Kansas City mayor presents 'robust' offer to keep KC Royals in the city

While the Kansas City Royals were preparing for the 2025 season, rumors regarding their potential future stadium spread like wildfire. After radio host Bob Fescoe's reported certainty over the Royals moving to Kansas was shut down by the land managers, the push remains from fans and politicians to keep the Royals in Kansas City.

Mayor Quinto Lucas of Kansas City, Missouri, seems to be putting the full-court press to keep the Royals on his side of the state line, reportedly offering more than $1 billion in state and local funding.

Kansas City mayor reportedly offered KC Royals massive incentives to stay local

"This chat has gone on for a really long time," Lucas said in an interview with KSHB 41's Charlie Keegan. "I think the people of Kansas City and, indeed, the entire region are ready for it to be done. We think that we put forward a robust offer that allows the Royals either to go downtown or even to stay at Kauffman Stadium."

Lucas did not specify a timeline for his or local officials' next steps in keeping the Royals in Kansas City. However, Royals chairman and CEO John Sherman provided a general timeframe earlier this year at the annual Royals Rally at Kauffman Stadium.

“It's our objective, by mid-year, to be prepared to talk about it,” Sherman said. “We're having serious discussions here. This is big economic-development work, and discretion and confidentiality are paramount to those discussions. Certainly, [we’re] hopeful that before too long, we'll be able to tell you a lot more — but not a lot to say right now.”

KSHB's reporting indicated a division among Royals fans, with many acknowledging the advantages and disadvantages of a downtown stadium location compared to the existing Truman Sports Complex. Nicholas Grunauer, owner of the Austrian-German restaurant Grunauer, near a possible Royals stadium site in Washington Park, shared his perspective on a potential move.

“I think it’s important we continue to make the case for a downtown stadium and show how much of an asset it can be from the business side, but also from community, economic development side,” Grunauer said. “While it might not be the easiest, maybe it’s the more complicated decision, it’s really going to pay off long-term if we can make this site happen."

The Royals face a pressing timeline to decide on a new stadium plan after voters in Jackson County and Kansas City rejected a sales tax extension that was intended to help fund stadium projects for both the Royals and the Kansas City Chiefs. The current 3/8th-cent sales tax on retail sales that supports the Truman Sports Complex is set to expire in 2031.