The latest update to this story is that the proposed tax increase to fund a new Royals stadium and renovation of Arrowhead Stadium was rejected by voters on April 2nd, however, my guess is it will eventually be sorted out since the Chiefs lease of Arrowhead extends through 2031.
Well let me put some of this into perspective since I lived in Houston for decades. We had an NFL team owner named Bud Adams. The Oilers played in the Astrodome. It was shared with the Astros. The Astros owner in the 70’s and 80s was a guy named John McMullen who was the master lease holder. When you went to an Oiler game at the Astrodome, the owner of the Astros got a cut of the gate, food sales, parking, etc.. To appease Adams into keeping the Oilers there, the County built 66 luxury suites across what was the outfield of the baseball configuration. This necessitated getting rid of this giant scoreboard that was in the outfield.
It wasn’t enough and Bud moved the team to Nashville by way of Memphis. Flash forward to the 2000’s. Amazingly, seeing he concessions made to Adams, the other sports team owners decided they have had just about enough of the Astrodome and the basketball arena too--the Summit. The Houston Sports Authority set to building replacement stadiums for the Astros, the Rockets and the new team the Texans. A fourth stadium was built for the Houston Dynamo--an MLS team. Four new stadiums. Promises of jobs, tax revenue, notoriety, money, etc... flooded in from every corner. The reality is that the jobs never came, the tax revenue has been marginal, the notoriety has done nothing. Sidebar: When Elon Musk decided to move to Austin, TX...was the fact that there are no professional sports teams there make a difference? No. So that old chestnut is pure fiction. The facts are this....There are still homeless shelters within 2 or 3 blocks of the baseball stadium; there has not been this great wave of development bringing shops, restaurants, hotels, housing, etc... the football stadium sits empty for about 300 days a year. The basketball arena is likely the only one of the three that would actually turn a profit if it were not propped up by tax dollars. The soccer stadium? Please.
Kansas City voters did the responsible thing. There is little serious debate about that given the examples in other cities.