available really doesn't answer or address the objections of those who have questions about parking. How many of those spaces are used by those living downtown? With the arena nearby what happens if there is a sold out concert and the Cardinals in town on the same night, along with other events that may be happening in the area? And not just the parking but the traffic flows into and out of the area for the games. How much is the city and state going to be expected to kick in not only for the stadium but the associated development? And remember in NKC and East Village the related development was going to help finance the team but at the Crossroads site it appears there would be far less development. There are probably a dozen of other questions and issues for why people voted NO.
What does the future hold for both teams and Jackson County and KCMO. Well given the high percentage of NO votes in KC alone the issue of a downtown stadium may not be dead but is definitely on life support. If the city leaders and the Royals do want a downtown stadium they will have to find a way to finance it without going to the voters again. Probably the best chance for a downtown stadium is to find a way for the East Village site to work. The Chiefs will break from the Royals and reach an agreement with the county to have another vote for a lower sales tax rate and a shorter period of time for the tax to be in place. Since the two seemed to agree on a 25 year lease that would probably the length of time of the tax. Of course the Royals could always eat crow and stay at TSC but seriously doubt that.

[ericwyner]

will they hire Jeff Roe to manage another campaign?

[KCPowercat]

That vote shows what happens when a fleshed out plan isn't presented to voters. S clear message and full plan wins that vote easily.

Many things brought up here were left half ass answered and voters don't like that. This isn't the doing of some group like KC tenants but of course they will try and take the glory.

I predict a similar plan for the royals comes out in same location and back to the voting booth within a year. It will give them time to bake their plan and present a clear message to voters. Chiefs need a better idea too

[KCPowercat]

Sorry, but this is bad. This is not coming back to a county vote. No way.

At the very best case, the state will have to put in a bunch of money to try and do a hail mary, but it will be for a much more watered down project. This grand project south of the Sprint Center is dead.

My guess it KC is going to be the next Oakland for several more years. KC is going to be THE team everybody will talk about moving. I don't think it will be possible for KCMO to hang on to both teams now. I just don't.

You might get a chance to vote on Arrowhead again, but the Royals are in serios limbo. And sadly it really seems like most of KC doesn't care about the Royals.

The only thing bad here was the plan and campaign by the chiefs and royals. They thought they could just roll out a half assed idea and everybidy would vote yes like they always have. They simply need to fully explain their vision and be consistent.

[grovester]

I think the save the crossroads did more damage than anything. You already had to overcome the suburban vote so once everyone latched onto "destruction of the crossroads", it was all over.

East Village would have won.

East Village campaign would have been about creating something, while the East Crossroads will forever be about destroying something.

[smh]

That vote shows what happens when a fleshed out plan isn't presented to voters. S clear message and full plan wins that vote easily.

Many things brought up here were left half ass answered and voters don't like that. This isn't the doing of some group like KC tenants but of course they will try and take the glory.

I predict a similar plan for the royals comes out in same location and back to the voting booth within a year. It will give them time to bake their plan and present a clear message to voters. Chiefs need a better idea too

Agreed. This is the Royals loss, not KCT’s victory and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new plan at the same site as you said.

[neurosyphilis]

I think the save the crossroads did more damage than anything. You already had to overcome the suburban vote so once everyone latched onto "destruction of the crossroads", it was all over.

East Village would have won.

East Village campaign would have been about creating something, while the East Crossroads will forever be about destroying something.

It's 100% this.

[TheUrbanRoo]

I’m really starting to wonder if the Chiefs flopped this all along as their excuse to get to Kansas and get a new modern stadium setup. Because if you look at it, everything they did the whole time made zero sense.

[DColeKC]

I think the save the crossroads did more damage than anything. You already had to overcome the suburban vote so once everyone latched onto "destruction of the crossroads", it was all over.

East Village would have won.

East Village campaign would have been about creating something, while the East Crossroads will forever be about destroying something.

East Village would have still lost. Maybe by a few less percentage points but it’s downtown in general that many voters are afraid of due to misconceptions about traffic, parking and safety. Combining that with the standard resistant to change and progress plus class warfare and this was doomed.

I can disagree that the teams did a terrible job here.

[DColeKC]

I’m really starting to wonder if the Chiefs flopped this all along as their excuse to get to Kansas and get a new modern stadium setup. Because if you look at it, everything they did the whole time made zero sense.

One more time. The Chiefs are not leaving arrowhead. If they flopped on this it was to break up with the royals and get all that money for themselves.

[Anthony_Hugo98]

I can disagree that the teams did a terrible job here.

But they objectively did do a terrible job here, by basically any metric you could evaluate and measure the effort.

They blew their own arbitrary deadlines, they provided half baked information that raised more question than answered, they let opposition hijack the narrative, they never addressed or responded to opposition misinformation. To pretend the teams did anything other than an atrocious job on this effort is wild.

To also pretend that the teams deserve all the blame is an equally as ignorant take, and there are some vested interests in the city it seems that quite literally want no more forward progress of KC, downtown or otherwise, and they should be held accountable as well.

[Metro]

Frank White looking all smug on X posing for photos as if he's just won the lottery. The city just lost a much needed shot of vibrancy and economic development and you are gloating about it? Tragic man.

The city will be fine.

[Metro]

What happened with Sly James? His "Magic" has seemed to run out the last 5 years or so from the Justice endorsement to this. The guy came across as a grumpy asshole throughout this process.

[beautyfromashes]

What happened with Sly James? His "Magic" has seemed to run out the last 5 years or so from the Justice endorsement to this. The guy came across as a grumpy asshole throughout this process.

You can tell when someone fully believes in a project and sells it with passion and when they're getting paid for an endorsement because the current mayor took a pass.

[KCPowercat]

I can disagree that the teams did a terrible job here.

But they objectively did do a terrible job here, by basically any metric you could evaluate and measure the effort.

They blew their own arbitrary deadlines, they provided half baked information that raised more question than answered, they let opposition hijack the narrative, they never addressed or responded to opposition misinformation. To pretend the teams did anything other than an atrocious job on this effort is wild.

To also pretend that the teams deserve all the blame is an equally as ignorant take, and there are some vested interests in the city it seems that quite literally want no more forward progress of KC, downtown or otherwise, and they should be held accountable as well.

I read that as a mistype and he meant to say can't disagree.