For the past two years, as the Kansas City Royals have discussed relocating to a new stadium somewhere in the metro, Johnson County has largely watched from the sidelines.
But that appears to be changing.
Multiple media reports over the past week have mentioned specific sites in Overland Park as possible landing places for a new baseball stadium.
So, could the Royals actually end up playing home games in Johnson County?
Here’s what we know — and what we don’t — at the moment:
Two Overland Park sites mentioned
On Tuesday, sports talk host Bob Fescoe on his morning show on 96.5 The Fan, citing multiple sources, said the Royals were in “real and advanced talks with the state of Kansas to build their new stadium in Johnson County.”
Specifically, Fescoe said the team was looking at an area near Antioch and I-435 where Brookridge Golf Club is, and the old Sprint campus — now Aspiria — near 119th and Nall.
Later in the week, Kansas City Star sports columnist Sam McDowell citing his own sources confirmed the Royals were “exploring additional stadium locations,” including the Aspiria site.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas also recently acknowledged in an interview with KCUR’s Up to Date that there have been talks about the former Sprint campus being a possible landing spot for the Royals.
Fescoe on his radio show said the process for locking in a new stadium location, wherever it may end up being, is “moving very fast” and that the team could be “breaking ground” on a new site by the time of Major League Baseball’s annual winter meetings in mid-December.
Here's the full @thefan965 clip(s) w/ @bobfescoe & @DustyLikins reporting on the considered Johnson County locations for a new Royals stadium + where the Chiefs could end up playing.
— Ben Heisler (@bennyheis) November 12, 2024
Bob: "I'm not saying the downtown situation is dead, but this thing is moving very fast." (1/2) pic.twitter.com/RtgYIdGT4F
Lucas on Up To Date also said he hoped to have a “good path going forward” with a final stadium location by the end of the year.
This all comes after Jackson County voters in April decisively rejected a ballot measure to build a new stadium in downtown Kansas City on the current site of the Star printing press.
Since then, the Royals have reportedly shown interest in another downtown site at Washington Square Park near Crown Center and Union Station.
What are the Overland Park locations under consideration?
Both Overland Park sites mentioned by Fescoe are currently privately owned and are in the process of being developed by other entities.
The project at Brookridge, renamed Meridian last year, is a long-planned $2 billion mixed-use development that includes thousands of planned apartment and condo units, millions of square feet of office space, as well as hotels, retail and a 3,500-seat performance venue. The project is receiving some $200 million in public tax incentives from the city.
Overland Park-based Curtin Property officially broke ground on Meridian last year, but physical construction has been slow to materialize and the city has extended some incentive deadlines, with the project not expected to be completed for at least another decade.
Meanwhile, Aspiria is another mixed-use development that spans roughly 200 acres on the site of the former Sprint World Headquarters. The evolving plans there, as proposed by Wichita-based Occidental Management, feature office, entertainment, retail, dining and housing.
T-Mobile, following its merger with Sprint in 2020, still occupies offices on the western portion of the campus.
Neither Occidental nor Curtin responded to the Post’s requests for comment for this story.
Kansas is trying to entice teams with STAR bonds
This summer during a special session, the Kansas Legislature passed and Gov. Laura Kelly signed into law a measure meant to offer a giant enticement to either the Chiefs or Royals to move to the Kansas side.
The law modifies the state’s existing STAR bond program, which is aimed at funding major entertainment and tourism-related developments by diverting sales tax revenue generated by a project to repay debt used to finance its construction.
Under the new law, STAR bonds could cover up to 70% of a new stadium project, as opposed to the normal 50% restriction on other STAR bond sites.
Some officials in Missouri, including Mayor Lucas, lamented passage of the new law, suggesting it would reignite the states’ long-running economic border war.
Local and state officials aren’t giving details
When asked for comment about potential Johnson County sites under consideration by the Royals, Patrick Lowry, a spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Commerce, said “[b]ecause all major economic development projects require discretion and confidentiality, the department will not disclose any details regarding the activity surrounding negotiations or future agreements.”
In a statement, Overland Park spokesperson Meg Ralph said, “Overland Park is supportive of our hometown teams. We know the Chiefs and Royals belong in the Kansas City region and will do everything in our power to keep them here.”
And Johnson County chair Mike Kelly said in a statement, “We’re a sports town — and the Royals and Chiefs are celebrated members of our community that connect fans across the metro. My priority remains keeping these championship teams in the region and making sure we can cheer them on for generations to come.”
Not an uncommon strategy for sports teams
It could also be a distinct possibility the Royals are using the potential of a move to Johnson County as a way to build leverage for what has long been seen as owner John Sherman’s preference: a new downtown stadium.
That’s been other professional sports teams’ playbook, says economist Victor Matheson, who has studied the economics of sports as a professor at College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.
Teams frequently use the threat of relocation — either to another city entirely or to another part of a larger metro area — to “play cities off each other,” he said, citing the Dallas Cowboys as one notable example. That team moved from their long-time home in Irving, Texas, about 15 years ago but publicly teased multiple sites in the Dallas area — including in Dallas itself — before ultimately settling on Arlington.
“We’ve seen this playbook again and again and again,” Matheson said. “But the KC metro area is particularly vulnerable to this because of state line. You’re not just playing cities off each other but states, too. That’s whey the border war legislation was passed a few years ago, but once we get to sports teams, all of that kind of goes out the window.”
Kaylie McLaughlin contributed. This story was originally published by the Johnson County Post.
