Forced to Leave Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs Receive Fresh Relief From Jackson County Legislator but Leaves Out KC Royals

USA Today via Reuters

Clark Hunt and the Kansas City Chiefs are planning to move out of Jackson County and purge Arrowhead’s legacy. After 55 years and a couple of Super Bowls, the Chiefs decided that it was time to renovate the Arrowhead Stadium and sought funds from the Jackson County taxpayers. However, most of the voters were not in favor and the team had to take a new route.

58% of the voters were against the 3/8 sales tax that would get towards the renovation of the stadium. But it’s not only the Chiefs MLB’s Royals are also seeking different arrangements to move out of Missouri. But one man, Manny Abarca is committed to keeping the team in the state of Missouri.

There are reports that Jackson County legislator Manny Abarca is working on two bills that would keep the Chiefs and the Royals in the state lines. However, his new proposition doesn’t mention anything about the Royals. Essentially, Abarca has proposed a 40-year extension of the existing 3/8 cents sales tax, but proceeds would only go to the Chiefs.

The other bill is a 30-year, 3/16th cents sales tax for a new Chiefs stadium that would go into effect when the current tax expires in 2031. Abarca took things seriously after the Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt expressed his desire to build a new stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs.

KCTV5 reported Abarca saying, “Realistically, waiting any longer, waiting for a cool-down period, that’s not feasible in this market,” and that, “We need to jump back to the table and say, ‘We’re here. We’re ready. We want to make sure the Chiefs stay in Kansas City.’” There are constant rumors and designs of the new Chiefs stadium all over the internet.

USA Today via Reuters

Clark Hunt hasn’t spoken to the leaders in Kansas City but was supportive of the idea of getting a new stadium for his football team. “If we end up back focused on a renovation of Arrowhead, we obviously look at everything we did from a design standpoint the last couple of years to see if it can be enhanced. But we may be in a situation where we may look at a new stadium as well,” Hunt added. However, for Abarca, there are a couple of roadblocks he might face trying to keep the Chiefs to stay put.

Is the proposal legally in place?

Per reports, a similar park sales tax was introduced about a month ago but was rejected at the ballot. Hence, County Executive Frank White pointed out that this proposal cannot be resubmitted as he took to X.

The caption on his post said, “The law is explicit: no proposal for a parks sales tax can be resubmitted to voters within 12 months of its previous rejection. This statute is designed to respect the voter’s decision and ensure responsible governance, but it seems to be ignored.”

However, Abarca thinks that what he is proposing is completely different. “There is a lot of difference from what was proposed in April and what we will propose in November, so ultimately the Secretary of State may determine that it’s the same intent, but even that, if we’re doing a 3/8 cents sales tax for a brand new stadium for the Chiefs, that’s very different from what we were talking about in April,” Abarca said.

However, Abarca isn’t the only one interested in keeping the Chiefs in Missouri. Missouri House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson said, “I think this is certainly going to serve as a wake-up call for our community to come together and make serious decisions about keeping the Royals and the Chiefs in Missouri,”

Earlier, it was pointed out that the renovations to GEHA Field came with a tag of $800 million, and the Hunt family was about to invest $300 million in it, asking the residents of Jackson County to contribute to the stadium. However, that doesn’t seem to happen anytime soon. There is not a mention of moving the KC Royals anywhere for now. However, this Jackson county legislator is doing his best to alleviate things for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to possibly save them from relocation.