The mayor of Dallas has lobbied the Kansas City Chiefs to move to Texas after voters struck down a sales tax to pay for stadium renovations.
Jackson County, Missouri voters rejected the measure in a 58.1 percent to 41.9 percent vote on Tuesday. Its failure prompted Mayor Eric Johnson to invite the Chiefs to come back to Dallas.
“Welcome home, Dallas Texans!” he wrote on social media platform X.
The team was born as the Dallas Texans in 1960 before moving to Kansas City in 1962 and becoming the Chiefs. The owner of the Chiefs, Clark Hunt, is a Dallas native and still resides there. Additionally, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was born in Texas and played college football for Texas Tech.
The mayor suggested the Chiefs should play at the Cotton Bowl, which just broke ground on a $140-million dollar renovation project. The renovations are set to be completed by the start of the 2025 State Fair of Texas.
The Chiefs had committed $300 million in private funds for the renovation of Arrowhead Stadium. However, the team hoped to use public funding for the rest of the $800 million project.
The 3/8th cent sales tax would have been used to renovate the stadium for the back-to-back Super Bowl champions and build a new baseball stadium for the Kansas City Royals.
“Kudos to the voters who stood up to the wealthy owners of the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals,” Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor and Berkeley professor, wrote in a social media post.
“Billionaires have found one more way to funnel our tax dollars into their bank accounts – sport stadiums. And, if we don’t play ball, they’ll find a way to take our favorite teams away!” he wrote.
Mr. Reich also said that there never seems to be enough support for better schools and mass transit, yet when a multi-billion dollar sports team demands a new stadium, “local governments are happy to oblige.”
KC Tenants, the citywide tenant union in Kansas City, also celebrated the voters’ decision.
“The largest transfer of public funds to private enterprises in our region’s history, $2 billion over 40 years. The people took on the billionaires. The people won.” the union posted on X.
But supporters of the measure don’t want to see their favorite team leave and also argue that the failure of the measure is a big loss for the city.
“I voted Yes because of future economic concerns. I was worried these teams may leave this area and go somewhere else. This would leave a huge scar on metro Kansas City,” Mary K. Fox, who voted in support of the measure, told NTD News in a statement.
“You just took a step forward to taking KC off the map of Big Time cities,” one X user wrote. “Starting in 2030, the city will descend into becoming the Midwest version of Oakland.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said he wants to continue to work with the Chiefs and Royals “to build a stronger, more open, and collaborative process” that will ensure the teams and their investments remain in the City for future generations.
Nonetheless, the Chiefs CEO said in a statement that the team would “not be willing” to sign another 25-year lease without the financing for a proper renovation.
There are still several years left on the Chiefs’ lease at Arrowhead Stadium.
Despite the mayor’s invite for the team to move to Dallas, a more common suggestion is for the Chiefs to relocate to Kansas.
“If negotiations happen, I would welcome the Chiefs to come to Kansas,” Kansas Republican State House Rep. Sean Tarwater said about the possibility. But the lawmaker also said that he isn’t aware of any current negotiations.
