The search continues.
March 30th is the date of the Kansas City Royals home opening game and John Sherman, who is the owner of Major League Baseball’s Royals franchise, still has not found land in the market to build a new ballpark. Sherman claims that a final decision as to where to build a stadium is coming soon. Sherman hopes to get a deal done by the end of the 2026 baseball season. Sherman has set deadlines before and those datelines have come and gone.
The Royals’ business owner had hoped to have a plan in place to build a downtown Kansas City stadium by now but nothing has materialized. Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri politicians are hoping that they can put together a financial deal at some Kansas City site that would get Sherman to say yes. Sherman has eliminated Overland Park, Kansas as a possible location but a financial package by Kansas politicians expired on December 31st, 2025 and Kansas politicians are in no rush to work with Sherman’s negotiators and come up with a new financial package and might not even engage with him this spring. Sherman had until June 30th to complete a Kansas deal. Clay County, Missouri political leaders announced that Royals ownership did not accept the county’s latest offer to put a question to voters in April. The Clay County politicians have left the door open to continue negotiations. Sherman’s problem began in April 2024 when Jackson County voters said no to extending a sales tax that would have funded a new Royals baseball park and renovated the National Football League Kansas City Chiefs’ franchise’s home stadium. Chiefs ownership took the Kansas deal. Sherman’s lease to use the Jackson County ballpark does not end until the final out of the 2031 season is recorded.
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