Kansas legislators approved a bipartisan plan Tuesday aimed at luring the Kansas City Chiefs away from Missouri by helping finance a new stadium for the Super Bowl champions.
The bill passed by the state legislature and sent to Gov. Laura Kelly would allow Kansas to issue bonds to cover up to 70% of the costs of a new stadium in the state for the Chiefs and another for Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals. The plan also encourages the teams to move their practice facilities to the Kansas side of the metropolitan area, which is split by the two states’ border.
Kansas would pay off its bonds over 30 years with revenues from sports betting, Kansas Lottery ticket sales and new sales and alcohol taxes collected from shopping and entertainment districts around the sites for the new stadiums.
The votes were 84-38 in the House and 27-8 in the Senate. Gov. Kelly stopped short of saying she’ll sign the stadium-financing bill, but in a statement, she praised the effort behind it.
