How Two States and Three Sports Will Determine the Future Home of the Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs have had a home in Kansas City, Missouri since 1963. There is a long and prideful history that comes with having a team with the type of significance that the Chiefs have brought to Kansas City over the years.
From the early years of the team playing in the American Football League with home games at Municipal Stadium to joining the NFL in 1970 and moving into Arrowhead Stadium soon after in 1972 to drafting Patrick Mahomes in 2017 and winning a Super Bowl in 2020, decades of memories are near and dear to Chiefs fans both young and old.
There has been heartache, there has been joy. There have been tears shed, both happy and sad. The heartbeat of this franchise lies within the fanbase that has been with the team through thick and thin. In the good times and the bad times.
In the last few months, there has been an unsettling topic of conversation surrounding the Chiefs. There is a real possibility the Kansas City Chiefs could move to the Kansas side of the state line after the current lease is up at the Truman Sports Complex.
Fans from Kansas City, Missouri are not taking kindly to this discussion. Many are trying to silence the conversation before it really begins to take off. Quinton Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, even made his feelings known on the subject shortly after the topic began circulating.
The Kansas City Royals and the Chiefs have shared the Truman Sports Complex since the inception of Arrowhead Stadium, now known as GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. They renew the lease and typically ask for taxpayer money to help with the upkeep of the stadiums in the process. Both teams are locked into the lease through 2031.
The latest round of stadium upgrades began in 2010 and wrapped up in 2015. It was a $375 million project in which $250 million was put forth by the taxpayers and the other $125 million was paid by the Hunt family, who own the Chiefs.
There have been a series of events that have really got the ball rolling on what the Chiefs will do next. The Royals have expressed interest in wanting a downtown stadium. The team’s ownership has been exploring the possibilities with a couple of different downtown sites and have even said they think they could potentially build a new stadium by 2026.
The year 2026 was not thrown out there by accident. Kansas City recently won a bid to be one of 11 cities in the United States to host FIFA World Cup matches in 2026. These matches will be hosted at Arrowhead Stadium. This is where things get interesting.
The Chiefs will need to make $50 million in upgrades and renovations to the stadium by the time the World Cup arrives in 2026. There will need to be several rows of seats removed to get the field to be compliant with FIFA regulations. There is also supposed to be an entertainment village built as part of the process. Would this be a temporary addition for the World Cup or a full-time upgrade to the Arrowhead experience? This is all up in the air at the moment.
If the Royals want to get out of their lease at the Truman Sports Complex to move into a downtown stadium before 2031, the Chiefs would likely be happy to potentially utilize the entire complex for themselves. If the Royals can’t move until the end of the lease, there could be an issue.
If the Royals can’t get a downtown stadium built by 2026 and the Chiefs need to make temporary upgrades to satiate FIFA officials for the World Cup, then there would be an overlap between the projects and the Royals would be in the way of what the Chiefs' ability to expand Arrowhead’s footprint at the Truman Sports Complex.
Would the taxpayers of Kansas City really want to put up anywhere from $500 million on the conservative end to over $1 billion on the realistic end to build a new football and baseball stadium for their city's sports teams? This would be just a few years after $50 million of World Cup renovations at Arrowhead.
If the Royals moving downtown is a foregone conclusion, then the Chiefs will have two choices: expand their brand inside the Truman Sports Complex as the sole tenant, or move to Kansas where the state has been anticipating the opportunity to add a professional team if given the opportunity.
The Chiefs staying where they are makes a lot of sense, but it would cost the Kansas City taxpayers more than they may be willing to bargain for. The Chiefs will want to add an entertainment district and more than likely will want to build a new stadium on the property.
A new stadium could continue to host large events like the World Cup, but they’d also want the flexibility to host a Super Bowl, College Football Playoff, NCAA Final Four or even WWE WrestleMania events in the future. In order for this to become a reality, the Chiefs would need the ability to have indoor/outdoor capabilities at their new stadium. This would not be a cheap project and likely would exceed the $1 billion mark in costs.
The Chiefs could jump across the state line into Kansas and build the same type of stadium, where the Kansas taxpayers may be more open to the idea of helping foot the bill. Along with potential taxpayer support from Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, sports betting was just recently legalized in the state and one thing really stood out as this bill came to fruition.
In Kansas, the new sports gambling legislation dictates that 80% of the revenue generated from sports betting would go into a Kansas Department of Commerce fund to be used to support the establishment of a professional sports team in Kansas. With the state's knowledge of the Royals wanting to move to downtown Kansas City, Missouri and the Chiefs wanting a new stadium in the future to host a Super Bowl and other large-scale events, the people of Kansas have their eyes set on wooing the Chiefs into the Sunflower State.
Would the Chiefs like to remain at their current location and continue business as usual if KCMO can help fulfill all of their wants and needs regarding a new stadium moving forward? Of course. Would the loudest fanbase in the NFL want to keep the Arrowhead experience similar to the way it has been for the most part since the early 1970s? Absolutely. However, there is a new group of people that are waiting on the other side of the state line with open arms.
There are still a lot of unknowns regarding the Chiefs and their stadium situation heading into the future, but one thing is clear: Kansas is setting their state up to be ready and willing to negotiate a deal to be the new home of the Chiefs if given the opportunity.
