ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs are making progress in stadium negotiations with lawmakers on both sides of the Kansas-Missouri state line, thought it remains unclear whether the team will stay at Arrowhead Stadium or ultimately move elsewhere.
The Chiefs recently were granted an extension to an end-of-June deadline for a financing package from the state of Kansas, an indication that the NFL franchise’s potential move from its longtime home in Missouri is a legitimate possibility.
Missouri has countered with a funding package signed by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe following a special session of the state legislature.
“We've had more meetings, more discussions,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan said Tuesday. “At this point it's literally — you're taking an agreement this long and whittling it down to this paragraph and this line, and we need an agreement on this, and we're doing this on both sides. You're in that process where you're not sure which way it will go.”
The Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals have played for more than five decades at the Truman Sports Complex on the east side of Kansas City, Missouri, where Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium share parking facilities. But leases with Jackson County are due to expire in January 2031, and the two franchises have been trying to plot a course forward for years.
Last year, Jackson County voters defeated a sales tax extension that would have helped to finance an $800 million renovation of Arrowhead Stadium — the home of the Chiefs — and a $2 billion ballpark district for the Royals in downtown Kansas City.
Now, the franchises are pursuing their own paths in landing a stadium deal.
In the case of Missouri, legislation has authorized bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums in the state, plus up to $50 million of tax credits for each stadium and unspecified aid from local governments. Lawmakers in Kansas have authorized up to 70% of the cost of new stadiums to be built in their state.
Chiefs owner Clark Hunt has acknowledged a deep sentimental attachment to Arrowhead Stadium, which was built by his father and team founder Lamar Hunt when he moved the franchise from Dallas.
But the most visible face of the Chiefs ownership family also is an astute businessman, and he understands the importance of revenue streams generated by a new facility. So while a comprehensive renovation of Arrowhead remains a possibility, so does an enclosed stadium that could fulfill Hunt's desire to one day host the Super Bowl, Final Four and other big events.
The Royals, meanwhile, have made it clear that renovations to Kauffman Stadium are not going to happen.
Principal owner John Sherman has expressed a desire for downtown baseball, and options there still exist. But news surfaced about a month ago that an affiliate of the Royals purchased the mortgage on a large property in the southern Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, raising the possibility of building a new stadium and ballpark district there.
“Our job, and the team around me, is to get the two best possible partnerships figured out down to the detail,” Donovan said, shortly before the Chiefs took the field for their first full-squad workout on training camp at Missouri Western. “At that point we go to the Hunt family and say, ‘Here are the options. What do you want to do?’
“It’s the detail of those deals. What deal makes the most sense from a business perspective, a future perspective? What makes the most sense for our fans and the next generation? There are a lot of strong arguments on both sides.”
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