KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs and Royals released terms for a community benefits agreement with Jackson County for the construction and development of stadium projects the teams are planning.
Before construction can begin, county voters must first pass a 3/8-cent sales-tax on April 2 that will help fund the projects and other stadium expenses for the next 40 years.
The Chiefs say their part of the CBA commits $126 million, while the Royals said their part of the deal commits $140 million.
The teams also listed a set of initiatives they say will complement the funding, like employment benefits, healthcare, children and families, education, and workforce assistance, among others.
Now that the teams released the proposed CBA, KSHB 41 spoke with Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca about what it means and to talk about some of the next steps.
“I think it’s completely different than any other deal that we’ve researched or looked at," he said. "That was one of the triggers for me to be supportive of it. It had to be catalytic. It couldn’t be something that had been previously done. The dollar value in and of itself, both for the cash value and also for the contribution back to the county, that’s historic to keep teams inside the same place they’ve been.”
Abarca, who said he's been in intense negotiations with the teams and community coalitions the last week, applauded the proposed CBA.
“I think it's a new level set for negotiations for sports teams across the nation," he said. "We talk about cash value and community control to maintain the world champion Chiefs, we are getting more back from a team in a deal like this, it's going to level the playing field.”
The legislator said next, the Jackson County Legislature must approve the CBA and new lease agreements with the teams.
"Jackson County Executive Frank White said that this is not a binding agreement, that’s correct," he said. "But the teams are voluntarily binding themselves by giving us committed letters. These are enforced. We can leverage these if need be. But also, the legislature has to approve the CBA, the legislature has to approve the lease agreement, the legislature has to say, 'Yes, we have accepted the voters will, and we will enforce the tax.'"
Asked about how funding in the CBA will be dispersed to different initiatives, Abarca said it's too early to say.
Instead, Abarca said it'll be determined in the future by governing boards that will be appointed by the county and the teams.
According to a letter from the teams to the legislature, the team will appoint 45% of the boards.
“It will be a community-driven board, community members from Jackson County placed on that board I think that governance is still yet to be complete, but it is a commitment that a majority of those board seats will be from Jackson County," he said. “That board, the community will be dishing out where those dollars go, Not any team, not any foundation those are community-controlled dollars.”
"That'll be a dictation of the community-driven boards," he said. "We're using the LOI — I think the 33 points — that include housing, that include transit, that include all the different other issues that are addressed there - as opportunities for that board to consider. I think it's premature for us to determine how much of what going where."
It's not clear who will be on the board, but Abarca said it'll be community stake holders from Jackson County, alongside team officials.
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