A new clash has broken out in Missouri’s legislature. State lawmakers are pushing forward rules that might take away the Kansas City Chiefs’ sports betting perks once the team moves to a planned dome stadium over the border in Kansas. This push comes after the team’s December news about a multi-billion-dollar project in Wyandotte County. The Chiefs plan to start playing there in 2031.
Kansas Stadium Deal Triggers Legislative Pushback in Missouri Capitol
The main proposal, Senate Joint Resolution 109, aims to change Missouri’s sports betting regulations so that professional teams located in the state can take part in the market. While the wording does not mention the Chiefs by name, its effect is clear: Missouri’s only NFL team would lose its sports betting rights as soon as it stops playing home games at Arrowhead Stadium.
Missouri’s current laws allow professional sports teams to partner with licensed betting companies and split the money made in specific “sports areas.” The Chiefs already work with BetMGM for promotions, but they have not used the more profitable team-linked betting rights that state rules permit. If SJR 109 gets on the ballot and wins, these rights would disappear for all NFL teams, stopping the Chiefs from joining this system, according to Deadspin.
Lawmakers who support the bill say the team’s move goes against a long-held agreement between the two states. Politicians from both sides showed their frustration, claiming talks about the Kansas stadium happened in secret. One lawmaker mentioned that his counterparts from the other party reached out to him to express how much they disliked what they saw as backroom deals.
Record-Breaking Kansas Subsidy for Chiefs Stadium Sparks Political Uproar
The details of the stadium deal make local political anger even worse. Kansas leaders gave a huge package of perks that includes $1.8 billion in public money and lets the team keep all the cash from events at the stadium. Experts say it is one of the sweetest stadium deals ever won by a US sports team. The rent payments go to an upkeep fund that the team controls, which allows them to funnel the money back into running the stadium.
Missouri voters said no to a 2024 plan to fix up Arrowhead, which pushed the Chiefs to look for a new home across the state line. The Chiefs will stay at Arrowhead until 2030, but lawmakers are rushing to make sure any future betting money made in Missouri helps teams that stick around in the state.
Other bills are popping up in response to the move, including one that would make the team pay a big part of the costs to tear down Arrowhead if that needs to happen. As the talk heats up, SJR 109 looks set to be a big deal for voters in the next statewide vote.