Kansas wants to create a sports authority to own the new Kansas City Chiefs stadium. Public rather than private ownership of the stadium will shield more than $1 billion from being collected as income taxes.
Kansas has agreed to finance 60% of $4 billion in stadium projects. Those projects include a 65,000-seat domed stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, and other developments near the Legends and in Olathe. Kansas will fund the stadium using sales tax and revenue bonds, or STAR bonds.
Those bonds take out debt that will be repaid with future sales tax dollars from inside a stadium district. A sports authority means the stadium will be publicly owned, which means the money collected to repay the bonds won’t be subject to income taxes. If the stadium was privately owned, the revenue being collected to repay the bonds would be subject to income taxes.
Supporters say creating the sports authority prevents the Chiefs from being taxed over $1 billion.
“It establishes the governance framework that allows this project to move from agreement to action, from vision to construction,” said Korb Maxwell, an attorney for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Here’s what else the board does:
Who is on the board?
The sports authority will have nine voting members. One member would be appointed by the Chiefs, one member appointed by the governor, one member appointed by the secretary from the Kansas Department of Commerce, and six members appointed by legislative leadership — including Democrats.
Board members must live in Kansas. It doesn’t require anyone on the board to live in the Kansas City area.
The mayors of Olathe and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, are allowed to be on the board, but they are not voting members.
Some lawmakers in the joint meeting of the House and Senate commerce committees were concerned about that exclusion. Maxwell said the Chiefs want the authority’s board to be as small as possible, but the team will let the legislature adjust the size of the board as it sees fit.
The Jackson County Sports Complex Authority only has five members. Unlike its Missouri counterpart, the Kansas sports authority board may only be focused on the Chiefs stadium even though the Kansas Speedway and Children’s Mercy Park are nearby.
Officials from the Kansas Speedway would like to join the authority once they pay off their STAR bonds debt in 2027, but including other stadiums would exempt those locations from property taxes as long as they are on the board.
Aside from tax exemptions, why else is the board necessary?
Maxwell said the sports authority has two major functions, overseeing construction of the project and overseeing administration of a completed stadium. That includes bidding for Final Four games, Super Bowls and major concerts.
It also includes smaller events like high school football championships, maybe even high school soccer or wrestling tournaments, said Bill Faflick, executive director of the Kansas State High School Activities Association.
“Can you imagine even a sport like wrestling,” he said, “where we can bring 24 mats in under the dome … where they would be crowned a champion in the premier venue in the state of Kansas.”
Maxwell said this board will make sure the stadium stays in first-class condition. The Chiefs were already required to contribute at least $7 million annually in rent to a stadium maintenance fund.
Rachel Willis, with the Kansas Department of Commerce, said this board does create more transparency.
There will be meetings that are open to the public, agendas will be posted online, the authority will be subject to open records laws, it will get financial transparency audits, and there will be a sports authority website.
When will the Chiefs stadium be open?
The stadium will be ready for the start of the 2031 NFL season, the state said. It’ll be at the Legends near the Kansas Speedway.
Multiple speakers told lawmakers on Tuesday the stadium will bring in millions in economic impact to Kansas, even though economists say Kansas relied on inflated economic development projections.
The bill took its first step in the legislative process Tuesday. It still needs to pass through both the House and Senate before it heads to the governor’s desk.
This story was originally published by The Beacon, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
