(KEEPING THE CHIEFS)—Meetings are being held in Kansas City keep the Royals and the Chiefs on this side of the state line. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas (pardon the use of an inappropriate word to describe a baseball issue) huddled with civic leader in Kansas City to discuss another run at financing a new stadium near downtown Kansas City, near Union Station.
And the Chiefs are in the mix, too, because Arrowhead Stadium either needs a major refresh or a replacement.
Kansas has given itself a big tool to get the teams to cross the line—the STAR Bond law, passed last June that allows the Kansas Commerce Department to negotiate with both teams. The STAR Bonds (Sales Tax and Revenue) are intended to improve economic development in Kansas.
The program lets Kansas pay almost three-quarters of the cost of a new stadium by issuing bonds that would be paid off through thirty years with a a heightened sales tax.
The teams have leases through 2031.
(KEEPING THE ROYALS)—Although one Kansas state legislators has said the state is close to a deal with one of the big pro sports teams in Kansas City, the owner of the Royals is reportedly still looking at a site on our side of the line.
A few days ago, Mayor Lucas said owner John Sherman is still look for a downtown location for a new baseball stadium and that he’s considering Washington Square Park, east of Union Station and the Crown Plaza shopping area.
(CHIEFS TEAM)—Regardless of what comes out of geopolitical machinations about news stadiums, the Chiefs know they’ll be playing football again in six months and they know a Standing Pat does not need a team that is standing pat.
The team has cut several practice squad players and has added replacements while it plots a draft strategy.
The coaching staff already has undergone a slight facelift with the hiring of Matt House as the senior defensive assistant and Chris Orr who will be the defensive quality control coach. House left the Chiefs to spend the last three years at LSU and the last season as the linebackers coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Round Ball:
(MIZZ)—The Missouri Tigers’ inability to capitalize on the big win against #4 Alabama last week by being outrun Saturday night hasn’t cost them much in the national polls. They’re up one slot in the AP poll, to 14th. The coaches have left them at 16th in their poll.
Missouri’s destiny remains in their own hands. They play lowly South Carolina tonight at home. South Carolina is having last year’s Missouri season. The Gamecocks are 1-13. It will be the second of four games in a row against lower-tier conference teams.
Auburn still leads the conference at 13-1 with Florida (11-3) and Alabama (also 11-3) behind them. Missouri is one of three times tied for fourth at 9-5. The Tigers are joined by Tennesee (22-8 overall) and Texas A&M (20-7, the same as Missouri overall.
The Tigers disappointed themselves against Arkansas with too many mistakes and an ice-cold hand by Caleb Grill, who was only 2/14 overall and 2/12 from three. Missouri had 18 turnovers, six by Mark Mitchell and four by Tony Perkins.
The Baseball:
(CARDS)—St. Louis has started its Grapefruit League season 1-2 with a win yesterday and an encouraging start by Steven Matz, who hasn’t lived up to his paycheck, at least partly because of injures. Match went two innings, and used 26 pitches to hold the Astros at bay in the first two innings. The Redbirds won it 7-4.
(ROYALS)—The Royals are 1-1-1 in the Cactus League. They tied the A’s at one yesterday.
Now we get the motors running—
(NASCAR)—The weekend race at Atlanta was notable for its wild overtime finish—but first we want to mention somebody who wasn’t there.
Martin Truex had not missed a NASCAR Cup start since the 2006 Daytona 500. His 685 consecutive race streak ranks him sixth on the all-time starters list. Joey Logano now has the longest string of races, 578. Brad Keselowski has 546, the only other driver with more than 500 consecutive starts.
A consecutive-race string of a different sort ended for Christopher Bell and for Joe Gibbs racing at Atlanta Sunday night. Christopher Bell won his first race on a super speedway and gave car owner Joe Gibbs his first win since last June.
Bell led only the last lap and was slightly ahead with several cars crashed behind him, bringing out the caution flag and freezing the positions. Second-year driver Carson Hocevar was second and Kyle Larson was third. It’s Hocevar’s best finish in his young career and the best finish on a superspeedway for Larson, who hasn’t won in 48 tries on a drafting track. One third of those finishes were DNFs.
NASCAR heads to the Circuit of the Americans next week.
(INDYCAR)—INDYCAR starts its season next weekend at a traditional location, the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. A lot of familiar faces return but the interim between seasons has been a busy one.
Jay Frye, the former Missouri Tiger football player who has headed INDYCAR for a decade was let go a few weeks ago. He’s been replaced by Doug Boles, who also is President of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Arrow McLaren team has named Indianapolis 500 winner its team principal. Kanaan drove his last Indianapolis 500 two years ago, joined McLaren later that year as a consultant and has worked his way up to a position that will have him oversee team and driver development.
Michael Andretti is no longer a team owner. Neither is Sam Schmidt.
The final test runs at Sebring found Joseph Newgarden and Will Power pacing the field of 27 drivers. The lap times indicated a lot of close racing is in store for this year. All 27 drivers lapped without eight-tenths of a second of each other.
And while we weren’t looking, A. J. Foyt turned 90 in January. He won with everything he drove—a four time Indianapolis 500 champion, a winner of the Daytona 500 in NASCAR, a winner of the LeMans 24 Hours, and the 24 Hours of Daytona.
(Photo Credits: Atlanta—NASCAR/ Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images; Kanaan—Bob Priddy, Indianapolis 2023.)