(Kansas City) The futures of the Royals and Chiefs in Kansas City are in limbo as Jackson County residents Tuesday rejected a sales tax that would have helped fund a new downtown baseball stadium and renovations at Arrowhead Stadium.
Royals owner John Sherman and Chiefs president Mark Donovan acknowledged about two hours after the polls closed that the ballot measure would fail.
They hoped to replace the existing three-eighths-cent sales tax, the driving force behind the upkeep of their current stadiums, with a new three-eighths-cent tax that would have been in effect for 40 years.
Sherman and Donovan indicated they would explore their options. Neither responded to journalists’ questions.
The Royals, who pledged at least a billion for their project, wanted to use their share of tax revenue to help finance a sector valued at more than two billion.
The Chiefs, Super Bowl champions, have committed 300 million to the project. They planned to use their share to renovate their stadium at a cost of 800 million.