Jackson County talks future of Chiefs and Royals stadiums

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Jackson County Legislator checked in with Executive Frank White on the negotiations with the Royals and Chiefs and the exchange became heated during a meeting on Monday.

“Have we had any with the Royals or the Chiefs,” Legislator Manny Abarca said, “Do we have any new strategy about how we keep them?”

“Well, no new strategies about how to keep them in Jackson County,” White said. “We just have to wait until we can get the teams to the table so we can talk about an agreement that everyone can live with.”

White went on to say he is waiting for the right opportunity to talk with the teams.

Last Saturday Chiefs Owner Clark Hunt that the team may be in a situation where they have to look at a new stadium, and that the Royals and Chiefs would likely work independently going forward.

However, their current lease agreement is binding until 2031, and it includes a “Most Favored Nation” clause. Basically it means any money that comes from the state of Missouri, Jackson County, the City of Kansas City or the counties that are included in the Kansas and Missouri Bi-State Metropolitan Cultural District has to be distributed equally to the Royals and Chiefs.

In short, there’s still time for Jackson County to discuss futures with both the Royals and Chiefs.

However, the subject of moving the Royals downtown to the former Kansas City Star printing press building is a sore subject among Crossroads businesses; like Chet Duvenci. He owns and is a tattoo artist at the Mercy Seat Tattoo.

“It’s a terrible idea,” Duvenci said. “We’re still running into the same issues even though we’re not paying for these billionaires to have their little pet project. We still, in the Crossroads, are a finance generating area.”

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