Royals owner John Sherman addresses potential timeline for new downtown stadium

Perhaps a box on the Royals’ downtown stadium timeline was checked on Saturday when owner John Sherman suggested a date for the potential new home.

A new stadium by 2027 or 2028 is what Sherman said Saturday to a group of reporters at the Royals Rally fan fest at Kauffman Stadium.

The team’s lease at the Truman Sports Complex expires in 2031.

The response came to a question about the public-private partnership that Sherman has estimated will cover the $2 billion cost of a new stadium and a surrounding entertainment district.

“These are round numbers,” Sherman said. “That will change. The stadium won’t be built until at the earliest ‘27 or ‘28. So those will be different numbers when we get there from inflation.

“The (entertainment) development will be financed 100% with private capital. Ownership will contribute a meaningful part of the stadium. ... We’ll be the biggest partner in this. I want our fans in the community to understand that.”

The Royals have said they won’t ask voters to approve any new taxes for the project. Instead, they’ll likely ask voters to extend the 3/8-cent sales tax approved at the polls in Jackson County in 2006 “to be the base of the financing,” Sherman said.

Extending the sales tax would have to be approved at the polls and the money would surely have to be split with the Chiefs, who share the sports complex.

Also, infrastructure changes like reshaping roads and highways around a new stadium would come from the public.

“We have to make sure our fans can get in and out easily, and that’s got to be with the state and city,” Sherman said. “We can do so much more for the community with a private-public partnership.”