A Kansas nonprofit advocating for the Kansas City Chiefs to move to Kansas City, Kansas, after Jackson County, Missouri, voters rejected a proposal to renew a three-eights of a cent sales tax for another 40 years in April.
Several Kansas lawmakers tried to pounce on the opportunity with a bill that would have allowed Kansas to offer the Chiefs up to $1 billion in bonds to cover the cost of building a new stadium, but it fizzled out as legislators laser-focused on passing tax cuts.
Some lawmakers said there’s some chance it would come up during the June 18 special session, and Republican leadership confirmed they’re pursuing the Chiefs in a joint statement to the media.
“The potential to establish a home for the Chiefs family here on the Kansas side of the state line is an opportunity that deserves a thorough conversation. We have reached out to the Chiefs organization and asked them to weigh in on the possibility of using Kansas’ unique STAR Bond funding tool and explore what that collaboration could hold,” Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, said in a joint statement.
Scoop and Score petition urges Chiefs move to Kansas
The nonprofit Scoop and Score is hosting a petition and can send automated messages to legislators in support of a bill luring the Chiefs across the border. It also makes claims about Sales Tax and Revenue Bonds, a financing tool that allows a bond to be paid off using the sales tax revenue of a major commercial development that was built using the funds.
An employee at The Capital-Journal received a text with a “Take Action” image and the following message, “The Chiefs deserve a permanent home in Kansas, and the Professional Sports Franchise STAR Bond Project would make Kansas the new home of the Chiefs for generations to come — without any new cost to taxpayers. Visit scoopandscoreks.com to contact your legislator and bring the Chiefs to Kansas!”
Financing the Chiefs stadium could run up to $3 billion in bonds issued, more than the total amount of STAR bonds issued in the state’s history.
Scoop and Score says STAR Bonds don’t impose new or higher sales taxes on Kansas that otherwise wouldn’t exist, that the Chiefs and Kansas could come to a deal that shares the cost of building a new stadium and casts doubt on claims that STAR Bonds are frequently defaulted on.
However, several critics have come out against using STAR bonds to lure the Chiefs.
The influential Americans for Prosperity-Kansas came out against the idea and a 2021 audit suggested that STAR bonds don’t meet the benchmarks necessary to make up for the tax revenue lost.
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