The Kansas City Royals have proposed a new, $2 billion downtown ballpark district.

[Faux Sean Callahan]

 

[Adolph Coors]

is this going to be by the convention center in that little homeless people plaza thing?

 

[Herbie]

Yankee stadium was 1.5 billion? Any others more expensive?

And that’s a lot of money for the 8th lowest payroll in baseball. City should make them agree to commit x amount to the roster everywhere

 

[Tell_Sackett]

That seems underwhelming at first glance for $2 billion. I guess a couple billion just doesn't buy what it used to. Kauffman is a beautiful stadium and I'd personally hate to see it go.

Edit... I'd agree with some of the twitter comments... Needs a version of the Crown jumbotron and more fountains.

 

[Kinish]

No waterfalls?

It fucking sucks.

Also. Those are just random renderings, Not sure they have picked a site yet.

 

[Faux Sean Callahan]

 

[Faux Sean Callahan]

Yankee stadium was 1.5 billion? Any others more expensive?

And that’s a lot of money for the 8th lowest payroll in baseball. City should make them agree to commit x amount to the roster everywhere

That was my thought.... If you are going to invest this you need a winner

 

[God is a Husker]

That was my thought.... If you are going to invest this you need a winner

The Royals have a long history of making the city pay for the organization tho

 

[jaihawk]

As much as I love Kaufmann Stadium, this would be awesome. The area around the K is so freaking awful and run down. To stay anywhere decent, you have a decent drive to the Stadium ahead of you. It would be great to be able to park downtown or somewhere else and take the Metro down there, and be able to make a full day of it, bar hopping, hitting the game, hitting up P&L afterwards... Minneapolis did a really good job with their downtown ballpark.

 

[Husker Priapism]

It would be great. The community gets to pay $2bill for a traditional 90 loss team with no desire to spend money of their own for players.

 

[2010sarenevercomingback]

Spend the $2b on a better interstate & road system around that city instead.

 

[jaihawk]

It would be great. The community gets to pay $2bill for a traditional 90 loss team with no desire to spend money of their own for players.

I would give this new ownership group a chance to prove otherwise before saddling them with that label.

 

[Kinish]

It would be great. The community gets to pay $2bill for a traditional 90 loss team with no desire to spend money of their own for players.

In the letter the owner wrote,

Underpinning all our planning are two guiding principles. First, we would not ask Jackson County citizens to contribute any more tax dollars than you do today.

Don't live there but I am assuming the county has paid or was paying for the Kaufmann renovations?

 

[Husker Priapism]

In the letter the owner wrote,

Underpinning all our planning are two guiding principles. First, we would not ask Jackson County citizens to contribute any more tax dollars than you do today.

Don't live there but I am assuming the county has paid or was paying for the Kaufmann renovations?

I am sure they will tax rental cars, hotels, in the county to help pay for it. That is usually the slick Willy way of saying locals/citizens won’t pay for it. The irony is that baseball doesn’t generate huge overnight stays at all.

 

[ColoREDo]

Yankee stadium was 1.5 billion? Any others more expensive?

And that’s a lot of money for the 8th lowest payroll in baseball. City should make them agree to commit x amount to the roster everywhere

They could add it right next to the commitment that Ryan O'Hearn must be on the roster.

 

[Papa...Football]

Baseball is still a thing? Who knew?

 

[kaz36]

Yankee stadium was 1.5 billion? Any others more expensive?

And that’s a lot of money for the 8th lowest payroll in baseball. City should make them agree to commit x amount to the roster everywhere

I don't think the stadium itself would be $2 billion. It sounds like they want to do a whole entertainment district that surrounds the stadium with restaurants, bars, shopping, hotels, apartments/condos, etc.

I'm pretty torn on this. I think a new stadium would be awesome in an area by downtown. I have went to Kaufman for many games and think it is a great stadium. I love Kaufman. But, I also understand that the infrastructure of the stadium is 60 years old and will be like putting a band aid on a shotgun wound. Also, the area around Kaufman is a shit hole. We went to a game last summer and got routed out of the complex to the south into Raytown into areas with bars on the windows on every building. This was us leaving the game

 

[Samkellers_69]

Why would a loser franchise do that. They'd have to win consistently to pay for that fucker

 

[God is a Husker]

In the letter the owner wrote,

Underpinning all our planning are two guiding principles. First, we would not ask Jackson County citizens to contribute any more tax dollars than you do today.

Don't live there but I am assuming the county has paid or was paying for the Kaufmann renovations?

For all intents and purposes the City of Kansas City and Johnson County KS ran the Royals while the Kauffman Estate owned the team when they struggled to find a Buyer willing/able to satisfy all of the conditions. They never did.


(This is what my first post ITT was about)

 

[God is a Husker]

I am sure they will tax rental cars, hotels, in the county to help pay for it. That is usually the slick Willy way of saying locals/citizens won’t pay for it. The irony is that baseball doesn’t generate huge overnight stays at all.

“we would not ask Jackson County citizens to contribute any more tax dollars than you do today.”

—> translation: Tax Increment Financing (TIF) does not apply to this, because citizens do not contribute taxes to TIF. TIF is simply a tax abatement program for current/future specific tax liabilities. Ex: no sales taxes on construction material used on the project as long as it is purchased within city limits.

+ No property taxes on the property for 20 years.

= the Royals Organization would save tens of millions immediately and then over 20 years they would save even more with no property Tax liability. BUUUUT citizens are not technically contributing any tax dollars to it.




It’s one of my favorite half truths that local politicians use.

PS: your Bill for this reply is $400, please make $200 of that payable to “Run the Damn Ball LLC” and $200 of it payable to the “Help @Jim14510 afford an iPhone Fun Run Race for the Cure.”