Kansas leaders gave the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals a Dec. 31, 2025, deadline to accept a STAR bond offer that would help finance the cost of a new stadium and entertainment district for each team.
The Chiefs met that deadline, nabbing them up to $1.8 billion in key incentives to relocate their stadium and training facilities to Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas. But the Royals have yet to make a decision on their proposed location for a new stadium.
As far as Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins is concerned, the legislature is moving on from the Royals and aren’t interested in extending their deadline.
But Gov. Laura Kelly said she’s still open to discussions with the team.
“I think we just need to give them some time to sort through some of the issues and concerns that they're dealing with,” Kelly told KCUR’s Up To Date. “But you know, if they can get through that, and they want to come back and re-up discussions, I’m open.”
The governor said she doesn’t know if a STAR bond package would be possible at this point, however.
Kelly, a Democrat, is in her final year as the Kansas’ governor. Some Republican leaders speculate she could be preparing to run for the U.S. Senate, challenging Republican Sen. Roger Marshall.
“Oh, their paranoia runs deep, doesn’t it? And I'm going to let it keep running deep,” Kelly chuckled. “I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to do.”
In a 2024 interview with Up To Date, Kelly confidently said she will not run for any political office again.
