Ding. Ding. Ding. Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the octagon for tonight’s title fight.
In the white corner comes the challenger. The eight-time Gold Glover, Jackson County Executive and Royals Hall of Famer, Frank White. THE GREAT WHITE HOPE.
In the blue corner are the two-time World Champion, Kansas City Royals and their billionaire owner, John Sherman. THE SHERMANATOR.
Folks, the lines have been drawn and the purse for the victory is the home of the Kansas City Royals. If you have been out of the loop, the Royals have finally declared that they want to stay in Jackson County dashing the hopes of some (me) fans who were planning on tailgating in their backyards at the new stadium in North Kansas City. The Royals want to stay in Jackson County, but want to leave the Truman Sports Complex.
How will it be paid for? Well, the Royals say they are throwing in $1 Billion dollars towards construction of a new stadium and ask that the county vote to continue their 3/8th cent sales tax which is due to expire.
But wait just a minute. Former Kansas City Royal and current Jackson County Executive Frank White vetoed the measure to put the sales tax initiative on the ballot. White’s statement outlined ten unanswered points after months (years, really) of negotiations that have been mired in politics, leaks, infighting, more politics, and a little (with all apologies to Taylor Swift) bad blood.
But to boil it down to a few key things to remember – Frank White is a politician and also has an axe to grind with the Royals going back decades to when he was an announcer for the team. But he also raises a number of excellent points about the new stadium. It comes down to money and how much they can get the Royals and Chiefs to commit to funding programs enriching the community around the stadiums as well as making sure there are very few loopholes the MLB and NFL teams can ease around.
We’ve already seen labor concerns at Kauffman Stadium and know that the Royals are famous for pinching pennies.
It is likely that the lawyers hammer through these points. There are just too many lives at stake. That being said, White’s veto is another blast to this entire process which has been years in the making.
The unstated leverage the Royals have, however, is that they can always say they want to move out of the state – either to Kansas or Arkansas or elsewhere. Nobody has played that card to this point, but White is fighting a battle I don’t think he can win – no matter how well intended. It is the third rail and the unthinkable for this town. Kansas City would be an entirely different town down to it’s DNA without the Royals and so White’s power is limited here.
In the end, we want the team to support the community in ways more than just the play on the field (and oh my goodness the play on the field is awful.) But we signed up for this in 1969 and this is the way the game is played. Hopefully the lawyers come to agreements on all of these points and the Royals find their new home soon. But if they don’t, it would be a nuclear bomb that Frank White’s veto lit the fuse for. I’m confident cooler heads will prevail, but I’d still buy this fight on Pay Per View.
(UPDATE: At press time, the Jackson County Legislature reports they have the votes to override White’s veto which would put this back on the ballot in April. So… it sounds like this fight may go to the judges’ cards – the voters)
