City of KCMO on hook for approximately $1.3B for Royals stadium; total includes interest, other fees

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — While the city of Kansas City, Missouri, has publicly advertised its $600 million investment in the Royals’ new stadium in the Crown Center area, it has not shared that the final total is double that amount.

At a Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee meeting Tuesday, a presentation outlined where the city’s money will go and noted that the city is expected to pay more than $1.3 billion, accounting for interest and other fees.

Per the funding agreement, KCMO is committing $510 million to stadium construction and $90 million for infrastructure.

The bond authorization ordinance estimates appropriating $615.2 million from bond proceeds. That breaks down into $537 million for construction of the stadium, team offices and infrastructure; $58.8 million for capitalized interest; and $19.4 million for issuance costs. The presentation noted that $23 million in project costs should qualify for funding for water, sewer, stormwater, and streetcar.

Debts will be repaid using the incremental increase in revenue in the Stadium Impact Area, TIF/Super TIF/state TIFs, parking revenue on game/event days, CID and gaming revenues, and restaurant tax revenues.

In total, the financial report expects $1.404 billion in revenue to cover the expected $1.393 billion in debt to be accrued through 2060.

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KSHB 41’s Charlie Keegan attended the meeting Tuesday and heard from KCMO Councilman Jonathan Duncan.

"I think before today, some of my colleagues didn't understand the public commitment is twice what the principal is going to be,” Duncan said. “Essentially, we're taking out loans on a taxpayer dime to pay for a stadium, and those loans come with interest."

Keegan said a group of council members had discussed making the stadium impact zone smaller than proposed, which would mean less area to generate tax dollars.

KSHB 41

Overall, Mayor Quinton Lucas sees the investment as a positive, telling Keegan the math still works out.

"I don't think there's a material financial impact negative toward the project long-term and, frankly, it was always a fairly narrow slice of the project itself,” Lucas said.

Now that the finance committee has approved Ordinance 260888, it goes to the full council for approval Thursday.

The Royals issued a statement as the proposal moves on.

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