Budget group denounces funding for Chiefs, Royals

The project, a statewide fiscal analysis organization, says the Missouri Development Finance Board should reject a plan that provides additional funding to the Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs for renovating their stadiums. Each team already receives about $3 million annually from the state, according to the project.

Officials from the Royals and Chiefs, Jackson County and the state have backed the proposed financing, which also includes $100 million total from the teams and a three-eighths-cent sales tax, generating $425 million, in Jackson County. Voters will face the sales tax issue on the April ballot.

Collectively, the financing would provide $575 million to support the renovations.

“We cannot justify this loss of revenue when elementary, secondary and higher education are significantly underfunded and 240,000 low-income Missourians have been cut from Medicaid health insurance in the last several years,” said Tom Kruckemeyer, chief economist for the budget project, in a news release.

The proposal is not included in the agenda for the finance board’s Jan. 17 meeting. A representative from the board said the proposal has yet to be brought forward.

Kruckemeyer said he recognizes that the teams are tremendous economic and cultural assets but says they are able to maintain and improve their stadiums without additional state funds.

The Chiefs had an annual profit of $26.3 million per season between 1998 and 2004, according to Kruckemeyer, and ranked third of 32 National Football League teams in home attendance last year. The team is expected to gain about $42 million more per year in revenue from new national television contracts, Kruckemeyer said.

The Royals play in a first-rate facility and have strong fan support, he added, and should be given more revenue share from Major League Baseball rather than receive more state funds.

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