With the Kansas City Chiefs set to relocate from Arrowhead Stadium, a local Missouri politician believes the AFC West franchise should be booted out of the stadium
10:40 ET, 19 Feb 2026Updated 10:40 ET, 19 Feb 2026
The Chiefs announced the team will leave Arrowhead Stadium for a new home
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The Chiefs announced the team will leave Arrowhead Stadium for a new home(Image: Getty Images)
The Kansas City Chiefs should be evicted in the wake of the franchise’s decision to leave Missouri.
Following a difficult season in which they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014 and Patrick Mahomes suffered a torn ACL, the Chiefs announced an impending relocation. After more than half a century at Arrowhead Stadium, the AFC West franchise agreed to return to the State of Kansas and relocate to a brand-new stadium.
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The move is scheduled to take place during the 2031 NFL season and will see the Chiefs play in Kansas City for the first time since the NFL era began in 1971. The team will also controversially move to a stadium with a dome roof — something the Buffalo Bills declined to do with their own new stadium.
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The new stadium will cost $3 billion and be located in Olathe, Kansas, ahead of the 2031 campaign. The Chiefs will also build a new headquarters and training facility in the town of Wyandotte County.
However, the decision sparked outrage from some fans — and now the issue has reached the political spectrum. Missouri House Speaker Pro-Tem Chad Perkins accused the Chiefs of abandoning the state despite being 'treated like a little princess.'
Despite the Chiefs' success over the last few years, led by Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, Perkins is furious over the decision to leave Arrowhead. He believes local officials should kick the team out of the 76,000-capacity stadium, which has been home to the Chiefs since 1972.
“Arrowhead Stadium is not owned by the Chiefs, it is owned by the Jackson County Sports Authority,” Perkins told Missourinet. “If I were the Jackson County Sports Authority, I'd tell him: get out right now. Just get your stuff and get out now. Go play football at a high school field in Overland Park.
“I don't care. Get out. And you can sue me and we can go to court, and I think a Missouri jury might just agree with me right now, right?”
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The Chiefs have been at Arrowhead Stadium for 1972
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The Chiefs have been at Arrowhead Stadium for 1972(Image: Getty Images)
Perkins is refusing to stay quiet, and he also sponsored a bill that could prevent Missouri residents from owning Chiefs license plates. He added: “If I've given you everything you ask and treated you like a little princess and you leave anyway, then maybe I need to take a different tactic.
“But if you're going to leave and go to Kansas, then why are we giving out license plates for a business that's based in Kansas?”
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The Chiefs are adamant their ambitious stadium plans will deliver more than 20,000 jobs to Kansas and will have an estimated economic impact of around $4.4 billion. Still, Missouri officials claimed that the franchise rejected a $1.5 billion offer to stay at Arrowhead.
Kelce himself is undecided over the move away from Arrowhead. On his ‘New Heights’ podcast with brother Jason, the 36-year-old said: “The owners get so much more opportunity getting to the outskirts of the city, and it’s hard to argue with those opportunities.
“We’re dealing with it right now in Kansas City — I think it’s going to be unbelievable once it’s finally set in stone. But it is going to be kind of heartbreaking knowing that the Chiefs are going to move away from Arrowhead and that Missouri side of Kansas City. It’s just a part of professional sports.”