KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The race for Missouri’s next governor is over — and it’s good news for fans hoping the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals stay in Missouri.

“Both gubernatorial candidates who came through recently – both Republican Mike Kehoe and Democrat Crystal Quade – have both said they want to keep the Chiefs and the Royals in the state of Missouri,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said Wednesday at the Chiefs’ training camp in St. Joseph. “They’ve both made it clear that this is an important issue for the economic development of the state of Missouri and the city of Kansas City.”

KSHB 41 Newsroom

Kehoe, who currently serves as Missouri’s lieutenant governor, defeated Bill Eigel and Jay Ashcroft in Tuesday’s primary election.

He is the only one of the three leading GOP candidates to express support for efforts to preserve the chiefs and royals.

“I absolutely believe we should keep the Chiefs and Royals here,” Kehoe said Monday at a campaign rally in Kansas City. “Here’s why: It’s about economic development. It’s not about a major league baseball or football team. It’s about having someone who has an impact on our state’s economy employing people here. The impact on our community is incredible. … We want to make sure the Chiefs and Royals stay Missourians.”

KSHB 41 Newsroom

Jackson County voters in April rejected a sales tax extension that would have renovated GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and built a new baseball stadium in the northeast corner of the Crossroads Arts District, where the Kansas City Star’s printing plant once stood.

Two months later, the Kansas State Legislature approved changes to the STAR bonds that now allow up to 70 percent of construction costs to be covered by the bonds, with the goal of luring away the Chiefs or Royals.

“A lot of people thought this was the end of the game or we were in the fourth quarter,” Lucas said. “I think after the sales tax vote failed in April, we started over. We’re in a whole new game.”

A project that will likely be more expensive for taxpayers, regardless of whether the teams end up in Kansas or Missouri.

Whether it’s a new game or not, Chiefs president Mark Donovan made it clear the clock is still ticking. He said the team wants to make a decision on its future location within six months, by mid-July.

Lucas, who endorsed Quade before the Democratic primary, said Kansas City could create a year-end deadline.

“I would like to see – if there are solutions, and we are working hard to find them – that we talk about a solution for after the election in the fall,” Lucas said. “I would love nothing more than for the governor-elect of Missouri to be able to announce the week after (the election) that there is a plan to keep both teams in office.”

For some voters it still matters.

“The Chiefs and the Royals belong in Missouri,” said George Anderson, a voter from Jackson County, during Tuesday’s primary. “They must stay there.”

The Chiefs remain open to renovating the Arrowhead, but are also exploring options for a new stadium, either in Kansas or Missouri.

The Royals are also open to discussions about a new stadium, but the team’s long-expressed preference is for a downtown stadium.

—