By TIM CARPENTER
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — A bipartisan council of Kansas lawmakers voted Monday to extend by six months the deadline for the Missouri-based Kansas City Royals or the Kansas City Chiefs to accept economic development incentives from Kansas for construction of sports stadiums.
The Legislative Coordinating Council unanimously agreed to grant the reprieve so the Kansas Department of Commerce could present options for stadium deals to the LCC until Dec. 31, 2025.
A 2024 law that set the framework for issuance of STAR bonds to cover 70% of construction costs for one or both stadiums and support structures had a deadline of June 30, 2025. The statute gave the LCC authority to add another year to the timeline.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, recommended adoption of a six-month alternative for the presentation of formal proposals by the Department of Commerce to the LCC. He said he didn’t want the stadium issue to bleed into the 2026 session of the Legislature, which would convene in early January.
“We have had this law out there for a year now and each team has had a year to come to some type of conclusion,” Hawkins said. “Neither team has and quite frankly for the last month and a half, I have been very consistent across the board saying, ‘Let’s get it done.’ ”
He said he was persuaded to endorse a half-year extension because one of the teams waited from November to February for responses from the administration of Gov. Laura Kelly. Also, he said, the Kelly administration didn’t answer a proposal from a team — previously reported to be the Chiefs — for seven weeks.
“It doesn’t matter what team it was. That’s not fair to the teams, when they’re making proposals and they’re not getting responses back,” said Hawkins, who is a candidate for state insurance commissioner.
The LCC adopted the six-month extension but also voted to broaden the window of opportunity for stadium deals with Kansas to June 30, 2026. That could be a technicality, because the LCC could decide on behalf of the full House and Senate not to consider recommendations submitted after that date.
Missouri offered to finance up to 50% of the cost to renovate or build new stadiums for the Royals and Chiefs. Both franchises have played at a Jackson County, Missouri, complex since the early 1970s.
Sen. Tim Shallenberger, a Baxter Springs Republican serving as the Senate’s vice president, said he didn’t want to force the Chiefs or Royals to abruptly wrap up a deal with Kansas.
“When I was younger, I was a banker,” Shallenberger said. “Putting a deal like this together is not easy. You have landowners that look at the deadlines that we put out and use that as leverage. You have the teams look at the deadlines we put out and use that as leverage. Approved by the LCC by this December seems a little quick to me.
Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, convened the LCC meeting because he recently observed signs of progress during confidential negotiations involving the Chiefs.
“We weren’t interested in being a pawn and extending for no reason at all,” Masterson said. “The sense was as long as there’s legitimate, real conversations about the possibility of that relationship … we could move forward.”
Chiefs president Mark Donovan asked Kansas lawmakers to amend the deadline to continue negotiations with Kansas on building a stadium, team headquarters, practice facility and related business developments.
In the correspondence, Donovan said complexity, importance and scale of the project made it clear “more time is needed to bring the effort to full fruition.”