TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs announced Monday they will leave their longtime home at Arrowhead Stadium for a new, domed stadium that will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line and be ready for the start of the 2031 season.
The announcement came shortly after a council of top Kansas lawmakers voted unanimously inside a packed room at the state Capitol to allow the state to issue a little more than $2.4 billion in bonds to cover about 60% of the cost of the new stadium, a new training facility and retail and entertainment space.
The bonds will be paid off with state sales and liquor tax revenues generated in a defined area around it.
"The location of Chiefs games will change," Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said after the meeting, "but some things won't change. Our fans will still be the loudest in the NFL, our games will still be the best place in the world to tailgate, and our players and coaches will be ready to compete for championships, because on the field or off the field, we are big dreamers, and we’re ready for the next chapter."
The Chiefs intend their $3 billion stadium project to be built in Kansas City, Kansas, near the Kansas Speedway and a retail district known as The Legends. The area includes Children’s Mercy Park, the home of MLS club Sporting Kansas City, and Legends Field, the home of the Kansas City Monarchs minor league baseball team.
The Chiefs also plan to build their $300 million practice facility in the Kansas City-metro suburb of Olathe, Kansas. They’ve committed to at least $700 million in other development.
“Today’s announcement is truly historic. Actually, it’s a little surreal,” Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said. “Today’s announcement will touch the lives of Kansans for generations to come. Today’s announcement is a total game-changer for our state.
“We have always been Chiefs fans,” Kelly said. “Now we are Chiefs family.”
State officials also predict that more than 20,000 new construction jobs will be created.
While the final location for the stadium has not been decided, Chiefs president Mark Donovan said it would seat about 65,000, roughly 10,000 fewer fans than Arrowhead Stadium. That follows a trend across professional sports of building stadiums and arenas that have fewer overall seats but more amenities, luxury seating and premium spaces.
“We have a lot of work to do. We’re still early in the process,” Hunt said. “In the months ahead, we will hire an architect and contractor and get to work on the five-plus-year timeline to build a new stadium.”
A big blow for Missouri officials
The move by the Chiefs is a massive blow to Missouri lawmakers and Gov. Mike Kehoe, who had been working on their own funding package to prevent a third NFL franchise and the second in a decade from leaving their borders; the Rams left St. Louis for Los Angeles in part due to their inability to secure funding to help replace The Dome at America’s Center.
Kehoe had backed a special legislative session in June to authorize bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums, plus up to $50 million of tax credits for each stadium and unspecified aid from local governments.
“They thought new and shiny was better than old and reliable,” Kehoe said after the Chiefs’ announcement, adding that the club was in discussions with Missouri officials about staying at a renovated or rebuilt Arrowhead Stadium as late as last week.
“We won’t give up. We’ll look for cracks in the armor and find out if there’s a Missouri Show-Me solution through our sports act.”
But both Hunt and Donovan said Kansas had a key advantage: The team was negotiating only with state officials, rather than with state and local officials, as in Missouri.
A local vote upended initial renovation plans
The Chiefs originally planned an $800 million renovation of Arrowhead Stadium in a joint effort with the Royals, who are similarly planning to build a new facility to replace Kauffman Stadium. The facilities sit a couple hundred yards apart, across a parking lot, and both teams have leases with Jackson County, Missouri, that expire in January 2031.
But last year, Jackson County voters soundly defeated a local sales tax extension which would have helped to pay for those renovations to the football stadium while helping to fund a new ballpark for the Royals in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. That energized Kansas’ efforts to lure both teams.
The Royals were not discussed by Kansas lawmakers Monday, but momentum appears to be building behind their own move across the state line. An affiliate of the club already has purchased the mortgage on a tract of land in Overland Park, Kansas.
“While the Chiefs aren’t going far away and aren’t gone yet, today is a setback as a Kansas Citian, a former Chiefs season ticket-holder and lifelong Chiefs fan,” said Quinton Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. “Business decisions are a reality and we all understand that, but Arrowhead Stadium is more — it’s family, tradition and a part of Kansas City we will never leave.”
Hunt has long said his preference was to renovate Arrowhead Stadium, which was beloved by his father and team founder, the late Lamar Hunt. It is considered one of the jewels of the NFL, alongside Lambeau Field in Green Bay, and is revered for its tailgating scene and home-field advantage; it currently holds the Guinness World Record for the loudest stadium roar.
This summer, Arrowhead Stadium will host six World Cup matches, including matches in the Round of 32 and quarterfinals.
The team had two previous moves
Donovan told reporters Monday that the Hunt family believed Lamar Hunt would have backed their decision because “he would have wanted to increase and enhance the fans’ experience.”
Lamar Hunt established the Chiefs on Aug. 14, 1959. The team was originally based in Dallas and known as the Texans, but Hunt was convinced by then-Kansas City Mayor H. Roe Bartle to relocate the team to Missouri with promises of tripling the team’s season-ticket sales and expanding the seating capacity of Municipal Stadium.
In 1972, the team moved into Arrowhead Stadium at the Truman Sports Complex just east of downtown Kansas City.
The stadium has undergone numerous renovations through the years, allowing it to stay relevant in a changing sports landscape. But there has been little economic development around the stadium, the facility itself is starting to show wear and tear, and there is a limit to the number of luxury suites and amenities that the franchise can utilize to help drive revenue.
While the Hunt family has long loved Arrowhead Stadium, it has warmed in recent years to the idea of a replacement.
Not only would it solve many of the shortcomings of the Chiefs’ longtime home, a new facility with a fixed or retractable roof would allow them to use it year-round. That would mean the potential for hosting more concerts and events, college football bowl games, the Final Four and perhaps one of Lamar Hunt’s long-held dreams: a Super Bowl.
“Chiefs fans on both sides of the state line can tell you that the success we’ve enjoyed together has elevated the profile of the entire region,” Clark Hunt said. “Sports are woven into the fabric of this community. If you travel and go to New York or Los Angeles or Europe or South America, you don’t have to tell people which side of the state line you’re from. You tell them you’re from Kansas City, and there’s a pretty good chance their response might have something to do with the Chiefs.”
