KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals are aiming to announce their proposed location for a potential new stadium by the end of the summer, team chairman and CEO John Sherman said during a midseason news conference on Thursday.
The Royals have settled on two final locations — the East Village near the downtown loop or a North Kansas City site in Clay County — team president of business operations Brooks Sherman told The Star earlier this month.
John Sherman (no relation to Brooks Sherman) said a new stadium could be ready for the 2027 or 2028 season.
“We are going to be ready to get that down to one, we hope, by the end of the summer,” Sherman said Thursday. “There are still some critical steps that we need to take with our partners to make sure we can do that.”
The Royals’ ownership group has promised more than $1 billion in private investment for the stadium project, which would include an entertainment district around the proposed new ballpark. For the remainder, a vote would be required in order to secure public financing through tax dollars.
John Sherman proposed next April as a potential date for a ballot measure in Jackson County, should the Royals opt for the East Village location. As for the potential Clay County site, Sherman said those conversations are ongoing.
“They are doing a lot of work to kind of prove themselves to us,” he said.
The Royals are proposing an extension of the 3/8th-cent sales tax in Jackson County. Sherman estimated this would provide some $300 million to $350 million each for the Royals and Chiefs, the Royals’ current neighbor at the Truman Sports Complex.
“I think the early discussions on Clay County are a similar structure (as Jackson County),” Sherman said. “Probably a sales tax in the county to create the base financing, with contributions with the city and the state to round that out.”
He also spoke about Clay County’s late pitch to make North Kansas City a possible site.
“We didn’t call on Clay County,” Sherman said. “We started a process and we engaged with Jackson County. … When you talk about investing this kind of capital, you get some interesting incoming phone calls.”
The topic of a new stadium is a controversial one among the Royals fan base. But Sherman views the stadium project as critical to the club’s mission of being competitive with other teams in Major League Baseball.
“A new stadium will generate more revenue than this one does,” Sherman said. “In addition to that, we will control surrounding real estate that will also generate revenue for the club.”
