KC Stadium Tax

Voters in Kansas City, Mo., split on two measures April 4th to pay for upgrades to the city’s Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums, approving a sales tax for renovations but rejecting a plan for rolling roofs in both venues.

The measures in Jackson County were designed to raise more than $500 million for renovations. Kauffman is home to baseball’s Royals, and Arrowhead houses the NFL’s Chiefs.

Officials supporting the tax increases feared the teams might leave without stadium improvements. Opponents decried giving aid to millionaire team owners.

A three-eighth-cent sales tax will raise $425 million over 25 years to renovate the stadiums and add amenities such as a pavilion behind Kauffman.

A separate user tax would have generated about $200 million for the climate-controlled rolling roof.

The teams’ owners have pledged more than $125 million toward the renovations. But arguments have raged in recent weeks over whether the Royals’ David Glass and the Chiefs’ Lamar Hunt were putting up enough of their own money.