KANSAS CITY, Mo — KSHB 41 has been following the Chiefs and Royals stadium discussions for more than a year.
While the Missouri Senate debates a stadium tax proposal in the final days of the legislative session, the looming question remains — will the teams go or will they stay?
The teams have made it clear since voters denied a 3/8th cent sales tax to fund stadium construction and renovations that they will explore all options.
Economic researcher Greg LeRoy is the executive director of Good Jobs First.
The research center once praised the "Border War Truce" between Kansas and Missouri, a legally binding agreement that meant both states would not try to lure big corporations on either side of the state line.
However, LeRoy told KSHB 41's Alyssa Jackson that taxpayers shouldn't have to help billion-dollar franchises fund stadiums.
"It's the economic war among the states and then there's the economic war on the suburbs and a lot of people don't realize that the latter is just as big a problem as the former," LeRoy said.
The funding mechanism for Missouri's "Show Me Sports Investment Act" comes from sales tax revenue generated at the stadium, income tax withholding from stadium employees and a state income tax on non-resident professional athletes and entertainers.
"When taxpayers subsidize stadiums, it increases the value of the franchise," LeRoy said. "It makes the franchise more valuable for whenever the current owners sell it to somebody else. It becomes a financial windfall."
There is an ongoing competition between municipalities within the same state and across the state line to get the teams.
While Missourians and Kansans wait to see what the teams will decide, Good Jobs First thinks there's a more fiscally responsible way to go about it.
"What would it cost to instead rehabilitate and improve the existing stadiums, right? I bet it would be a small fraction of the cost to upgrade the facilities, make them more user-friendly, improve the transit linkages, improve the food offerings, make the seats more comfortable, add some more seats but stay put and invest more in the community," LeRoy said. "I think that would be a patriotic gesture by the teams and much less expensive if the taxpayers were going to get involved and the TV revenues are still going to be there."
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