A stadium-village is planned.
At what point does a stadium or an arena become antiquated? The answer seems to be two years. The National Women’s Soccer League KC Current franchise ownership is getting public money to upgrade a building that was opened on March 16th , 2024. The ownership paid the $117 million cost of building the 11,500-seat facility. The ownership did receive $5.5 million from Missouri’s Development Finance Board for infrastructure. But the stadium was just part of a development plan conceived by the ownership and that is where public money becomes involved. The KC Current franchise ownership wanted to build a village surrounding the venue but needed money. The ownership is going to get $185 million in taxpayers’ dollars despite the fact that there really aren’t plans for the money to build the village part of the project.
How does the KC Current franchise ownership get the money? That is simple enough. The gadget to be used is tax incremental funding and what that means is that all the sales tax generated by the retail aspect of the village plan gets kicked back to the property developers instead of going into a municipality’s general fund. The KC Current franchise ownership wants to expand the stadium capacity from 11,500-seats to-18,000 seats, which might help the ownership in attracting events in addition to the soccer matches. The ownership also promised to issue the bonds and take on the debt that redirected economic activity taxes would help pay off, and could protect the city’s finances. Kansas City is not yet doling out public dollars for a private business. City officials have told the City Manager, Mario Vasquez, to negotiate with the team to reach a final deal. Additionally, city officials want Vasquez to
apply for Missouri tax breaks for the project. That is how the stadium game is played.
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