How Patrick Mahomes’ Double Blow in Kansas Can Force Chicago Bears & White Sox to Reconsider Stadium Approach? Eric Fisher Discusses Impact

Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs and the Royals proposal to build a new stadium and renovate the Arrowhead proved to be unfruitful. The teams proposed a bill that would have required the taxpayers of Jackson County to pitch in taxes for the infrastructure development of these teams over the next 40 years. But the proposal was unequivocally denied by the people.

In a similar spirit, the Chicago Bears and the White Sox were also seeking public funds to improve their facilities but met with apprehensions. The Chicago authorities want to keep it transparent with the public and leave it up to them to decide whether their tax dollars will help in the construction/rejuvenation of these properties. Some interesting facts and figures are floating around on X regarding the proposal.

KC Chiefs and Royals’ plans fail to get implemented!

Per a report from Eric Fisher, the citizens of Jackson County, Missouri denied the motion to contribute taxes for a new Royals facility and renovations to Arrowhead. 58% of the voters denied the motion and didn’t want their tax cuts to go to a private organization over the next 40 years.

Eric Fisher pointed out that the fans are smart. They did their due diligence in checking the owners’ backgrounds before pledging their hard-earned money towards the development of privately owned sports facilities. “There has been a generally rising sentiment in a number of communities against using taxpayers’ funds for privately held pro sports teams that in many cases are owned by billionaires,” said Fisher.

He further added, “The fans are really smart, and the public is really smart and there is access to a lot of information, in terms of what these deals look like, how much the owners are worth, how much the teams are worth.” According to NBC Chicago, “More than 58% of voters rejected the plan, which would have replaced an existing three-eighths of a cent sales tax that has been paying for the Truman Sports Complex. The new tax would have been in place for the next 40 years.”

It is to be noted that the Chicago Bears and the Chicago White Sox are also under the same circumstances, but in their case, the scrutiny comes from “public officials at all city and state levels.”

The Chicago Bears and White Sox under the same bad spell as the Chiefs and Royals

The leaders want the owners of these private organizations to give more insights to the people about their future. Former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn filed an ordinance at the City Clerk’s office in March which will help the people to decide for themselves whether they want their money to be contributing to such developments.

“What we want to do is give the people of the city a chance to vote on this issue in November,” Quinn told reporters. “I think the people of Chicago are sports fans, big-time sports fans, but we’re also fans of the taxpayer.”

Per sources, the Bears are moving away from Arlington Heights to the lakefront downtown. They are supposed to be investing about $2 Billion in the project, but the funding situation is not clear yet. In the same spirit, the White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf sought $1 bn from leaders in Springfield, but the plans have not come to fruition.

It is to be noted that 65% of the Chicago voters opposed the bill, while 25% agreed to it. The remaining 10% cannot make up their minds as of now. Looking at the trajectory of things, people are smart enough to decide the course of the spending of their money. Expecting billionaires to pay for such expenses would be a logical course of action for most people. What do you think of the decisions undertaken? Let us know your perspectives below!

READ MORE- Kansas City Voters Reject Stadium Tax for Chiefs and Royals as Mayor Quinton Lucas Makes Strong Statement