Kansas City Chiefs Have Six Months To Decide Whether To Leave Arrowhead Stadium

The Kansas City Chiefs have set a deadline for when they want to make a final determination on their future home venue.

According to The Athletic, Chiefs team president Mark Donovan stated in a news conference on Friday that the organization will make a decision within the next six months on what it wants to do about its stadium situation.

The Chiefs have several possibilities; one includes continuing to play at Arrowhead Stadium through the end of the team's lease. That lease expires at the end of January in 2031, though Donovan and the organization feel that it requires a substantial renovation to remain competitive after 52 years. There's another option: moving out of Arrowhead entirely. 

The Chiefs have explored building a new facility in Kansas or Missouri, depending on who makes the best offer. The state of Kansas has already created a pathway for the Chiefs to leave their long-time home in Missouri.

READ: Chiefs, Royals Could Have Easier Path To Leaving Missouri
 

A general overall aerial view of Arrowhead Stadium (foreground) and Kauffman Stadium at the Truman Sports Complex. Photo: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Chiefs Ownership Could Pay For New Stadium - If It Wanted

Donovan spoke about the disastrous results of a ballot measure rejected by Kansas City voters in April, that would have extended an existing sales tax to pay for stadium reconstruction.

"Given the results of the vote, we have a much more measured response, which is we want to look at our options," Donovan said. "We went all in (on the April ballot) and failed pretty badly. What makes the most sense for our fans? What makes the most sense for our franchise? And what makes the most sense and can have the biggest impact on this region? The positive of this is we do have options.

"This is a generational decision. This is going to impact the future of this franchise for generations. We’ve got to get it right. We are going to take our time to do it right."

It'd be easy for the Chiefs to upgrade Arrowhead Stadium or move to a new facility entirely. The Hunt family, after all, is worth roughly $25 billion. Paying for construction would be well within its budget…if the family wanted to. And if a new building or enhanced existing building was such a strong investment with exceptional ROI, the Hunt family could and should pay for it.

That's now how modern stadium construction works though. The Kansas news gave the Chiefs a whole new option, one that Donovan was excited about.

"We feel like we’re a pretty valuable (financial) asset to wherever we go," Donovan said. "We think we’ve been really good partners to the state (of Missouri), the county (Jackson) and the city.

"We do believe that we’re a unique asset that would bring something that (Kansas) has never had before. The messages that we’ve gotten from the leaders in Kansas, from those who have worked on star bond projects before, is that this is the most valuable opportunity they’ve ever had, so that’s how we look at it."

Again though, if the Chiefs are so valuable, why not fund the construction project themselves? Because, of course, they don't have to. The only real decision now is whether taxpayers in Kansas or Missouri will be paying for it.