Penguins belong in Pittsburgh & I can’t even imagine the NHL ever agreeing on a relocation from there. KC’s best bet is expansion & I doubt that will not be happening anytime soon or ever. St.Louis getting NBA team is like 5% chance if we were to get a team I’ll eat my own words….
As everyone knows, I live over in the KC Region and have for a few years now. The writing’s been on the wall for a while now and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Firstly, I moved from Downtown KC to Overland Park in 2024. One factor was I thought the rent was too high for what I would get elsewhere in downtown or the core (from the river to 55th). While new product has been built, it hasn’t been enough to keep up with demand to truly have a broad range of options. Throw in the loud car and motorbike issue that plagues downtowns all across the country, but was quite bad in downtown KC when I lived there, I couldn’t quite justify remaining anymore and moved down to Overland Park.
Besides my personal experience, the governments that dot the region vary so widely. In KC, Mayor Lucas and the City Council caved to folks aligned with KCtenants (a group that had a good mission of holding slumlords accountable, but eventually became one of the chief NIMBY groups behind KCPS). Besides that, the city government has made zero effort at trying to attract new employers to the city, especially the urban part of the city. In St. Louis, for better or worse, you have GreaterSTL Inc, the Mayor’s office and others all at least trying to retain current businesses and attract new ones, but KC doesn’t have that. It’s absent. Add in the idea that everything’s been perfectly fine in KCMO and you get a pompous attitude that absolutely nothing could go wrong and the city was well on its way to booming. That mindset stemmed from the years where City Hall was headed by Mayors Barnes and James (with a 4 year pause with Funkhouser), but back to modern day.
Former Jackson County Executive Frank White was the man who launched into a series of anti-development attacks against the Chiefs and Royals ahead of the April 2024 3/8 cent sales tax renewal for the stadiums, ultimately contributing to the measure’s defeat. It was at that time that a message was sent to the teams, and Kansas, setting in motion what’s happening today. Though some argue that the Chiefs already intended to leave Arrowhead because of their half-assed renovation presentation ahead of the April 2024 election.
On the Kansas side, leaders are aligned at advancing the counties bordering KC. They’re offering a level of competition that KCMO hasn’t had to face before and were laughed off as a result. The Kansas legislature rammed through STAR Bond measures for sports teams in a bipartisan fashion shortly after the April 2024 vote. A supermajority Republican legislature working with the Democratic Governor to achieve something that states larger than Kansas rarely, if ever do. Local county-level support was there.
Since I’ve lived in Overland Park, they picked up the Morton Salt HQ from Chicago, Fiserv announced (if I remember correctly) 2000 new jobs at the Aspiria campus), and Black and Veatch announced a reconstruction of their headquarters that’s built to consolidate all local offices and give them room to grow. The Royals moving to 119th and Nall was to be a centerpiece of this growth prior to opposition from Leawood.
Speaking of Leawood, they quietly worked with VanTrust to push through the Hallbrook North development, which won Lockton over to move their headquarters from the Plaza in KCMO.
All while Mayor Q tweeted that the Chiefs and Royals would stay in KCMO for generations to come and others in City Hall laughing off the concept of Lockton leaving. The height increase on the Plaza’s failed Nordstrom site was to aid in the design, and eventual construction, of a new office building that could’ve hosted Lockton, but it was too late.
Now you have the Chiefs finally signing an agreement with Kansas to jump ship and split their development between KCK/Wyandotte County and Olathe/Johnson County. That’s just a few days after Lockton’s announcement. Now we’re waiting on what the Royals will choose to do over here.
For the Royals, they’re in their strongest negotiating position they’ve ever been in their entire new stadium process. They can get whatever they want from KCMO and Jackson County now, but the question is will they try. They have until 11:59pm on December 31st to sign some sort of agreement with Kansas for their own STAR Bond district to advance.
Let me bounce back to leadership for a second. PortKC has done heavy lifting with trying to keep real estate developments rolling in the City as a way to circumvent the anti-incentive, anti-development sentiment coming from City Hall. Today, they held a special media to review bonds for Country Club Plaza and were met with unanimous opposition from people from KCTenants, the public school district, and a candidate for City Council whose district is home to the Plaza. None of those groups, or people, want to admit that the Plaza isn’t what it once was and needs a reinvention. Each one of them believes the Plaza’s fine and therefore incentives to upgrade it, and eventually add housing and what not, is not necessary. This sort of belief is guiding policy choices and not one elected official has had the nerve to stand up and say that we need these things to stay even a tiny bit relevant.
Kansas, and its suburbs, are kicking KCMO’s ass and it’s a rightfully deserved ass kicking. When you don’t have any true leader at the helm for nearly 7 years, you face the consequences and get the results good and hard.
Sure, I like the Streetcar, I like what the Longs are doing at Berkley Riverfront, I like the concept of the 800 Grand development and the newly under construction redevelopment at Independence and Hardesty, but these are small relative to what Kansas is doing. Even after the last few days, the mindset seems to be that the City will be fine without the teams or Lockton.
All I gotta see is see how that mindset keeps working out for KCMO. I’ll keep watching from across the State Line as a cautionary tale emerges about a 21st century boom city that went bust because it couldn’t get out of its own way.
^^^ dredger…The thing I learned from the Chiefs is that no one in Missouri politics has “get new teams” on their to do list. The regions will have to self-start and only get involved when lobbied or plan A doesn’t work.
This leaves the Royals in sweet spot to get a new stadium in downtown KC worked out however I have a hunch the Royals will likely bolt to Kansas as well if KC don’t get its stuff figured out.
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Kansas City and Mayor Lucas have to deliver the Roayls to Downtown.
According to the posters on the rag, there doesn't seem to be much optimism for this either. NKC is probably as good as it gets as far as their options and some are suggesting the Royals could leave the market entirely.
Someone else over there posted this and I think this may sum up the overall sentiment, KS fans are used to crossing into MO for sports but not the other way around.
I’d say the royals are worth fighting for if they want them to remain in Missouri however at the end of the day Royals will do what’s best for the Royals. I can’t see them completely leaving KC although there’s like 5 cities that could easily support a MLB team I even heard rumblings of SLC being in talks to get a possible team they literally stole the Coyotes from the Phoenix area no one saw that coming. Rams leaving St.Louis had nothing to do with the lack of support it had everything to do with NFL’s greed & going where money pours. They could have easily awarded LA an expansion team or award St.Louis an expansion team in exchange for Rams going back to LA. They made St.Louis do all that work for nothing when they knew they had all intentions on abandoning the St.Louis market.
Chiefs are going to Olathe, would be like the blues or cardinals building in Mascoutah
I saw someone post 40% of the Chiefs ticket sales comes from Kansas, so this isn't really a great comparison with how lopsided MO/IL population in the metro is. Is it more removed than it is now at Arrowhead, probably, but not middle of nowhere, KCK is still pretty big.
My first thought, why not include that area along the state line and Overland Park. Then I realized, isn’t Aspiria right in the center of that? Seems like Kansas is saving a little for the Royals.
Maybe, just maybe the Chiefs move to KS will (hopefully) severely damage the bandwagon Chiefs fanbase that has formed in STL. STL Chiefs fans (the majority of them) when asked why they root for the Chiefs say, "because they are a Missouri team". Will this change their minds? Now the team is almost 4 hours from most of the STL region.
Could this move to KS motivate some billionaire to want to bring a team back to Missouri (St. Louis) in the future? Never know, but this move should fracture the "chiefs Kingdom" that Hunt intended to build when he voted to move the Rams out of STL.
While I agree that the new stadium in KS is better for the KC region, I think the Chiefs should have built that same stadium on the current Arrowhead site, moved out the Royals & built next to Arrowhead so there was no disruption to the Chiefs actual games. Could this have been done, who know, but if not, play at KU or in STL while the stadium is being built. Hopefully STL Chiefs fans abandon the KS Chiefs! Not a Missouri team!
Maybe, just maybe the Chiefs move to KS will (hopefully) severely damage the bandwagon Chiefs fanbase that has formed in STL. STL Chiefs fans (the majority of them) when asked why they root for the Chiefs say, "because they are a Missouri team". Will this change their minds? Now the team is almost 4 hours from most of the STL region.
Could this move to KS motivate some billionaire to want to bring a team back to Missouri (St. Louis) in the future? Never know, but this move should fracture the "chiefs Kingdom" that Hunt intended to build when he voted to move the Rams out of STL.
While I agree that the new stadium in KS is better for the KC region, I think the Chiefs should have built that same stadium on the current Arrowhead site, moved out the Royals & built next to Arrowhead so there was no disruption to the Chiefs actual games. Could this have been done, who know, but if not, play at KU or in STL while the stadium is being built. Hopefully STL Chiefs fans abandon the KS Chiefs! Not a Missouri team!
I just hope this means the NFL will stop jamming the Chiefs down our throats. I'm tired of walking into Schnucks and being visually assaulted by soda, chips or beer displays that are Kansas City Chiefs themed.
KC still gets their NFL team and all of the benefits that it brings to the region while KCMO and Missouri taxpayers don't have to pay for it. It's not like the auto oriented location of Arrowhead brought a ton of economic benefits to its surroundings either, the new Legends location is a lateral move. It's not like it was ever proposed to be built in or around downtown. I would have happily let the metro east poach the Rams (provided it had metrolink access) and would still be a rabid fan today.
Seems like a decent deal to me. The real tragedy IMO is the NFL losing another storied outdoor venue for a souless mega-dome.
Now it the time to get the Royals downtown or nearby. Unlike the NFL, good baseball stadiums belong in an urban area. The last proposal was too hamfisted and required evicting successful businesses and destroying active urban fabric. There are plenty of great urban locations that would work just as well with plenty of open space to build.
Maybe, just maybe the Chiefs move to KS will (hopefully) severely damage the bandwagon Chiefs fanbase that has formed in STL. STL Chiefs fans (the majority of them) when asked why they root for the Chiefs say, "because they are a Missouri team". Will this change their minds? Now the team is almost 4 hours from most of the STL region.
Could this move to KS motivate some billionaire to want to bring a team back to Missouri (St. Louis) in the future? Never know, but this move should fracture the "chiefs Kingdom" that Hunt intended to build when he voted to move the Rams out of STL.
While I agree that the new stadium in KS is better for the KC region, I think the Chiefs should have built that same stadium on the current Arrowhead site, moved out the Royals & built next to Arrowhead so there was no disruption to the Chiefs actual games. Could this have been done, who know, but if not, play at KU or in STL while the stadium is being built. Hopefully STL Chiefs fans abandon the KS Chiefs! Not a Missouri team!
I just hope this means the NFL will stop jamming the Chiefs down our throats. I'm tired of walking into Schnucks and being visually assaulted by soda, chips or beer displays that are Kansas City Chiefs themed.
Just be Rob Lowe.
I agree! I hope this ends ( or significantly reduces) the footprint of "Chiefs Kingdom" into the STL area. It is the most annoying thing ever that the Rams leaving coincided with the Chiefs mega-success, SB wins & Swifty-mania. Everything lined for STL football fans to jump on the bandwagon. The huge marketing push by the Chiefs helped as well. Now that the Chiefs are not a Missouri team (2030 & beyond), the dynasty should be coming to a close with Kelce & Reid retiring in the near future, PM being hindered by injuries & the overall shine wearing off, maybe STL football fans follow in Rob Lowe's footsteps or just do what I did. I have always been all in on Mizzou football, but now that CF is semi-pro, I am all in on SEC & Mizzou football even more. We have a team, our Mizzou Tigers! It is time for STL to go all in on CF, get our NIL up to snuff & compete for a Natty!
leeharveyawesome wrote:Arrowhead went from best game day experience in the league to totally unusable seemingly overnight.
I’ll do you one better.
Kansas City quickly transitioned from the pinnacle of football and cultural success, with a dynasty-winning culture, pop-star fandom boosting international brand awareness, and a nationally recognized venue, to a state of decline in just about two weeks.
Mahomes may return, but he’s aging, and the Chiefs have significant rebuilding ahead, already exceeding the salary cap.
Kelce and Swift are departing. Eventually, we’ll see headlines about the decline in viewership due to Swift’s absence from the stands.
Arrowhead Stadium is being replaced by a bland “modern” stadium.
Theres nothing more annoying than this Chief Kingdom crap imo I’m glad the kingdom is crumbling down I just can’t be a bandwagon fan for a team that helped vote the Rams out of St.Louis & then have the audacity to claim the market like everything was back to normal.
Theres nothing more annoying than this Chief Kingdom crap imo I’m glad the kingdom is crumbling down I just can’t be a bandwagon fan for a team that helped vote the Rams out of St.Louis & then have the audacity to claim the market like everything was back to normal.
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Man, couldn't agree more! Hunt played a role in getting the Rams out of here even if some want to deny it. He wanted to turn them into "Missouri's team" at the expense of STL. From the vote to him claiming STL shortly after the vote to move the team to LA, to getting the Chiefs on KMOX & having KMOV spew Chiefs propaganda nightly. Sometimes the Chiefs highlights trump Blues highlights on KMOV. They also run lots of Chiefs-related segments on station, where that was few & far-between before the Rams left. They also sent PM & Kelce to Blues games as if they actually liked the Blues. All a marketing push to STL. Same thing Jones & the Cowboys did to most of TX, with the exception of Houston. It is the most annoying thing when I see Chiefs flags flying in STL. NOT A ST. LOUIS TEAM & many, many in KC hate STL & our teams.
Hard to be that upset about losing out on the taxes from the players'/staffs' salaries when our dear friends in Jefferson City are already planning on bankrupting the state by eliminating the state income tax.
Maybe this will be a wake-up call to Jeff City that surrounding states like Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, etc see KC and St Louis as easy pickin’s to lure companies, revenue, and population out of Missouri. As former Missouri Speaker Scott Faughan put it to the Governor — all the legislation to lower income tax and cut education, medical care, etc to entice outside businesses to move to Missouri —have failed.
A fascinating post mortem would be to compare the STL NFL Stadium proposal (National Rental Car Field) to the KC effort. The Hunts complained about having to deal with so many different teams for their MO stadium effort. The STL proposal however had more - STL City, STL County, CVC, MO State, etc - and they were able to get a viable, fully funded proposal together and proposed to the Rams & NFL ownership seemingly in a matter of weeks.
It's not entirely apples-to-apples but close enough that KC might be able to learn from STL about what went wrong.
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