KCRag Forum

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 11:55 am Honest to God, I’m getting annoyed at everyone saying the Royals are going to Nashville or Salt Lake City. Now we’re talking about potentially Oakland (a city that doesn’t give a shit about the A’s)? Give it a rest. Seriously. The Royals are not leaving the KC Metro. Anyone saying they’re leaving cannot be taken seriously.

DColeKC wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 5:41 pm They'll play coy to get all the funding they can to renovate Arrowhead but they'll have to literally get fisted by the state of Missouri government and local government in order to move to Kansas.

chingon wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 4:39 pm In a rare alignment, I agree with GRID. I think downtown baseball is dead here. The only possible path forward I could see is if KCMO cuts JaxCo out, and passes the same 3/8th cent tax in the city, with a promise to move the Chiefs to the Northland and the Royals downtown, including significant parking.

mister816 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 7:56 pm

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 11:55 am Honest to God, I’m getting annoyed at everyone saying the Royals are going to Nashville or Salt Lake City. Now we’re talking about potentially Oakland (a city that doesn’t give a shit about the A’s)? Give it a rest. Seriously. The Royals are not leaving the KC Metro. Anyone saying they’re leaving cannot be taken seriously.

im getting annoyed with people saying that the Royals aren't leaving like you have some sort of info that the rest of us don't... we dont know just like you don't know.

ericwyner wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 10:57 pm Could they use the KCMO "Arena Tax" to pay a stadium?

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 12:30 pm

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 12:25 pm Well, it’s not. But if this is what he’s posting, it’s because it’s true. They aren’t going anywhere besides to one of our surrounding counties (at the worst).

And I’m not really scared about that too much if it’s the Chiefs. All the fear about Chiefs moving to Dallas and Royals to a dozen other places is ridiculous. The chance of either leaving the metro is negligible.

Highlander wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 10:54 pm They can and they most likely will if they cannot get a favorable deal here where they believe they can generate the revenues to sustain a quality product.

Highlander wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 10:54 pm

mister816 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 7:56 pm

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 11:55 am Honest to God, I’m getting annoyed at everyone saying the Royals are going to Nashville or Salt Lake City. Now we’re talking about potentially Oakland (a city that doesn’t give a shit about the A’s)? Give it a rest. Seriously. The Royals are not leaving the KC Metro. Anyone saying they’re leaving cannot be taken seriously.

im getting annoyed with people saying that the Royals aren't leaving like you have some sort of info that the rest of us don't... we dont know just like you don't know.

Here's a look at the valuation, revenues and operating income of the Royals, attendance, the size of the market and the wealth of the primary owner.

The Royals are 27th in Revenue and have the 27th highest valuation out of 30 MLB teams. They have managed to operate in the black largely due to having one of the lower payrolls in MLB (24th in 2022). We were 28th in attendance in 2023. The payroll has increased to 21st this year so it will be interesting to see if their operating income can stay positive without an increase in revenue. When KC received the Royals as an expansion team, KC was the 20th largest metro. Now it's the 31st largest. We will slide on the scale a bit more over the next 10 years but since we will also probably surpass a couple of faster sliding cities in that frame but still will be (if nothing changes) the 28th largest market (only Cleveland and Milwaukee are smaller). Sherman is the 23rd richest owners in terms of net worth.

I think the Royals owners know they have to increase their revenue if they are going to compete in the sport and keep fan interest high in KC. A taxpayer subsidized Downtown was clearly a key component of that plan. I suspect Sherman doesn't want to move the Royals out of the metro but knows he can't deliver a quality product without boosting revenue or paying out of his pocket for players (which isn't sustainable). So I do think it's plausible if not likely that the Royals will eventually leave if all plans circle back to Kaufman as the continued home of the Royals. I don't think the Legends will suit the Royals either. The vote killed the most obvious option but if something favorable to the Royals cannot be worked out in the foreseeable future, then yea, it's very feasible that the Royals could leave and the failed vote has put them in the spotlight as a possible target. Thinking the Royals won't leave is misplaced confidence. They can and they most likely will if they cannot get a favorable deal here where they believe they can generate the revenues to sustain a quality product. They have been hinting at this for the last couple of months; why would anyone not take it at face value? The proposed move downtown wasn't just to be trendy. I am certain city leaders are taking them at face value.

GRID wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 4:56 pm Clay and Platte combined are half the size of Jackson. A Royals only tax would only need to be half the amount since the Chiefs are not involved. So the same 3/8 tax should raise about the same amount for the Royals. However, I think they can do it with state only money in the NKC site. It will be far cheaper than downtown with less opposition.

TheBigChuckbowski wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 9:35 am The reality is that KC Tenants will/would have come out against every possible proposal the Royals put on the table. The details are irrelevant, whether East Village, East Crossroads, saving the K, whatever. The issue is tax money going to a team owned by a billionaire, that doesn't change no matter where the stadium is built. Do they put up less of a stink if the stadium is built in Clay County or Kansas? Maybe. But, if the Royals go to the suburbs because they're scared of KC Tenants, that's just flat out embarrassing.

Thankfully, I doubt John Sherman even knows who they are and people on this board are insanely overstating their contribution to this election. The teams royally screwed this up. Best you can give credit to KC Tenants is that the teams made decisions that specifically fed into their narrative (throwing out small businesses, tearing down buildings, Arrowhead renovations only for VIPs). A better plan that doesn't feed that narrative takes away their oxygen. Mainstream voters don't listen to KC Tenants.

TheBigChuckbowski wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 9:35 am Thankfully, I doubt John Sherman even knows who they are and people on this board are insanely overstating their contribution to this election. The teams royally screwed this up. Best you can give credit to KC Tenants is that the teams made decisions that specifically fed into their narrative (throwing out small businesses, tearing down buildings, Arrowhead renovations only for VIPs). A better plan that doesn't feed that narrative takes away their oxygen. Mainstream voters don't listen to KC Tenants.

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 12:12 am

Highlander wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 10:54 pm They can and they most likely will if they cannot get a favorable deal here where they believe they can generate the revenues to sustain a quality product.

You must not be a Royals fan. Glass gave fuck all about sustaining a quality product and he turned a $150m investment into $1B. He could have almost doubled his payroll expenditure over the time he owned the team and still broke even. Dirtbag. This is not like employment for Sherman where he needs to turn a profit to sustain himself and keep food on the table. This is a business investment. He makes his money on the back end. And, sure, we're in a small market but all the other teams in our division are too. We don't have to spend Yankees or Dodgers money to be successful. 21st in payroll might be 2nd highest in the AL Central. Zero chance the Royals leave. I don't even think the other owners would let them leave if they didn't have a deal at the end of the lease. You have to have a Tropicana Field Raftersdome or Oakland Shithole stadium to get approval to relocate and even then, it would take a decade of playing in said stadium. Zero.

Highlander wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 9:55 am I wish I had your optimism. Sherman did purchase the Royals as an investment. He had a plan to grow that investment via a downtown location being symbiotic with future investments. His baseball investment would grow as much if not more in larger cities with higher growth rates than it would in Kansas City without any further outside investment on his part. He's been very upfront about what he wants to do with the Royals and has been upfront about Kaufman not being in the future of the Royals. It's obvious he very much wants to make something work in KC and the Royals won't leave until all options are considered and exhausted. But they are not staying at Kaufman. They will leave the KC metro if that remains the only option for the Royals. He's insinuated that much on several occasions.

TheBigChuckbowski wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 9:35 am The reality is that KC Tenants will/would have come out against every possible proposal the Royals put on the table. The details are irrelevant, whether East Village, East Crossroads, saving the K, whatever. The issue is tax money going to a team owned by a billionaire, that doesn't change no matter where the stadium is built. Do they put up less of a stink if the stadium is built in Clay County or Kansas? Maybe. But, if the Royals go to the suburbs because they're scared of KC Tenants, that's just flat out embarrassing.

Thankfully, I doubt John Sherman even knows who they are and people on this board are insanely overstating their contribution to this election. The teams royally screwed this up. Best you can give credit to KC Tenants is that the teams made decisions that specifically fed into their narrative (throwing out small businesses, tearing down buildings, Arrowhead renovations only for VIPs). A better plan that doesn't feed that narrative takes away their oxygen. Mainstream voters don't listen to KC Tenants.

TheBigChuckbowski wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 9:35 am The reality is that KC Tenants will/would have come out against every possible proposal the Royals put on the table. The details are irrelevant, whether East Village, East Crossroads, saving the K, whatever. The issue is tax money going to a team owned by a billionaire, that doesn't change no matter where the stadium is built. Do they put up less of a stink if the stadium is built in Clay County or Kansas? Maybe. But, if the Royals go to the suburbs because they're scared of KC Tenants, that's just flat out embarrassing.

Thankfully, I doubt John Sherman even knows who they are and people on this board are insanely overstating their contribution to this election. The teams royally screwed this up. Best you can give credit to KC Tenants is that the teams made decisions that specifically fed into their narrative (throwing out small businesses, tearing down buildings, Arrowhead renovations only for VIPs). A better plan that doesn't feed that narrative takes away their oxygen. Mainstream voters don't listen to KC Tenants.