A football signed by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly was presented to Chiefs owner Clark Hunt after Kelly announced the NFL franchise will build their new stadium in in Kansas City, Kansas. Kelly made the announcement on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Topeka. Tammy Ljungblad tljungblad@kcstar.com
The stage has been set for Kansas lawmakers to take consequential votes that could further solidify the Kansas City Chiefs’ plans to build a $3 billion stadium in Wyandotte County or cast the project into serious doubt.
A bill seeking to establish a public corporate entity known as a sports authority that would oversee the stadium’s construction and management was finally introduced in the Kansas House of Representatives on Friday after weeks of delay.
“It is the intent of the Legislature to grant the authority all powers necessary and convenient to develop, construct, acquire and operate sports facilities and sports facility infrastructure in furtherance of the public purpose of providing state-owned and operated venues for the economic, cultural and recreational benefit of the citizens of the state,” reads the text of the bill.
It was introduced by Rep. Sean Tarwater, a Stilwell Republican and chair of the House commerce committee, who developed the language in collaboration with the Kansas Department of Commerce.
Korb Maxwell, a Kansas City real estate attorney and Chiefs representative, told lawmakers in January that if the team had to own the heavily subsidized stadium itself and pay property taxes on it, the project would be dead in the water.
The state of Kansas plans to issue $1.8 billion in sales tax and revenue, or STAR bonds, to finance stadium construction and another $975 million to support development around the stadium and the planned team headquarters and training facility in Olathe. The agreement calls for games to be played in the new domed stadium starting in 2031.
Some lawmakers of both parties have questioned whether the terms of the STAR bond agreement are too generous to the team’s billionaire owners.
In addition to capturing sales tax growth to make debt service payments, Kansas would pay the Chiefs to operate the stadium and allow the team to retain 100% of the revenue from ticket sales, parking, concessions and non-football events held at the stadium.
Lawmakers will hold a hearing on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. to review the sports authority bill. The hearing will be held at a special joint meeting of the House and Senate commerce committees.
To become law this year, the bill must be approved by a majority of lawmakers in both chambers before the Legislature reaches its first adjournment on March 27.
Here are five noteworthy details about the proposed Kansas sports authority:
Who would serve on sports authority?
The sports authority would consist of nine voting members, including the Kansas commerce secretary, a Chiefs representative, and one appointee each from the governor, the Senate president, the Senate majority leader, the Senate minority leader, the House speaker, the House majority leader and the House minority leader. Members would serve four-year terms, although initial appointments would only last until Dec. 31, 2029.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation would conduct criminal background checks for each appointee before they joined the board. Under the proposal, all appointments must be finalized by Aug. 31.
Sports authority board members would be paid $35 for each day they attend a meeting and reimbursed for mileage if they have to travel to an in-person meeting.
The proposal also authorizes the sports authority to appoint an executive director who would serve at the body’s pleasure and receive compensation as approved by the State Finance Council, which consists of the governor and legislative leaders.
What about local representation?
In addition to the nine voting members, the proposal outlines the terms under which the mayor of any city where a stadium or practice facility is being built could serve as a non-voting member of the sports authority.
For mayors to be included, cities must pass an ordinance electing to participate in the STAR bond district and must separately pledge a portion of the local sales, use or transient guest tax revenue to paying down the STAR bond debt.
Additionally, the local tax pledge must not be reduced or revoked “based on actions taken by the (commerce) secretary with respect to the establishment, modification or scope of a STAR bond project district.”
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, and the Olathe City Council have both signed onto the STAR bond project and pledged local tax dollars to the cause.
Exemption from state laws
The proposal outlines a number of state statutes that would not apply to the sports authority.
Among those is a law that requires state architectural contracts to be competitively bid. Tarwater said forgoing the competitive bidding process would allow the Chiefs to select a highly specialized firm capable of completing necessary work as quickly as possible to ensure the stadium can open on-time.
The exemption from competitive bidding would apply to contractual services, construction, repairs, supplies, equipment and furniture procured at the behest of the sports authority.
The bill also calls for exemptions to civil service classifications for sports authority employees and other laws that establish guardrails for how public funds can be invested.
Sports authority tax exemptions
As a government entity, the sports authority would be exempt from property taxes. That designation would allow the Chiefs to purchase property for the stadium and training facility and convey it to the corporate body to avoid paying state or local taxes that residents and business owners must pay annually.
Construction materials for projects overseen by the sports authority would also be exempt from state and local sales tax.
The sales tax exemption for construction materials would be extended to “sports facility infrastructure,” which the bill defines as “plazas, walkways, landscaping, lighting, fencing, security infrastructure, parking facilities and structures, roadway and access improvements, including, but not limited to, streets, sidewalks, rights-of-way, intersections, medians, ramps, connectors, skyways and tunnels.”
Legislative oversight
The bill calls for the sports authority to provide written reports on its operations to the Legislative Coordinating Council and the House and Senate commerce committees each January.
At the request of any of those committees, the authority’s executive director and chairperson would be required to provide in-person testimony about the acquisition, constructions and development of sports facilities and surrounding infrastructure.
The proposal would also require the authority to engage a third-party independent auditor to audit its books annually. The same auditor could not review the authority’s accounting records for more than three years in a row.