Clay County site remains possible destination for future Royals stadium

KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.

If it feels like the stadium drama in Kansas City has been percolating for a long time, it’s because it has been.

The Royals announced plans to vacate Kauffman Stadium 879 days ago via an open letter from Chairman and CEO John Sherman dated Nov. 15, 2022, on Twitter — yes, the platform wouldn’t change name to X for another eight months.

But there were a few developments early this week as talks dragged on — in public and behind closed doors.

First, business and civic leaders from the Kansas City region urged action to keep the teams and, second, a site once deemed a finalist in Clay County has re-emerged as a possible option again.

It’s been more than a year since Jackson County voters rejected a de facto sales-tax extension, which would have funded renovations to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and built a new baseball stadium in the northeast corner of the Crossroads Arts District.

The rebuke at the polls triggered the Kansas legislature to spring into action — putting pressure on Missouri’s legislature to respond and, ultimately, driving up the taxpayer cost no matter how the stadium conversations shake out.

Sherman and his Chiefs counterpart, Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt, are on the record hoping to have the details of their future lease arrangements settled by “mid-year” — or around the time the STAR Bonds proposal from the Kansas legislature sunsets, barring an extension.

That made it a bit curious why the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and Kansas City Sports Commission chose Monday to publish a letter and video urging action to keep the Royals and Chiefs in town.

Were business and civic leaders spooked that one of the teams might bail? Or was it simply an effort to be more vocal about their support for keeping two of the city’s most-visible and beloved businesses in town?

“They probably want to make sure that they keep the process moving,” Clay County Presiding Commissioner Jerry Nolte said. “That’s pretty obvious. Apart from that, I think we realize that there is a clock ticking here and we need to make sure that we don’t take any unnecessary time other than what we need to get the job done.”

The good news — for sports fans, anyway — is that both teams responded with statements reasserting their commitment to Kansas City.

“Our family and our organization are certainly thankful to see this support from local civic leaders in Kansas City,” Hunt said in a statement to KSHB 41 News. “The Chiefs have called this our home for more than six decades, and we have made countless memories alongside generations of Chiefs fans. Working with our partners and community leaders, we remain committed to the continued growth and success of our entire region."

The Royals’ statement was even more unequivocal.

“Our ownership group is grateful for the support of this impressive coalition of civic leadership, which has come together to help us continue to thrive in the region,” Sherman said in a statement to KSHB 41 News. “Greater Kansas City is our team’s home. For our fans, our partners and our major league community, we want to keep it that way.”

Baseball fans want that, too — and it makes sense, because Sherman didn’t buy the Royals and assemble a hyper-local ownership group with the idea of relocating to Nashville or Salt Lake City.

The Kansas legislature adjourned for the 2025 session Friday, but the Missouri legislature won’t gavel out until May 16. There’s still time for the state to make an overture to keep the Chiefs or Royals, but that’s complicated by infighting among Jackson County officials.

“It's important that we keep the Chiefs and Royals,” Missouri Lt. Gov. Dave Wasinger said last month during a stop in Independence. “I think a lot of that is going to be driven by the voters in Jackson County, so I think they're going to be the tip of the spear. We'll see what happens in Jackson County, and I think it'll flow over it in Jefferson City from there.”

So far, that hasn’t happened, but Clay County has re-emerged as an option — to the extent it ever went away.

Before the Royals pivoted to the Crossroads location ahead of the failed April 2024 vote, the Royals announced a site controlled by the Merriman family in North Kansas City as a finalist along with the proposed East Village location.

It seems that NKC remains in play.

“We’ve been in the mix and continue to be in the mix,” Nolte said. “To tell you the truth, the location is just too good for us not to be.”

A bipartisan bill in the Missouri Senate would allow Clay County to establish a governor-appointed sports authority — similar to the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority, which oversees the Harry S. Truman Sports Complex. The companion bill in the House isn’t currently scheduled for a read, but that could change quickly.

“It’s an important step in the process that we’re on,” Nolte said. “... These kinds of transactions take a pretty long process.”

Nolte suggested that alternate funding options have emerged. A year ago, given Clay County’s smaller tax base, the expectation was that voters would have to sign off on a 1% sales-tax increase to lure the Royals over the river.

But conversations with the city, county and state may have shifted the commitment required at the polls.

“I think that’s the hallmark of what our efforts are about,” Nolte said. “Whether it’s reaching across the partisan aisle or whether it’s working vertically with the state, local and county governments, we are trying to work basically as one team Missouri on this issue.”

Ultimately, the Chiefs and Royals have to decide whether they stay or where they go.

“One of the things to keep in mind is we can, of course, put together an attractive package as possible and work with the franchises, but, at the end of the day, these are decisions made by the teams and they will be working in the interest of their organizations. We just have to make sure we are at the table and we are working together as a well-integrated team.”

Washington Square Park remains another site that has drawn interest and speculation in the past.

—