Wyandotte County Sues Kansas Over Law Governing Proposed Chiefs Stadium

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, sued the state Friday, arguing that the law creating an agency to oversee a planned Kansas City Chiefs stadium violates the Kansas Constitution.

The lawsuit, filed in Wyandotte County District Court, challenges the Kansas Sports Facilities Authority. It alleges that parts of the law take powers from Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, and that it treats them differently from other Kansas cities.

According to the filing, the law limits the local government’s authority over taxation, zoning and planning, fees, and its publicly owned utility, but only for this one project in this one community.

The local government asks Judge Bill Klapper to strike down parts of the law. Among them is a requirement that the county’s seat on the authority’s board depend on how much money it puts toward the stadium. The suit also targets provisions on zoning and utilities. If those pieces cannot be separated out, it says, the entire law could be invalidated. It further asks the court to declare that the county may legally opt out of the law.

Attorney Chuck Hatfield filed the suit. It says the county does not oppose the roughly $4 billion stadium project. Still, the case could complicate the Chiefs’ move and might require lawmakers to write new rules.

Mayor Christal Watson said in a statement that the suit seeks a “constitutional and equitable process” for building the stadium. She said residents should have a meaningful voice in a project of this scale. The Unified Government said it will keep turning to the courts until the outcome is fair to Wyandotte County residents.

The suit came a day after the local government voted to withdraw from parts of the law.

The authority is a quasi-public agency modeled on the Chiefs’ arrangement in Jackson County, Missouri, and would be the team’s landlord in Kansas. Its board includes a team representative, the state commerce secretary, appointees of the governor and legislative leaders, and local representatives from Kansas City, Kansas, and Olathe.

State officials announced the Chiefs’ move in December. The team has said it expects to begin playing in the domed stadium in 2031.

The project would be financed with state STAR bonds across a two-county district. State officials are expected to set its final boundaries this month. A preliminary draft showed the state could use new sales tax revenue from all of Wyandotte County and half of Johnson County to help repay the debt.

Both cities have also pledged new local sales tax revenue from designated areas. Wyandotte County commissioners voted in February to dedicate new local sales taxes from 236 acres in west Kansas City, Kansas. Olathe’s council agreed to do the same for about 160 acres within its city limits.