Kirby Lee-USA Today Sports
As Missouri lawmakers weighed an incentives package to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals inside state lines, speculation about polling related to the Royals and Clay County circulated throughout the state Capitol.
Top lawmakers involved in the debate, from the Republican bill sponsor to the top Democrat in the state House, have ascribed significance to the mysterious poll, mentioning its existence in legislative hearings, interviews and a press conference over the past several weeks.
Any type of polling in Missouri could hold significant weight as the Royals decide whether to stay in the state or move to Kansas. The incentives plan in Missouri requires commitments from local governments and a poll in Clay County could help the team determine whether voters would support some form of tax increase to fund a new stadium in the Northland.
Kansas City-area officials contacted by The Star say they heard the polling showed positive results for the likelihood of Clay County voters supporting a new Royals stadium in North Kansas City.
But most who spoke with The Star expressed some level of skepticism about it.
In interviews, most officials said that they have not actually seen the alleged poll, its full results or who paid for it. While very little has been shared publicly, nearly every official who spoke with The Star, from state lawmakers to a Kansas City councilman to a Clay County commissioner, said they had either heard of it or seen a small portion of its results.
Clay County Commissioner Scott Wagner said in an interview that he received the top line results of the poll. However, he would not say who shared it with him, saying only that it didn’t come from the Royals and that the poll was not commissioned by the county.
“The top line results that have been shared with us suggest that Clay Countians are very open to the Royals coming,” Wagner said, adding that he hasn’t seen finer details about the poll. “But, as you know, the devil’s in the details. And, as was witnessed last year, the details can make or break a question like that.”
Upcoming tax vote?
Revelations about the mysterious poll come after Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed legislation that would allow the state to offer incentives to help pay for up to 50% of new stadiums for the Chiefs and Royals. But neither team has committed to staying amid a competing offer from Kansas that would potentially pay for up to 70% of new stadiums across the state line.
The lack of firm commitment will likely put pressure on officials in Kansas City, Jackson County and Clay County to put together additional funding packages for the teams. The required local commitment in the Missouri plan would likely come in the form of a local tax vote, just more than a year after Jackson County voters rejected a similar tax.
Rep. Chris Brown, a Kansas City Republican who handled the Missouri bill in the House, was also one of the officials who said he had heard about the poll. Brown, who hails from Clay County, said he would love to see the Royals move to the Northland.
“I have heard that it has been done. I heard that it was favorable,” Brown said. “I would like to think that is something that people would not just imagine or put that out there, you know, without it being based in some sort of reality.”
Brown said he heard that Axiom Strategies, a political campaign firm owned by GOP consultant Jeff Roe, conducted the poll. Representatives from Roe’s firm did not respond to requests for comment for this story, but Axiom’s involvement would not come as a major surprise.
The firm previously managed the local tax vote campaign for the Royals and Chiefs, The Star previously reported. The teams and the campaign did not go out of their way to make it known that Axiom was involved at the time, either.
A spokesperson for the Royals also did not respond to a request for comment about the poll.
But others who spoke with The Star had heard about the poll as well. Kansas City Councilman Wes Rogers said he has seen a copy of it, but said it was not given to him. Sen. Kurtis Gregory, a Marshall Republican who sponsored the Missouri funding bill, and Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat, said they had heard of its existence but have not seen it.
“What I had heard, it (polled) so high that I thought…it was a pretty far stretch, quite frankly,” Nurrenbern said in an interview, adding that she takes every poll with a grain of salt.
However, she said that if Clay County decides to put a stadium-funding tax vote on the ballot, “we can make the case to all of Clay County, northern Clay County as well, that this would be a good investment for our county.”
In April, the FOX 4 TV station in Kansas City reported that a Royals poll had been sent out to Clay County residents. While it’s unclear if this is the same polling circulating among lawmakers, the station reported that the poll asked if residents would support a half-cent sales tax increase to support a Royals stadium in North Kansas City.
Downtown KC or Clay County?
If the Royals decide to stay in Missouri, a potential fight over the teams between Kansas City and Clay County could be on the horizon. But, so far, the team has not shared where it would like to build a new stadium.
A downtown Kansas City site at Washington Square Park and a spot in North Kansas City in Clay County have both been floated as potential sites in Missouri. But news of a recent real estate deal tied to an Overland Park site in Kansas has also intensified speculation about the Royals’ intentions — and their preferred stadium location.
It’s also unclear when the team plans to make its decision and whether the decision to stay in Missouri would be based on polling in Clay County or Kansas City. Any local tax vote in Missouri would likely come in November at the earliest.
The Kansas incentives offer expires at the end of June, which means the team could decide whether to cross state lines by the end of the month. But Kansas could also extend that deadline to give the teams more time to decide.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas is one of the biggest supporters of the Royals moving downtown. When asked whether Lucas was concerned about the polling in Clay County, his spokesperson said that the mayor’s “focus remains on Kansas City’s plan and providing the best option for the Royals in Downtown Kansas City.”
“With Missouri state support now secured, Kansas City will continue its work with the Royals to build a robust and responsible development plan,” the spokesperson, Megan Strickland, said in an email. “The Mayor is committed to leveraging Kansas City’s unique experience in large facility development to create the best venue and district for our community, our taxpayers, our future, and our team.”
After Kansas and Missouri approved incentives packages for the Chiefs and Royals, officials who spoke with The Star now say they’re largely waiting to see where the teams decide to end up.
For Wagner, the Clay County commissioner, Clay County would respond if “something comes our way.” But, “we’re not driving that ship,” he said, the Royals are.
“I have come to learn that anybody who says they know anything doesn’t know anything,” Wagner said. “Because, at the end of the day, there’s only one decision-maker and that is the team.”
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A reporter for The Kansas City Star covering Missouri government and politics, Kacen Bayless is a native of St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Missouri with an emphasis in investigative reporting. He previously covered projects and investigations in coastal South Carolina. In 2020, he was awarded South Carolina’s top honor for assertive journalism.