Royals face tough stadium decision of their own as Chiefs move to Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Now that the Chiefs are moving across the state line from their longtime home in Missouri to a $3 billion domed stadium to be built in Kansas, attention in the area has swung to the Royals, who have a similar decision to make regarding their own future.

One thing is certain: They will not be playing at Kauffman Stadium once their lease there expires in January 2031.

Royals owner John Sherman has long said his preference is to build a downtown ballpark, but those plans have been bogged down at nearly every turn by politics and community backlash. Last year, voters in Jackson County, Missouri, soundly defeated the extension of an existing sales tax that pays for the upkeep of Kauffman Stadium and would have helped to fund the new ballpark.

The question now is whether the Royals continue their pursuit of downtown baseball, build a new stadium elsewhere on the Missouri side of the state divide, or follow the Chiefs in moving their new home to the Kansas side of the border.

“The Royals are also a great legacy team that we would love to keep in Missouri. We will do everything we can to continue those conversations,” said Gov. Mike Kehoe, who responded with scorn to the news Monday that the Chiefs had accepted a bond package approved by Kansas lawmakers that will cover 60% of a total project expected to exceed $4 billion.

The Chiefs also plan to build a $300 million training city in the Kansas City-metro suburb of Olathe, Kansas.

“If I’m the Royals," Kehoe said, “I’m in the driver’s seat now. I’m THE team.”

In their bid to keep the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, Missouri lawmakers authorized bonds in June during a special legislative session that would cover up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums, plus up to $50 million of tax credits.

That is the financing package that still could be used by the Royals to build their ballpark.

But the bond package put forth by Kansas lawmakers, which would not tax residents but instead be paid off by state sales and liquor taxes generated in a defined area around the project, provides the potential to cover up to 70% of overall costs.

In the case of the Chiefs, the term sheet signed by owner Clark Hunt and Lt. Gov. David Toland calls for a stadium with at least 65,000 seats to be built by August 1, 2031, and the Chiefs to stay there for at least 30 years, with an option to remain up to 30 years more.

Along with the $3 billion stadium, the Chiefs committed to at least $1 billion in “ancillary development,” which includes a headquarters and training facility in Olathe and at least $700 million worth of retail, entertainment and other commercial space.

The agreement allows $100 million of that space to be built outside the two counties containing most of Kansas’ side of the metro.

The state agreed to issue a little more than $2.4 billion in bonds to cover roughly 60% of the costs, though if the extra development exceeds $1 billion, it would cover 70%. That makes it the largest public subsidy ever for a U.S. Stadium project.

“Missouri put together a very competitive package,” Kehoe said of the state's attempts to keeping the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, adding: “Kansas is about to leverage ... Kansas taxpayer revenue to make this deal happen. I can’t see where the numbers would pencil on that, as a business person, where it would be a good deal for Missourians.”

The Royals have considered multiple sites around downtown Kansas City, but all have had issues, whether it be traffic flow, community support or something else. They also have provided renderings in the past of a stadium and ballpark district that would be built across the Missouri River in Clay County, which is technically North Kansas City, Missouri.

But momentum of late appears to be behind a move to the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, and a tract of land known as the Aspiria Campus, where an affiliate of the Royals already holds the mortgage. The property, once home to Sprint and still the headquarters of T-Mobile and several other companies, lies just off Interstate 435 in the south part of the metro.

Those plans have been met by opposition from residents in the affluent neighboring suburb of Leawood, Kansas.

John Mosley, a 65-year-old fan from Kansas City, Missouri, said Monday that he had been hearing people talk about Kansas using a bond package to lure the Chiefs — and, perhaps, even the Royals — across the state line for years.

“To me personally, it doesn’t matter. But I’m noticing that most things are going over into Kansas,” he said. “I’m not sure what’s going on in Missouri. I think it’s a money issue. Maybe over in Kansas things are much better. It just seems like everything is moving.”

Associated Press writers John Hanna, David Lieb and Heather Hollingsworth contributed.

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Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, center right, talks to the media during an event Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Topeka, Kan., after announcing the team will leave Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., for a new stadium that will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line and be ready for the start of the 2031 season. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, right, and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, shake hands during an event announcing the team will leave Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. for a new stadium that will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line and be ready for the start of the 2031 season, during an event Monday, Dec. 22, 2025 in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, right, and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, pose for a photo during an event announcing the team will leave Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. for a new stadium that will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line and be ready for the start of the 2031 season, during an event Monday, Dec. 22, 2025 in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, right, addresses attendees while Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, left, looks on during an event Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Topeka, Kan., announcing the team will leave Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. for a new stadium that will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line and be ready for the start of the 2031 season. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian home in the south of the Israeli-occupied West Bank overnight, breaking in and killing sheep, a Palestinian official said Tuesday. It was the latest in a surge of attacks by settlers against Palestinians in the territory in recent months.

Israeli police said they arrested five settlers.

The settlers killed three sheep and injured four more, smashed a door and a window of the home, and fired tear gas inside, sending three Palestinian children under the age of 4 to the hospital, said Amir Dawood, who directs an office documenting such attacks within a Palestinian governmental body called the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission.

Police said they arrested the five settlers on suspicion of trespassing onto Palestinian land, damaging property and dispensing pepper spray, not tear gas. They said they are investigating.

CCTV video from the attack in the town of As Samu’, shared by the commission, showed five masked settlers in dark clothing, some with batons, approaching the home and appearing to enter. Sounds of smashing are heard, as well as animal noises. Another video from inside shows masked figures appearing to strike sheep in the stable.

Photos of the aftermath, also shared by the commission, show smashed car windows and a shattered front door. Bloodied sheep lie dead as others stand with blood staining their wool. Inside the home, photos show broken glass and the furniture ransacked.

Dawood said it was the second settler attack on the family in less than two months. He called it “part of a systematic and ongoing pattern of settler violence targeting Palestinian civilians, their property and their means of livelihood, carried out with impunity under the protection of the Israeli occupation.”

During October’s olive harvest, settlers across the territory launched an average of eight attacks daily, the most since the United Nations humanitarian office began collecting data in 2006. The attacks continued in November, with the U.N. recording at least 136 by Nov. 24.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza — areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state — in the 1967 war. It has settled over 500,000 Jews in the West Bank, in addition to over 200,000 in contested east Jerusalem.

Israel’s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Cabinet Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation’s police force. Earlier this week, Smotrich said the Israeli cabinet had approved a proposal for 19 new Jewish settlements, another blow to the possibility of a Palestinian state.

Young Palestinians show some of the sheeps that were killed during an Israeli settlers attack in the town of As Samu', near the West Bank city of Hebron, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A Palestinian boy shows one of the sheep that was injured during an Israeli settlers attack in the town of As Samu', near the West Bank city of Hebron, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Wafaa Rabie, 30, shows the door of her house that was damaged during an Israeli settlers attack in the town of As Samu', near the West Bank city of Hebron, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Young Palestinians walk next sheeps that were killed during an Israeli settlers attack in the town of As Samu', near the West Bank city of Hebron, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

An Israeli settlers outpost is seen on area next to the town of As Samu', near the West Bank city of Hebron, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A Palestinian boy shows one of the sheep that was injured during an Israeli settlers attack in the town of As Samu', near the West Bank city of Hebron, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Young Palestinians show some of the sheeps that were killed during an Israeli settlers attack in the town of As Samu', near the West Bank city of Hebron, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)