This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with this today. We appreciate your time.
The reigning back-to-back NFL champion Kansas City Chiefs might not actually be in Kansas City for much longer. Or, at least not the Missouri one, anyway. The same goes for the Royals, too.
On Tuesday, Jackson County citizens voted in the Missouri general municipal election. A stadium sales tax was one of the big-ticket items on the ballot.
If Jackson County citizens voted “yes” to Question 1, the county would’ve enacted a 3/8th cent sales tax for the Royals to fund a new $2 billion downtown ballpark and for the Chiefs to renovate Arrowhead Stadium completely for $800 million, according to ESPN.
The best-laid plans often go awry, however. A whopping 58 percent of voters voted no on the measure, completely killing it.
It’s time to start from ground zero. The Chiefs and Royals very clearly need to rebuild their proposal into something more amenable for Kansas City’s citizens. The Royals need to pick a better location for their downtown build. The Chiefs may need to throw in more private funding for an Arrowhead renovation. The process needs to be more thorough in its planning and more transparent. That’s what the citizens have been asking for. That’s all that’s needed.
What we don’t need are veiled threats, like the ones Team President Mark Donovan is sending right now.
Team president Mark Donovan said the Chiefs would do “what is in the best interest of our fans and our organization” as we move forward. Let me translate that for you: the Chiefs will move the team if the organization feels like there’s a better deal elsewhere.
Team owner Clark Hunt has made it clear that the team is not interested in renewing its lease for another 25 years in Kansas City without a major renovation. But the lease expires in 2031 — there’s still plenty of time to make this work. There’s really no need to allude to moving at this point. Instead, the Chiefs should be steadfastly committed to staying in Kansas City.
In the end, the organization owes that to those fans. The same goes for the Royals. They rooted for those teams through both the highs and the lows. Chiefs fans filled the stands when championships didn’t even seem possible. Royals fans waited decades for another World Series in 2015.
Both franchises have seen success more recently — especially the Chiefs after winning three titles in four years. And now you’re telling people it’s possible that you just pick up and leave? That’s gross, man. That’s not what this thing is supposed to be about.
I get that this is a business. Bottom lines are at the center of everything for these teams. Whatever it takes to improve that, these teams will do.
But come on, man. Let’s be real. Neither of these teams have a backup plan. This was just a poor effort to get something done. Let’s just set profit maximization aside for a second and do what makes sense.
Go back to the people of Kansas City and figure this thing out.
All eyes on Iowa and LSU
We knew that the Iowa and LSU rematch would get plenty of attention from sports fans everywhere, but y’all. The viewership numbers on this one are kind of insane.
Iowa vs. LSU clocked in 12.3 million viewers, according to ESPN. That number is pretty insane on its own. Here’s our Andrew Joseph with a little more perspective on that number.
“To put that figure into perspective, the NBA Finals — which aired on the more accessible ABC — averaged 11.64 million viewers. The 2023 World Series averaged 9.08 million viewers on Fox and didn’t have a single game average more than 12 million viewers. So, yeah, this was an incredible number for ESPN.”
It’s incredible how far women’s college basketball has come. The best part is it’ll only continue to grow with names like Juju Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo and more leading the way.
The future is bright, folks.
The sad state of the A’s
Nobody knows what’s going on with the Oakland Athletics anymore.
We thought they were moving to Las Vegas but there’s not even a stadium built there yet. So now the team is trying to stay in Oakland for a few more seasons through 2027 until it can officially move to Vegas, but that might not work either. So the A’s are in talks with … Sacramento for a potential temporary relocation now?
It’s a lot. It’s confusing. And it’s clear fans are fed up with it. How do we know? Because these empty stadium photos pulled by our Charles Curtis make it clear that no one cares anymore.
Just look, man.
Tragic, man. Just tragic.
Quick hits: Bronny’s future … DJ Burns on the NFL … and more
— Rumors about Bronny James entering the transfer portal came and went on Tuesday. We don’t know what’s next for him, but his dad is fully behind him. Cory Woodroof has more here.
— DJ Burns didn’t say yes to potentially playing in the NFL someday…but he didn’t say no either. Bryan Kalbrosky has more.
— Charles Curtis has details on this latest NBA mock draft with Zach Edey heading to the Milwaukee Bucks. That’s a nice fit.
—Here’s Prince Grimes with odds and picks for the women’s Final Four. This is going to be fun.
— Aaron Rodgers’ hilariously low performance bonus from the NFL is the best.
— Geno Auriemma is trying to butter up Caitlin Clark. Probably not going to work. Robert Zeglinski has more.
That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading today. We appreciate you taking the time! Y’all are the best.
P.S. … I got my days mixed up yesterday! I’ll be out for tomorrow’s newsletter, not today. You’ll be in good hands tomorrow, though. Don’t worry! Talk soon.
-Sykes ✌️