Kansas City’s public pitch for the Royals’ new stadium has centered on a $600 million city investment. The numbers laid out Tuesday tell a much bigger story: the city of Kansas City, Missouri, is expected to pay more than $1.3 billion once interest and other fees are added in.
That figure came up in a presentation at the Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee meeting, where officials detailed how the city’s money will be used and how the debt will be covered over time. The report says the city is expected to accrue $1.393 billion in debt through 2060, with $1.404 billion in revenue projected to pay it off.
Under the funding agreement, KCMO is committing $510 million toward stadium construction and another $90 million for infrastructure.
The bond authorization ordinance puts the amount to be appropriated from bond proceeds at $615.2 million. That total includes $537 million for the stadium itself, team offices and infrastructure, plus $58.8 million in capitalized interest and $19.4 million in issuance costs. The presentation also said $23 million in project costs should qualify for funding tied to water, sewer, stormwater and streetcar work.
The repayment plan leans on a mix of revenue streams: the incremental increase in revenue in the Stadium Impact Area, TIF/Super TIF/state TIFs, parking revenue on game and event days, CID and gaming revenues, and restaurant tax revenues.
Councilman Jonathan Duncan said some members of the council were just learning how large the public commitment really is.
"I think before today, some of my colleagues didn't understand the public commitment is twice what the principal is going to be,” Duncan said. “Essentially, we're taking out loans on a taxpayer dime to pay for a stadium, and those loans come with interest."
There was also discussion among council members about shrinking the stadium impact zone from the version originally proposed, which would reduce the area available to generate tax dollars.
Mayor Quinton Lucas, meanwhile, said he still views the deal as sound.
"I don't think there's a material financial impact negative toward the project long-term and, frankly, it was always a fairly narrow slice of the project itself,” Lucas said.
With the Finance Committee’s approval of Ordinance 260888, the proposal now heads to the full council for a vote Thursday.
The Royals said in a statement that they are grateful for the committee’s support and for the work of the city and Hallmark. They said the goal is “to create a transformative project that brings both the Royals and Major League Baseball to the heart of Kansas City, lifting our community for generations to come.” The team also said it looks forward to the next steps and will continue to share updates “as two crowns converge downtown.”
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