The Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals need an April 2 sales tax vote to go their way to renovate Arrowhead Stadium and construct a completely new baseball stadium.
President Mark Donovan said the Chiefs would “look at all our options” when asked if they would leave Kansas City if the tax vote didn’t go their way in an interview with Kevin Holmes of KSHB.
The Kansas City Chiefs would pay citizens via a Community Benefits Agreement if they get help with the tax vote
Jan 13, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins cheer in the cold weather during the second half of the 2024 AFC wild card game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
The Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals would pay the citizens of Jackson County, Missouri $266 million via a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) if they get the tax vote they want.
Donovan took to the team’s website to explain how the CBA would work.
“A Community Benefits Agreement is an extremely important part of a project like this, and it’s wide-reaching,” said Chiefs President Mark Donovan. “The headline is that it covers a commitment by the teams of $266 million in spending toward community programs in Jackson County, but it also covers things that are very newsworthy to our unions, construction trades and workforce. As part of that, we’ve agreed to unprecedented MBE/WBE percentages.”
CBAs are not a new thing in professional sports. The Buffalo Bills have a CBA with their community that is worth at least $3 million each year for several different needs. There is a committee that meets every year to determine how the money will help the community.
The Tennessee Titans also have a CBA with Nashville. According to Titans Program Director Johari Matthews, it is a $2 million fund that provides grants and loans to “small and diverse businesses.
Mike Florio of NBC’s Pro Football Talk explained in an article why he categorizes this CBA as a “bribe.”
“Although the word “bribe” is a bit crass, what else should it be called? The Chiefs and Royals want millions in free money. They’re offering the citizens $266 million to give them what they want,” Florio wrote.
The Kansas City Chiefs have loyal fans and their owners are among the richest in America
Feb 14, 2024; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt and wife Tavia Hunt during the celebration of the Kansas City Chiefs winning Super Bowl LVIII. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, Clark Hunt, belongs to the Hunt family. The Hunt family is worth $24.8 billion, which makes them the 12th-richest family in America.
If Hunt already has the capacity to inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the Kansas City community, the only reason that he would make it contingent upon a tax vote would be to save himself and his family money.
The Chiefs and the Royals clearly understand that it would cost them less to go forward with a CBA than to just pay for the stadiums themselves. If it would cost them less, that means it would cost the people of Kansas City more. The cost is the cost and the funds have to come from somewhere.
The Chiefs fans that this would be costing are the same Chiefs fans who were so loyal to their team that they sat outside in one of the coldest playoff games in the history of the NFL. Reports later came out that several of those Chiefs fans required amputations due to their attendance at that game against the Miami Dolphins.
Football fans lose fingers and toes from watching Chiefs payoff game in -4°F weather.
Sad but true.
It was the coldest football game in history.
Frostbite is an evovlving process, the game was in January, they are expecting many more surgeries to amputate digits over the next…
— Lynn Sherard-Stuhr, BSN, RN (@BoostSelfWorth) March 10, 2024
Some Chiefs fans needed amputations after Kansas City’s record cold game at Arrowhead https://t.co/1JkAGBdIl3
— The Kansas City Star (@KCStar) March 15, 2024
While a team with quarterback Patrick Mahomes at the helm and three Super Bowl victories since 2019 likely won’t have difficulties filling out a new stadium in a different location, they would be leaving behind one of the most loyal fanbases in the NFL.
