KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas lawmakers are considering legislation that would permit the move of the Kansas City Auto Show from Kansas City, Missouri into Kansas.
The auto show has historically been held in Bartle Hall at the Kansas City Convention Center in March.
Larry Carl, CEO of the Automobile Dealers Association of Greater Kansas City sent written testimony to lawmakers in support of Senate Bill 33.
In Carl's testimony, he expressed interest in moving the auto show to the Kansas Speedway for a June 2021 event.
"The inherent nature of drivability at the Speedway creates consumer excitement and enthusiastic engagement that all parties desire," Carl said.
Carl added in his testimony that the move would be beneficial for the Kansas, Wyandotte County and other communities,
"The desire to move the Kansas City Auto Show from Missouri to Kansas is a major move, but one that is ripe with opportunity and benefit," Carl said. "At the heart of the shift is to provide consumers with a reinvigorated and innovative event. We are going through this process because it is the proper way to administer change and compliance."
On Twitter, Mayor Quinton Lucas called plans to move the long-established auto event out of KCMO "unbalanced regionalism at its finest."
"I think it's ridiculous right? You go through the myriad of things for any legislature to work on right now, a bill to steal an auto show that it can move just a few miles over and can have exactly the same folks and regional draw is exactly why the border war truce was signed by the governors of Kansas and Missouri a few years ago," Lucas said.
Carl's organization is also the producer of the KC Auto Show.
"The Auto Show move was initiated by ADAKC, in part, due to the pandemic and the unlikeness of being able to hold our event indoors in early March," Carl said in a statement. "The opportunity to reinvent the Auto Show at an outdoor location in June allows us to hold a more innovative, interactive, and experiential event. An outside venue also allows for more social distancing and other COVID protocols. We believe these changes will benefit consumers across the entire metro area."
Carl added no public announcement can be made on where the 2021 auto show may be moving but welcomed a conversation with Mayor Lucas on reasons for the proposed move.
