Kansas City, Mo. ? Officials favoring a rolling roof concept in Kansas City said Wednesday the plan still could be on track.

Moments after Jackson County voters decided to support a sales tax that will raise $425 million to overhaul Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums – and narrowly defeated a tax to raise money for a proposed roof – Chiefs vice chairman Jack Steadman was already thinking about the next step.

“We kind of left on the table some major events that would give Kansas City worldwide exposure,” Steadman said. “We’re disappointed about that. There was discussion last night and there will be ongoing discussion about bringing that back.”

Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt and Royals owner David Glass have both expressed interest in revisiting the $200 million rolling roof plan, which led to assurances of the 2015 Super Bowl and the potential to host NCAA basketball championships if it were passed. But it failed, winning only 49 percent of the vote.

About $170 million of the project would have been funded by a user tax mainly affecting Jackson County businesses, with the remainder kicked in by the Chiefs. And Steadman said he didn’t think officials would scrap that plan entirely.

“We think maybe with a single issue and better information and what it can do for Kansas City, voters will give it approval,” he said.

Bob White of HOK, the design firm that developed many of the conceptual drawings, said officials didn’t expect voters to approve the renovation without saying yes to the rolling roof.

While White said plans could move forward for now, the decision to add a roof must happen soon. Officials hope construction will begin after the 2006 football season, which makes August a likely time for another ballot measure.

That means a final proposal must be drawn up by the end of May, Jackson County Executive Kathryn Shields said.

“The teams need to start expressing that desire. We need to sit down, look at the results, and see if it makes sense,” she said. “Clearly people had issues that we had not successfully addressed.”

Shields said voting on the two measures simultaneously – with passage of the rolling roof contingent upon passing the three-eights-cent sales tax – may have confused voters, and “when people get confused they tend to vote no.”

She also said regardless of whether the current plan goes forward with improved publicity or a new financing plan, discussions with taxpayers and both franchises will happen soon.

“A roof has long been a dream,” said Kevin Gray, president of the Kansas City Sports Commission. “But I don’t think the issue is dead. I’m confident it’s a good idea. Whether the exact design makes sense, I don’t know.”