Downtown Baseball Stadium

[GRID]

Sadly, I would bet the clay county thing is what ends up happening. I didn't think it was a real proposal at first, but it has some real legs. It will be a massive mistake and much of downtown will remain parking lots for decades but KC just can't stop making mistakes like that. But I just don't see the county leadership cooperating with a downtown stadium.

I also find it odd that the Royals didn't seriously consider any other downtown locations. I still think the EV site is a very odd location for a MLB stadium and have my doubts that the area around a stadium there will be built out in a decent time frame. A stadium in EV surruonded by gov buildings and parking lots won't be much of an improvement.

On a positive note, the Chiefs will get the full 3/8 cents renewed tax, so they might be able to do something more in line with what other NFL teams are doing vs just another renovation.

[TheSmokinPun]

I don't really agree with that at all. NKC has yet to give financials, real development updates, everything. It's all smoke, stop even giving them the benefit of the doubt.

If you saw with your own eyes the site that they want, you would know it was all gonna fall apart. There is zero chance a ballpark ever goes there. Why would we want to destroy actual industry & businesses just to put up more surface lots in garages in a location that doesn't need them & never did?

And they did consider multiple stadium sites, they made a big deal about that over the last two years, which is funny because it's long after everyone knew it was going to be EV, as it always has been & always will be.

[GRID]

^ I really hope you are right. But this is how the stadiums ended up at the TSC in the first place vs downtown and how Kemper ended up in the West Bottoms and how the MLS stadium ended up clear out in western KCK.

The people in KC with money and those in development circles generally don't care that much about downtown proper. Even the biggest downtown property owners have probably done more harm than good by building a few towers and only clearing and sitting on dozens of other blocks for decades. Plus you have to wonder what strings the Merriman family might pull.

The bottom line is that in order for this to work, you really need the support of the County and a lot of developers with capital to move forward so that the stadium is not just plopped in with a few sports bars and an apartment building every five years.

I can't wait to see more details on both sites. I guess that's coming soon.

[TheUrbanRoo]

Kevin Collison just tweeted out that he’s personally sensing the momentum shifting towards NKC now…. Fuck.

[beautyfromashes]

This is a total play. They are gearing up for an election and have to throw some fear that people will be losing something to get them to vote. This is FOMO marketing for the vote.

[GRID]

This is a total play. They are gearing up for an election and have to throw some fear that people will be losing something to get them to vote. This is FOMO marketing for the vote.

But that fear and easily turn to reality. I think NKC has a real shot. Most people in Jackson County don't care if the stadiums goes downtown or NKC if it leaves the TSC.

[KCPowercat]

If anybody here thinks a chiefs/royals sales tax extension vote is going to fail, they haven't counted the number of 15 jerseys floating around. That's going to be what makes the decision. All fluff

[GRID]

^ will it be one vote?

[KCPowercat]

^ will it be one vote?

Yes. At least by indications of Sherman last month.

[beautyfromashes]

This is a total play. They are gearing up for an election and have to throw some fear that people will be losing something to get them to vote. This is FOMO marketing for the vote.

But that fear and easily turn to reality. I think NKC has a real shot. Most people in Jackson County don't care if the stadiums goes downtown or NKC if it leaves the TSC.

Maybe, I just don't see how it happens. It would make life hell for the teams because of their leases. Staying in Jackson and extending the lease tax just makes too much sense. Of course, I'm fully expecting a Kansas scare play directly before the vote. I wouldn't even be surprised if it's orchestrated by the team and the county to make a final fear push on the vote. I think it passes either way.

[Chris Stritzel]

Council Unanimously passed a floor resolution introduced by Melissa Robinson to continue having good faith negotiations with the Royals to remain in the City of KC.

Proof that City leadership wants them to remain. Jackson County, it's your turn (unless, of course, Frank White continues being the way he is).

[Chris Stritzel]

If the Royals choose Clay County over the East Village, then this will be a loss that can be directly attributed to Frank White and County Leadership.

How do you figure? From day 1 of a proposed downtown move there was always the feeling that county leadership wasn't sold on the idea. If Clay County gets a stadium the fault lies with the Royals, or with Clay County having a better proposal. The team was always going to fight a strong headwind to move from TSC no matter what. To a degree I think many JaCo voters see a rejection of them by the team after over 40 years of support by the county. And given the failure of the team these past two seasons many may believe the team owners are more interested in the development side of the proposal instead of putting a winning team on the field.

Happy to explain. Simply, City officials continue to prove, like they did today, that they want the Royals to remain within the City and will work to keep them here. Meanwhile, County Officials, in particular Mr. Frank White, put out a letter that I take as "shame revenge" as the game of finger pointing continues. While the silliness happens at the County Level, City officials are on the job and will continue to be that way.

I can't say whether or not voters will see the record of the Royals as being a deciding factor in how they vote, especially since the Chiefs are linked to the vote. It's also important to note that the Royals last won a World Series 8 years ago and while that seems like an eternity, remember it took the Cubs 108 years to win another World Series. Teams go through good and bad times, the Royals are no different. I believe that the real state investment aspect of this will help them generate more revenue in the long-term that can go towards better players and coaching staff. Additionally, a Stadium located in Downtown with easy access to many more fans than the suburban stadium will yield a higher attendance even if the team plays poorly. When tickets are cheap, and the stadium is easy to get to, people will go for the fun of it.

As a side note the Clay County site has one big advantage over the EV site - the amount of land available to develop, by the team and others. You may not get the taller buildings in Clay County but you can create more of a mixed use community that would have more of a neighborhood feeling to it than downtown.

I don't disagree with you there. Preferably, even the East Village doesn't get developed with high-rises and instead you create an intimate feel that can be a bridge to the redevelopment of Paseo West. Difference between NKC and East Village is the infrastructure. NKC couldn't handle it without a significant overhaul and public investment that, like others have pointed out, would make Clay County and NKC residents's eyes water at the costs.

And to respond to another post about Jackson County/City voters seeing the renewal of the tax as a handout to billionaires, that may be true but a minority of voters likely believe that to be the case. If this was just a vote for the City of KC, I believe the 3.8 tax would be easily renewed. With the entire county needing to vote on it, it will easily pass. Even those who would see this as a "handout" understand that it would be a punch in the gut to lose out on these investments in the long-term. Few will admit that publicly, but there are a few I know who are very vocally against incentives for projects who are supportive of the renewal of the tax for this purpose.

[Rusty Irish]

Council Unanimously passed a floor resolution introduced by Melissa Robinson to continue having good faith negotiations with the Royals to remain in the City of KC.

Proof that City leadership wants them to remain. Jackson County, it's your turn (unless, of course, Frank White continues being the way he is).

Sounds promising. Any link to this?

[Chris Stritzel]

Council Unanimously passed a floor resolution introduced by Melissa Robinson to continue having good faith negotiations with the Royals to remain in the City of KC.

Proof that City leadership wants them to remain. Jackson County, it's your turn (unless, of course, Frank White continues being the way he is).

Sounds promising. Any link to this?

All I have is this tweet from Thomas Friestad.
https://twitter.com/kcbj_thomas/status/ ... qhwUCQR_zw

[bspecht]

Council Unanimously passed a floor resolution introduced by Melissa Robinson to continue having good faith negotiations with the Royals to remain in the City of KC.

Proof that City leadership wants them to remain. Jackson County, it's your turn (unless, of course, Frank White continues being the way he is).

Sounds promising. Any link to this?

Hasn't been uploaded to Clerk website yet, just a one sentence resolution. Sponsored by Robinson, few of the new members added themselves as co-sponsors.

Can jump to ~3:40p CT here for the next few hours and hear it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkRpjTyIp9I

Recording of Legislative Sessions also available here, usually next day: http://kansascity.granicus.com/ViewPubl ... ?view_id=2

[Jblanco]

"The Royals have said nothing about breaking their lease."

Moving into and playing in another stadium before their lease expires is indeed breaking their lease. Guess they could pay a penalty but that would involve a whole different negotiation.

You idiot, talking about and even planning a new stadium is not breaking a lease.
They have not moved and they are not playing in a new stadium.

This back and forth is part of every single business transaction negotiation in the history of the world. White looks like he should be Mayor of a town of 30.

[KCPowercat]

Let's chill with the name calling. Thanks.

[aknowledgeableperson]

"The Royals have said nothing about breaking their lease."

Moving into and playing in another stadium before their lease expires is indeed breaking their lease. Guess they could pay a penalty but that would involve a whole different negotiation.

You idiot, talking about and even planning a new stadium is not breaking a lease.
They have not moved and they are not playing in a new stadium.

This back and forth is part of every single business transaction negotiation in the history of the world. White looks like he should be Mayor of a town of 30.

The Royals have talked about playing in a new stadium before the lease expires. And that is what I stated. Nothing was said about just talking or planning that breaks the lease.
"Sherman said a new stadium could be ready for the 2027 or ‘28 season."
https://www.mlb.com/news/john-sherman-d ... n-ballpark

With regards to the name calling it takes one to know one.

[GRID]

"The Royals have said nothing about breaking their lease."

Moving into and playing in another stadium before their lease expires is indeed breaking their lease. Guess they could pay a penalty but that would involve a whole different negotiation.

You idiot, talking about and even planning a new stadium is not breaking a lease.
They have not moved and they are not playing in a new stadium.

This back and forth is part of every single business transaction negotiation in the history of the world. White looks like he should be Mayor of a town of 30.

Jackson County has always been run like they are a rural county. They do not act like a metropolitan county of over 700,000 people. All the other primary counties in the KC area have stronger more sophisticated leadership. Even WyCo even though they only care about Village West at least has goals.

I agree on the breaking the lease thing. The Royals are only a few years from the end of the lease and whatever they do at the end of the lease is a pretty big deal. They can't just flip a switch in 2030. So what if they were trying to do something prior the lease being up. If they were to stay in Jackson County (and downtown is Jackson County), I would think the county would work with them. But maybe not.

[smh]

Speaking of behaving like a rural county, I've always been a little curious what it is exactly that Jackson County does for Kansas Citians? I can appreciate a little them paving roads in Buckner or wherever, but in the City what is their role (beyond property tax assessments, haha).