Kansas City plans to enlist outside help as leaders continue what they say are good-faith negotiations with the Kansas City Royals over a prospective move to downtown.

The City Council voted unanimously Thursday afternoon to authorize City Manager Brian Platt to hire third-party firms to provide legal counsel and other professional services relating to the Royals’ potential $2 billion stadium and mixed-use ballpark district in the East Village.

Council members also cleared Platt to enter an agreement with the Royals directly, after the team agreed to reimburse the city for its expenses in retaining the outside firms.

Mayor Quinton Lucas, who introduced the authorization ordinance earlier Thursday, told council members that the Royals’ negotiating team expects to submit multiple requests for city incentives, potential debt coverage and other legislative items related to the ballpark project.

The team previously signaled that it could seek the city’s support on infrastructure improvements to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

More discussion on the Royals’ requests for public financing, implications on arrangements with the Kansas City Chiefs — who must also sign off on ballot language for an extension of Jackson County’s existing three-eighths-cent sales tax — and next steps for future negotiations could take place at a council business session in the coming weeks, Mayor Quinton Lucas said.

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