Chiefs President Mark Donovan responds to voter concerns of ‘scare tactic’ to voting ‘no’ on stadium sales tax

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Two weeks from tomorrow, Jackson County voters will decide whether or not to extend the stadium tax.

It will fund renovations at Arrowhead Stadium and the Royals planned move to Downtown, in the Crossroads District.

No-excuse absentee voting begins on Tuesday and the Chiefs and Royals made that final push to gather up votes.

Monday afternoon the teams held a listening session for the public at Arrowhead to answer questions and concerns.

One concern voters have is the messaging from Chiefs President, Mark Donovan, if people end up voting “no”.

He has said in the past if the vote is a “no” the Chiefs will have no choice but to look elsewhere.

“I don’t have enough antidepressants to actually cover that right now, but hopefully everyone would vote yes anyway,” said Jeff Slutsky, a Missouri resident.

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Many voters said they feel like that’s a scare tactic and they feel like they are threatening the fan base if they don’t agree to pay for a new stadium.

“We absolutely believe that is a scare tactic, that is intimation, it sounds like a bully we don’t think people of Kansas City, the people of Jackson County should be intimidated in voting against their best interest,” said Magda Werkmeister, an Organizer with KC Tenants.

KCTV5 caught up with Chiefs President, Mark Donovan to talk about voter concerns.

Donovan said he appreciates that side and how somebody might take it that way, but said the facts are clear.

He said that they’re about to agree to a lease that is much better than the current lease and have made it better and more beneficial for Jackson County and all Jackson County residents.

Donovan also said that they are about to announce a historic CBA, which is also much better than the previous one.

ALSO READ: Royals, Chiefs ‘saddened’ by latest letter from Jackson County Executive calling out ‘racist rhetoric’

Lastly, Donovan said they are about to commit to investing $300 million in a community asset owned by the county, to keep it up and running and viable for the next 50 years.

Donovan expressed to KCTV5 that everyone is allowed to have opinions and beliefs and that they should vote that way, and said that’s the beauty of democracy, but also said you can also support them, the option is entirely up to voters.

“We’re going to do all those things, and what we’re asking for in return is nothing new, if somebody comes back and says they don’t agree with that and enough people vote no, then were in a situation where we got to look at that, that’s the deal we offered and that wasn’t good enough, what is and what are our other options? You have to look at our other options.”

Donovan did say those other options would have to include other places outside of Kansas City, Missouri, but he did not specify where.

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