The Chiefs will cross the border from Missouri to Kansas, in 2031.
The team’s decision was characterized by one key Missouri politician as a stunner.
“No matter how long we had to . . . think about this as a possibility, it’s still a shock to the system,” Missouri House Speaker Jonathan Patterson told the Kansas City Star.
It shouldn’t have been. It was, as it usually is, about money. Jackson County, Missouri, voters overwhelmingly rejected in April 2024 the potential extension of an existing sales tax to fund a renovation at Arrowhead Stadium, along with a new park for the Kansas City Royals. Kansas was able to come up with a better deal, for a more versatile (but not necessarily better) domed football stadium that can host other events and presumably attract a Super Bowl.
“Unfortunately, team ownership has decided to abandon Lamar Hunt’s legacy at the iconic Arrowhead Stadium, a place that Chiefs fans have rallied around since 1972,” Governor Mike Kehoe said in a statement. “At Arrowhead, every game feels like a Super Bowl. No new stadium will replicate that.”
And Missouri isn’t surrendering, at least not yet.
“Missourians do not give up easily,” Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota told the Star. “The Chiefs are still Jackson County’s team for many years and we will remain supportive of them but also are here with a plan in case the ‘shock and awe’ Kansas proposal isn’t as wonderful as we are hearing it is.”
Regardless, Missouri had its chance. Even when Kansas emerged as a viable alternative, Missouri didn’t seem to muster the necessary urgency to keep the Chiefs from moving across the border.
The people spoke in 2024. Loudly and clearly. They opted not to pay extra sales taxes to partially fund renovations to a stadium that most teams can now easily afford to finance on their own. Kansas saw an opportunity (without having to hold a public vote) to pay for well over half of a multi-billion-dollar facility. As Kansas prepared to pounce, Missouri remained paralyzed.
And while some politicians will inevitable blame other politicians — because everything for politicians has a political angle — the simple truth is that the citizens of Jackson County rejected the opportunity to pay for the renovation. And that opened the door for the Chiefs to pack up and move to a new home on the other side of the border.
