Kansas City, Kan. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs appear to be just days away from making the big move across the state line and finally leaving their longtime home at Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri for a new and potentially covered stadium.
With a one-year deadline looming, the Legislative Coordinating Council is scheduled to meet Monday in Topeka, Kansas, where it will consider approving STAR bonds that would fund up to 70% of the stadium project to help land an NFL franchise in the state.
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The Chiefs and Kansas City Royals have played in adjacent stadiums in Jackson County, Missouri for more than 50 years. But those leases are due to expire in January 2031, and the two franchisees have been working on their future plans for years.
Jackson County voters last year soundly defeated a local sales tax extension that helped finance an $800 million renovation of the Arrowhead and a $2 billion ballpark district for the Royals in downtown Kansas City. Since then, the Chiefs and Royals have pursued separate plans, though both appear to be moving to Kansas.
A possible destination for majors is The Legends, a regional shopping mall and commercial area in Kansas City, Kansas. There’s plenty of land available for a stadium and a mixed-use commercial district, but it also has anchors like the Kansas Speedway, Hollywood Casino and Children’s Mercy Park, home of Major League Soccer club Sporting Kansas City.
The location is also ideal because it stands at the intersection of Interstate 70 and 435, allowing for relatively easy traffic flow.
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“Kansas State is in active discussions with Kansas City leaders about the possibility of building a new stadium and other facilities in Kansas,” the Kansas Department of Commerce said in a statement. “No final agreement has been reached, but this would be a huge economic win for Kansas and benefit Kansas for generations to come. We are aggressively pursuing this opportunity.”
It would also be a big loss for Missouri, which lost the St. Louis Rams to Los Angeles a decade ago, and Governor Mike Kehoe. He sponsored a special legislative session in June to authorize bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums, tax credits of up to $50 million for each stadium and unspecified aid from local governments.
Missouri’s move comes after Kansas lawmakers approved their own bond package in an effort to land two franchises.
Chiefs president Clark Hunt has long said his priority is renovating Arrowhead Stadium, which was favored by his father and team founder, the late Lamar Hunt. But by building an enclosed facility, the Chiefs would gain access to revenue streams not available at Arrowhead Stadium, such as new luxury seats and the ability to host sporting events year-round.
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It also means fulfilling another of Lamar Hunt’s dreams: hosting the Super Bowl.
While the Royals won’t be discussed at Monday’s LCC meeting, that doesn’t mean they can’t also cross state lines. There is a base area of support for the team to move to, a suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, and a tract of land known as the Aspira Campus that once served as Sprint’s headquarters and now houses the offices of several companies.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who is working to keep both professional sports franchises on the Missouri side of the state line, said in a statement Thursday night that the city would not negotiate publicly.
“As the city and our Missouri partners continue discussions with our long-term partners in the Chiefs and Royals,” the statement said, “we are committed to working in the best interest of our community and to provide for the greatest success of our teams on and off the field.”
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