Missouri senators on Thursday approved a plan to provide over $100 million in aid for tornado-ravaged St. Louis and authorized hundreds of millions of dollars worth of incentives to try to persuade the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals to continue playing in Missouri in new or improved stadiums.
Lawmakers are acting with urgency in a special session because the professional sports teams face an end of June deadline to accept a competing offer from Kansas while residents in St. Louis are struggling to recover from May storms that caused an estimated $1.6 billion of damage.
The aid measures advanced in a series of early morning votes only after Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe struck a deal with some holdouts that included more disaster relief money and the potential for property tax breaks for some homeowners facing rising tax bills. The package also contains funding for building projects around the state, including $50 million for a nuclear research reactor used for cancer treatments at the University of Missouri.
Though House approval is still needed, the Senate vote marked a major hurdle, because the stadium incentives stalled there last month. Tornadoes struck St. Louis and other parts of Missouri on May 16, a day after lawmakers wrapped up work in their regular session.
In addition to the $100 million for St. Louis disaster relief, the package authorizes $25 million for emergency housing assistance and a $5,000 income tax deduction to offset insurance policy deductibles for people in any area included in a request for a presidential disaster declaration.
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Kehoe said the plan would “help those in crisis, while also making smart decisions that secure opportunity for the future.”
The future of the Chiefs and Royals has been up in the air for a while.
The teams currently play professional football and baseball in side-by-side stadiums in eastern Kansas City in Jackson County, Missouri, under leases that run until January 2031.
Jackson County voters last year turned down a sales tax extension that would have helped finance a $2 billion ballpark district for the Royals in downtown Kansas City and an $800 million renovation of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium.
That prompted Kansas lawmakers last year to authorize bonds for up to 70% of the cost of new stadiums in their state.
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Missouri’s counterproposal would authorize bonds for up to 50% of the cost of stadium projects while also providing up to $50 million of tax credits to go with unspecified support from local governments.
While testifying Tuesday to a Senate committee, Chiefs lobbyist Rich AuBuchon described the Missouri offer as “legitimate” and “competitive.” If the Chiefs stay in Missouri, he said they likely would begin a $1.15 billion plan to renovate Arrowhead Stadium and upgrade the team’s practice facilities in either 2027 or 2028. It would take three years to complete.
AuBuchon pointed to other recent publicly financed stadium projects in Baltimore, New Orleans, Nashville and Buffalo, New York.
“Throughout the country states are funding stadiums. They are a big economic development. They are a big business,” AuBuchon said.
However, many economists contend public funding for stadiums isn’t worth it, because sports tend to divert discretionary spending away from other forms of entertainment rather than generate new income.
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“What the teams are doing is playing Kansas and Missouri against each other,” said Patrick Tuohey, senior fellow at the Show-Me Institute, a free-market think tank whose St. Louis headquarters got hit by the tornado.
“When cities and states do this, they hollow out their tax base for the benefit of wealthy billionaire team owners … they lose the ability to provide public safety, basic services,” Tuohey said.
Royals lobbyist Jewell Patek said that even with the state incentives, a planned stadium district likely would need voter approval for local tax incentives in either Jackson or Clay counties, which couldn’t happen until later this year.
He made no guarantee the Royals would pick Missouri over Kansas, but Patek added: “We love the community, we love the state … we think this is a step in the right direction for the state of Missouri.”
The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on whether the so-called “Missouri First” map is unconstitutional.
The map, passed by Republican lawmakers in September and signed by Gov. Mike Kehoe, stretches the boundaries of the 5th Congressional District, a Democratic stronghold, eastward into heavily Republican regions of the state. It also moves part of the current 5th District into the 4th and 6th districts, currently represented by Republican congressmen Mark Alford and Sam Graves. Incumbent Democrat Emanuel Cleaver is running for reelection in the 5th District.
Opponents of the Missouri First map’s main argument focused on the map being passed by lawmakers without any new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The congressional boundaries tossed out by the Missouri First map were based on the 2020 U.S. Census.
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Attorney Chuck Hatfield represents those challenging the new map passed by Republican lawmakers last fall.
“The whole idea is tethered to the census data. You must do it at the census, and you only do it at the census,” Hatfield told the High Court. “The court’s precedents also support this.”
Solicitor General Louis Capozzi, representing the Missouri Sec. of State’s office, disagreed, saying the Missouri Constitution is silent on mid-decade redistricting.
“Mid-decade redistricting had happened in Missouri in the 1870s, and mid-decade redistricting was common around the country in the first half of the 20th century,” he argued. “Article III, Section 45 of the Missouri Constitution sets out only three requirements for the redistricting of seats in Missouri, ‘The district shall be composed of contiguous territory, as compact, and as nearly equal in population as may be.’ And as long as the General Assembly complies with those three rules, this court said that Missouri courts, ‘shall respect the political determinations of the General Assembly.’”
Meanwhile, roughly a hundred demonstrators held signs across the street from the Missouri Supreme Court building, condemning the Missouri First map and calling for the Missouri Supreme Court to strike it down.
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“Voters should choose our politicians,” said Missouri League of Women Voters Director Kay Park. “The League (of Women Voters) believes redistricting should keep communities of similar culture and race together to strengthen their vote and promote partisan fairness.”
The Missouri Supreme Court will rule on the congressional district map later.
Missouri senior forward Mark Mitchell was recognized Monday with a second-team selection to the All-Southeastern Conference teams.
Mitchell has led the Tigers all season long and tops the team in scoring (17.9 points per game), rebounding (5.2) and assists (3.6). He would be the just the second player in program to lead all the categories in one season, joining Albert White from the 1998-99 season.
Mitchell is also on pace to become the first player in program history to average at least 17 points, five rebounds and three assists since Anthony Peeler in 1992, the year he took home the Big 8 Conference Player of the Year award.
Mitchell was the only Missouri player to be recognized in SEC postseason awards.
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Five players were named to each of the three All-SEC teams.
Darius Acuff Jr. (Arkansas), Ja’Kobi Gillespie (Tennessee), Thomas Haugh (Florida), Labaron Philon Jr. (Alabama) and Tyler Tanner (Vanderbilt) made the first team.
Acuff was named the conference’s player of the year and freshman of the year.
Joining Mitchell on the second team were Nate Ament (Tennessee), Rueben Chinyelu (Florida), Otega Oweh (Kentucky) and Dailyn Swain (Texas), while Rashaun Agee (Texas A&M), Alex Condon (Florida), Keyshawn Hall (Auburn), Aden Holloway (Alabama) and Josh Hubbard (Mississippi State) were named to the third team.
The All-SEC defensive team consisted of Chinyelu, Somto Cyril (Georgia), Felix Okpara (Tennessee), Billy Richmond III (Arkansas) and Tanner. Chinyelu was selected as the defensive player of the year.
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Appearing on the all-freshman team were Acuff, Amari Allen (Alabama), Ament, Malachi Moreno (Kentucky) and Meleek Thomas (Arkansas).
Swain was selected as the newcomer of the year, while Urban Klavzar of Florida was named the sixth man of the year.
The 2026 Missouri high school basketball state championship brackets continue on Monday, March 9, with eight games in the sectional and quarterfinal round of the higher classifications.
High School On SI has brackets for every classification in the Missouri high school basketball playoffs. The championship games will begin on March 19.
Missouri High School Girls Basketball 2026 Playoff Brackets, Schedule (MSHSAA) – March 9, 2026
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Sectionals
Doniphan vs. Potosi – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
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St. James vs. St. Francis Borgia – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
Notre Dame de Sion vs. Oak Grove – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
Smithville vs. Benton – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
Cardinal Ritter College Prep vs. Clayton – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
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Orchard Farm vs. Kirksville – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
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Boonville vs. Strafford – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
Reeds Spring vs. Nevada – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
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Quarterfinals
Festus vs. Lift for Life Academy – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
Grandview vs. Kearney – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
MICDS vs. St. Dominic – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
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Helias vs. Marshfield – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
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Quarterfinals
Jackson vs. Marquette – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
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Rock Bridge vs. Staley – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
Incarnate Word Academy vs. Troy-Buchanan – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
Kickapoo vs. Lee’s Summit West – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
