TOPEKA — A bipartisan council of Kansas lawmakers voted Monday to extend by six months the deadline for the Missouri-based Kansas City Royals or the Kansas City Chiefs to accept economic development incentives from Kansas for construction of sports stadiums.
The Legislative Coordinating Council unanimously agreed to grant the reprieve so the Kansas Department of Commerce could present options for stadium deals to the LCC until Dec. 31, 2025.
A 2024 law that set the framework for issuance of STAR bonds to cover 70% of construction costs for one or both stadiums and support structures had a deadline of June 30, 2025. The statute gave the LCC authority to add another year to the timeline.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, recommended adoption of a six-month alternative for the presentation of formal proposals by the Department of Commerce to the LCC. He said he didn’t want the stadium issue to bleed into the 2026 session of the Legislature, which would convene in early January.
“We have had this law out there for a year now and each team has had a year to come to some type of conclusion,” Hawkins said. “Neither team has and quite frankly for the last month and a half, I have been very consistent across the board saying, ‘Let’s get it done.’” He said he was persuaded to endorse a half-year extension because one of the teams waited from November to February for responses from the administration of Gov. Laura Kelly. Also, he said, the Kelly administration didn’t answer a proposal from a team — previously reported to be the Chiefs — for seven weeks.
“It doesn’t matter what team it was. That’s not fair to the teams, when they’re making proposals and they’re not getting responses back,” said Hawkins, who is a candidate for state insurance commissioner.
The LCC adopted the sixmonth extension but also voted to broaden the window of opportunity for stadium deals with Kansas to June 30, 2026. That could be a technicality, because the LCC could decide on behalf of the full House and Senate not to consider recommendations submitted after that date.
Missouri offered to finance up to 50% of the cost to renovate or build new stadiums for the Royals and Chiefs. Both franchises have played at a Jackson County, Missouri, complex since the early 1970s.
Will Lawrence, chief of staff to Gov. Laura Kelly, said in a statement the state Department of Commerce had been timely in responding to real proposals regarding the Chiefs or Royals.
“We will continue to trust our experts at the Department of Commerce, who have an excellent track record in making deals that are good for Kansas,” he said.
Lawrence said the process followed by the Department of Commerce would avoid “special- interest giveaways that are so often included in the Legislature’s budget proposals.”
During the LCC meeting, Sen. Tim Shallenberger, a Baxter Springs Republican serving as the Senate’s vice president, said he didn’t want to force the Chiefs or Royals to abruptly wrap up a deal with Kansas.
“When I was younger, I was a banker,” Shallenberger said. “Putting a deal like this together is not easy. You have landowners that look at the deadlines that we put out and use that as leverage. You have the teams look at the deadlines we put out and use that as leverage. Approved by the LCC by this December seems a little quick to me.
