KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals said it will build a new stadium in Jackson County if tax payers approve to extend the 3/8-cents sales tax, which would fund new stadiums for both the Royals and the Chiefs.
"No matter where we play baseball, we remain committed to our core principles of delivering community impact, substantial economic growth, and of course to enhance the lives of our region's residents 365 days a year," said Sarah Tourville, executive vice president and commercial officer for the Royals.
The Royals commissioned an economic impact study when touting their plans for a new stadium in August. The study estimated nearly $3 billion in total economic output, but since the team commissioned the study, KSHB 41's Megan Abundis spoke with a sports economist and a Royals podcaster to get their perspectives on how a new stadium would impact the KC community.
The "Royal’s Rundown" podcast is run by co-hosts Jeremy Greco and Jacob Milham, and multiple times a week they talk Royals.
“I grew up in KC," Greco said. "The Royals aren’t the winners of the league, they lost 100 games a lot of times the last couple of decades, but it’s so rewarding when they do win, like in 2014 and 2015. It’s the underdog story that keeps me going and a lot of other fans."
Their podcast's cover art shows both of them and a Royals bus.
“Jacob is driving the bus and he’s trying to get us where we are going, and I’m a factor of chaos on the podcast and I’m the one who derails the podcast,” said Greco.
He follows every KC Royal move, big and small, while keeping it realistic but hopeful.
“Maybe next year's the year, and it’s going to feel so good, because it’s been so long,” he said.
Lately, the duo has been following the possibilities of a new stadium.
“It’s been a very slow process, a lot of drama, both from the Royals and the government. It’s a little been disappointing to see how clunky the process has been for the Royals,” Greco said.
Although Greco doesn’t live in Jackson County, he said he’s opposed to the public tax dollars for stadium funding.
“I don’t think there should be public funding for stadiums," he said. "It’s an opportunity for billionaires to make money and if they want to make the money, they can spend the money.”
Sports economist Victor Matheson is a professor at the College of Holy Cross and has thoughts on the Royals proposition.
“This is not an uncommon fight at all, it’s a total unfair fight for the taxpayers,” Matheson said. “This is totally a power move, as we see again and again and again, pro-sports franchises are terrible corporate citizens in almost any city they are in. Normal businesses pay taxes (to the) government to provide services, business needs, and sports teams think that should be the opposite.”
Matheson said subsidies to teams are typically not popular among taxpayers.
"Even though some legislators think they are popular, they find out the actual taxpayers are not nearly as happy to hand over their hard earned tax dollars to millionaire players and billionaire owners," he said.
Matheson said KC would be in much better shape by keeping a baseball team over a football team.
“Baseball teams tend to be much less mobile," he said. "You need a large population, a very dedicated fan base willing to come out 81 times a year, willing to tune in on TV 162 times a year, so there’s not a ton of open cities,” he said.
He says in terms of dollars and cents, the total economic activity, no matter where the Royals were in the metro, would stay the same.
“The loss of the Royals moving out of KC, after been her for over 50 years, that would be a real blow to city pride and make a lot of unhappy fans, but in terms of a dollar and cents it actually wouldn’t make that much difference in the big picture of what a vibrant city Kansas City is,” he said.
But for Jeremy Greco, he's ready to get back to basics, good baseball games.
For Greco that moment of awe was when Salvador Perez pulled a ground ball to win the AL Wild Card game in 2014.
“That moment will live with me forever, and almost makes this whole thing worth it, no matter how many more seasons the Royals lose 100 games,” he said. “That was all I needed for my fandom, all I ask for is for the Royals to play some October baseball.”
—
