JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Voter rejection of stadium tax proposals, along with a playoff loss, will force the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs to reevaluate their approaches.
Tuesday's defeat of a 3/88 cent sales tax to fund a new Royals ballpark downtown and renovate the Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium failed, but that doesn't mean the problem is over. is almost certain. Other teams and cities have faced similar setbacks, but that hasn't slowed the wave of stadium construction underway across the country.
“If we lose this referendum, the next page in the strategy will be to threaten relocation,” said Brad Humphries, an economics professor at West Virginia University who studies sports stadiums.
But that doesn't mean a move is imminent or likely.
A move to a new stadium within the same region or another state is just one of several options. Teams can also adjust their plans and ask voters again. Stadiums can be built or renovated without public funding. Alternatively, they could bypass a referendum by asking legislative bodies such as city councils, county commissions, or state legislatures directly to approve public subsidies.
“Typically, team owners would legislate just because they found a new way to raise money,” said Jeffrey Profetter, an associate professor of public finance at the University of Colorado Denver. “Team owners rarely quit suddenly.”
Decades of decisions
From 1990 to 2023, voters voted on 57 stadium and arena proposals across the country, with 35 approved and 22 rejected, according to data compiled by Prophet.
In December, Oklahoma City voters overwhelmingly approved a six-year, 1% sales tax to finance the NBA's Thunder's new downtown arena, which is expected to cost at least $900 million.
But last May, voters in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe rejected a proposed $2.3 billion entertainment district that included a new arena for the NHL's Arizona Coyotes. The loss was the latest setback for the hockey team, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and now plays in a 5,000-seat arena shared with Arizona State University.
The Coyotes haven't given up on the Phoenix area just yet. The team is considering bidding for 95 acres of land in north Phoenix.
no referendum required
Public subsidies for stadiums and arenas are often approved by elected officials without voting.
Last year, the Nashville City Council approved $760 million in municipal bonds, along with $500 million in state bonds, all of which will go toward financing a new $2.1 billion football stadium for the Tennessee Titans. It will be done. No public referendum was held.
Construction on the Buffalo Bills' new football stadium also began last year and is expected to cost more than $1.6 billion. A total of $850 million has been invested by New York State and Erie County, and no public referendum has been held.
The proposals from the Royals and Chiefs went to voters because the Missouri Constitution requires a referendum on local taxes. Only Jackson County voters had a say, since the proposed tax would only apply to sales in that county.
If teams can fund stadiums without taxes, voter approval may not be needed. Brent Never, an associate professor of public affairs at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said privately financed bonds are an option, but would still require a source of funds to pay them back.
make an end run
Some teams ignore voters and get new stadiums after losing elections.
In 1997, voters in 11 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania replaced the stadium shared by MLB's Pirates and NFL's Steelers with two separate facilities and approved a half-cent proposal to fund a convention center expansion. The consumption tax was rejected. But the next year, the community development district approved public financing for the new facility without giving it back to voters.
A similar scenario played out elsewhere in the mid-1990s. When voters in King County, Washington rejected a tax plan for the Seattle Mariners' stadium, the owners threatened to put the team up for sale. Within a month, the state Legislature approved a new funding plan for a new baseball stadium.
After Wisconsin voters rejected a sports lottery for the Milwaukee Brewers' new stadium, the state Legislature approved a local sales tax to pay for it. Last year, Wisconsin's governor signed legislation authorizing an additional $500 million in public aid for stadium renovations, also without a voter referendum.
Please try again
Teams sometimes bounce back from defeats in stadium elections and win with the support of voters.
After Houston voters defeated the NBA's Rockets' new downtown arena in 1999, supporters tried again the following year and easily won.
The San Francisco Giants are perhaps the greatest example of electoral tenacity.
Voters rejected new stadium plans twice in San Francisco, once in Santa Clara County, and once in San Jose, after which the Giants proposed building a privately funded stadium, and finally, in 1996, the required San Francisco received voter approval for the zoning change.
moving
Last year, the Oakland Athletics followed in the footsteps of the NFL's Oakland Raiders, who were also attracted to a new publicly subsidized stadium, and received MLB approval for a move to Las Vegas. However, these deals did not include a public vote.
The NFL's Chargers are the latest team to move after voters rejected a stadium referendum. San Diego voters in 2016 rejected a plan to raise hotel taxes to build a new soccer stadium and expand the convention center. The Chargers then moved to a new privately-funded stadium in Los Angeles, which they shared with the Rams, who had relocated from St. Louis.
The NBA's Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans in 2002 after voters rejected a sweeping plan to fund a new basketball arena, minor league baseball stadium, museum and cultural center, and later became the Pelicans. It was renamed.
But just six months after the team left, the Charlotte City Council approved plans for a new downtown arena without putting them before voters. The NBA then gave Charlotte an expansion team, which was later named the Hornets.
