Missouri Legislator Chad Perkins Has Fighting Words for Chiefs

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The University of Kansas might want to accelerate plans to renovate David Booth Memorial Stadium in Lawrence.

If an angry Missouri legislator gets his way, the Chiefs would need to find a new home in a hurry.

Upset by the team’s plans to leave Missouri for Kansas in 2031, the lawmaker not only wants to strip the Chiefs’ arrowhead logos off his state’s license plates, he also wants to immediately strip Arrowhead Stadium from the Chiefs.

capito — The Missouri State Capitol building on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. | Nathan Papes/Springfield News-Leader / USA TODAY NETWORK

“Arrowhead Stadium’s not owned by the Chiefs,” Chad Perkins, Missouri House Speaker Pro‑Tem Chad Perkins told Missourinet. “It’s owned by the Jackson County Sports Authority. If I were the Jackson County Sports Authority, I’d tell them, ‘Get out right now. Just get your stuff and get out now. Go play football at a high-school field in Overland Park.’

“I don’t care. Get out. And you can sue me and we can go to court, and I think a Missouri jury might just agree with me right now, right?”

mahome — Sep 10, 2020; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; A license plate featuring Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15| is seen before the game against the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

Legislation introduced

The jury’s still out on that one, but for now, Perkins has turned his words into actions – on the license plates. He introduced a bill now working its way through the legislative process that would not only prevent new Chiefs plates, but would also force Missouri residents currently displaying them on vehicles to surrender them when their current tags expire.

“If I’ve given you everything you ask and treated you like a little princess,” Perkins added, “and you leave anyway, then maybe I need to take a different tactic.”

That little princess has resided in Missouri since 1963, when founder Lamar Hunt moved his Dallas Texans to Kansas City and changed the franchise’s name to Chiefs. And since 1972, the team has played home games at Missouri’s Arrowhead Stadium, now the NFL’s third-oldest venue. The economic impact and tax revenue the Chiefs have generated over the past 62 years can’t be measured.

That impact and revenue includes this summer’s World Cup, which the Chiefs fought hard to secure.

No more Missouri Chiefs plates if bill passes

Like many states, Missouri residents have had the option to display their fandom on their vehicles with official license plates branded with the team’s name and logo. Perkins appears set on swapping those with license plates depicting the St. Louis Battlehawks, a UFL franchise that Missouri would like to call the official football team of the state.

“But if you’re going to leave and go to Kansas,” the Republican from Bowling Green, Mo., added Tuesday, “then why are we giving out license plates for a business that’s based in Kansas?”

laura kell — Feb 15, 2023; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas governor Laura Kelly rides along the route at the Super Bowl LVII Champions Parade in downtown Kansas City, Mo. Mandatory Credit: Amy Kontras-Imagn Images | Amy Kontras-Imagn Images

The business isn’t based in Kansas just yet. The Chiefs, who announced Dec. 22 plans to leave Missouri, still have to finalize location and design for the planned $3 billion domed facility. That stadium is not scheduled to open for five years, when the Chiefs’ Truman Sports Complex lease expires following the 2030 NFL season.

Part of the deal the Chiefs received from the State of Kansas calls for STAR bonds to cover 60 percent of construction costs for not only the new domed facility in Wyandotte County but also a new Chiefs practice facility, likely in Olahte, Kan.

Sep 14, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Fans attend a tailgate party prior to the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

“Arrowhead Stadium’s not owned by the Chiefs, it’s owned by the Jackson County Sports Authority,” said Perkins. “If I were the Jackson County Sports Authority, I’d tell him, get out right now. Just get your stuff and get out now. Go play football at a high school field in Overland Park. I don’t care. Get out. And you can sue me and we can go to court, and I think a Missouri jury might just agree with me right now, right?”

Under the bill, license plates issued before the 2026 cutoff would remain valid until they expire or are surrendered.

Travis Kelce said last week on his New Heights podcast, remembering his childhood trips to sports facilities in downtown Cleveland, that he was disheartened the Chiefs were leaving Arrowhead in five years.

“We grew up in a in an era of fandom, and Cleveland did this to us,” Kelce told his brother last week, “Cleveland had all sporting events in one located area. The Gateway District in Cleveland, you had the Tribe, you had Jacobs Field, you had Gund Arena, they kept it all downtown right there. And it just it made it easy, and it made so much sense in our minds.”

But Kelce also said he understood why the Chiefs couldn’t pass up the deal on the table from Kansas, what some have called the most attractive public-private partnership in U.S. sports history.

hunt, kell — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Kansas City Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt hold up a Chiefs jersey. | Liam Keating/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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