KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Royals owner John Sherman and Chiefs president Mark Donovan stood on a small stage in the second-floor lounge of the historic J. Rieger & Co. distillery in Kansas City on Tuesday night, acknowledging the will of voters who had rejected a sales tax initiative that would have helped pay for a new downtown ballpark and renovations to Arrowhead Stadium.
The ballot measure didn't just lose, though. It lost decisively. More than 58% of voters in Jackson County, Missouri, rejected the three-eighths of a cent sales tax. The Royals, who had promised $1 billion in private funding, wanted to use their share of the tax revenue to build a new ballpark as the centerpiece of a $2 billion-plus downtown district in a thriving arts neighborhood known as the Crossroads. The Chiefs, who had committed $300 million from their ownership, wanted to use their share for an $800 million renovation of Arrowhead Stadium.
