In Jefferson City, the special legislative session ended in a show of bipartisanship as the House approved three Senate bills intact and sending them to the governor, including his request to come up with a funding plan to keep pro teams the Chiefs and Royals in Missouri. In a vote of 90 to 58, lawmakers agreed to give team owners a 30- year tax break up to $1.5 billion from sales inside the stadium and income taxes of players who travel to play there. Those funds are to be invested in upgrading Arrowhead Stadium and moving Kauffman stadium to a new location in a nearby Missouri County. The state of Kansas is also vying for the teams, with a plan of their own that expires this June 30th.
Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson praised the governor for fast-tracking the special session.
Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson addresses press after passage of SB 3 (photo A Byrd)
”I’m just very happy that Missouri has a chance to be one of the 22 states that has an NFL franchise. These things are very valuable, and I was reading where some people consider the Dallas Cowboys America’s team, but that if you look at statistically around the world in terms of fans, fan base the Kansas City Chiefs are the world’s football team,” he told reporters before signing the bill Wednesday.
Patterson is from Jackson County and outlined the next steps which now hinge on local support. He says a Jackson County vote to extend local tax support must happen, according to the terms of the bill. Patterson wants a commitment from the team before that, but “I’m not sure that we’re going to get that, but I do think given that the state has said that we really want to invest in it. And if there’s a vote in November that’s on the schedule, I think we could have a really clear idea that the teams would stay here if the vote is positive. And that would be part of the marketing plan. So I think we might not get a guarantee. But I think you’d have an understanding and and when people go vote, they’ll know if we do this, they’ll say if they don’t, they got to look elsewhere,’ he said.
House Minority Leader Ashley Aune agreed with Patterson and added that the state passing a bill should inspire local voters to support it.
“The bill that at we passed here today is location agnostic, so it doesn’t necessarily mean that the Royals and the Chiefs are going to be in Jackson. They’re potentially looking at Clay, at least the Royals are. And so my what I anticipate is or I what I should say, what I hope to see happen is a much better run campaign for whatever local initiative takes place,” she said.
Aune, from Kansas City, also wants to hear a decision from the Chiefs and Royals soon:
“And the reason for that is, you know, we’ve been over backwards here in the Missouri legislature to deliver them something by the end of their imposed deadline of June 30th. And I would very much like for them to hold true to that deadline and let us know where they’re going before that.”
Our TV partner KMBC in Kansas City, has this reaction from both teams after the vote.
The stadium billed passed – in a 90 to 58 vote –because of the support of 32 Democrats. Aune says her caucus was more inclined to support the stadium bill because of the two other bills the governor included in the special session: both funded disaster relief for the city of St. Louis.
