West Palm Beach, Florida
The movers and shakers of the NFL have convened at a resort in West Palm Beach, Florida — and at a lunch table inside the place Monday, Chiefs owner and CEO Clark Hunt was a popular man among the crowd of dignitaries.
It’s not because of the Chiefs’ success.
It’s because of the unknown: the stadium.
Hunt revealed Monday that the team is “hopeful” that it will have a stadium plan ready to announce “by summer at the latest.” That timeline notably resembles one that Royals owner John Sherman outlined again last week, and there’s a reason for it:
The Kansas supercharged STAR bonds incentive expires June 30. Lawmakers could technically vote to extend their aggressive plan to lure either team across the state line, but the Chiefs aren’t banking on it.
“If you’re on either side of the table, you look at deadlines,” Chiefs team president Mark Donovan said. “That June 30th (deadline) is real.”
The Chiefs are still exploring a renovated GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri, or building a new stadium in Kansas. The latter would likely, though not certainly, include a dome.
They believe a domed stadium might give a team that has played in five of the past six Super Bowls the chance to host one instead. And they’re more than guessing on that — they’ve discussed it with the NFL.
Whatever option they choose would include a public financing ask. In that realm, the expiration of a STAR bonds package isn’t the only date on the calendar to monitor.
Let’s start with the Missouri option: If the Chiefs stay at the Truman Sports Complex, they will target a Jackson County ballot measure either in August or November, Donovan said Monday during the NFL’s Annual Meeting. And any ballot measure would need to be filed more than two months in advance.
Yes, a ballot measure again. The Chiefs see that financial support, along with yet-to-be-promised state support, as the driver to remaining at Arrowhead.
That’s one plan.
Far from a guarantee.
It was just one year ago Wednesday that Jackson County voters turned their noses up at extending a countywide sales tax split between the Chiefs and the Royals.
If the Chiefs are to return to that ballot, they’d not only come back alone, but with a different project.
Well, a slightly different project.
The renovation blueprints have changed inside the building, and now outside of it, too. Donovan said the Chiefs are now looking at potentially developing around Arrowhead Stadium — a prominent departure from April 2024, when the team deemed the area not worthy of further investment.
“You’re not going to see Power & Light,” Donovan said, “but you could see other entities that would have some relevance to game day.”
Those entities, on which Donovan did not elaborate, would be active on non-game days, as well, he said.
A Super Bowl ... in Kansas?
Those are the newest details on the Missouri option.
The other option? The Chiefs continue having conversations about multiple Kansas sites. Those talks about a new domed stadium, which would have a price tag in the neighborhood of $3 billion — three times the amount of a renovation — are fueled by not only the possibility of luring an NFL team to the state, but also the allure of what might come with putting a new stadium on the Kansas side of the state line.
“A big part of that (price) making sense is Final Four, Super Bowl, Big 12 championship, more concerts,” Donovan said.
Yep, a Super Bowl.
It’s long been suggested that a new stadium could put the Chiefs in the mix for playing host to the most popular sporting events in the world, but at least regarding the Super Bowl, Donovan isn’t operating on pure hope.
He’s part of the committee that actually selects the Super Bowl sites, and that’s important not because of his potential influence (though that doesn’t hurt), but because he tends to know how the process works.
And because he knows this: The NFL has already discussed the possibility, he said.
“It’s definitely part of the conversations (for a stadium) in Kansas,” Donovan said. “This is one of the reasons you do this.”
If they do it, that is.
The Hunt family previously committed to contributing $300 million toward a renovation project. That number has increased in recent talks with the state, splitting the potential increased price as time has passed.
The family would need to contribute a higher, and potentially significantly higher, amount toward a new build in Kansas. That’s unquestionably a factor.
The STAR bonds packages have their supporters — clearly, given the legislation that’s passed. But they also have detractors who question their viability. Last month, Caryn Tyson, a Parker Republican, said the program “is government picking winners and losers.”
For now, the Chiefs remain on the clock to pick first.
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Sam McDowell is a columnist for The Star who has covered Kansas City sports for more than a decade. He has won national awards for columns, features and enterprise work. The Headliner Awards named him the 2024 national sports columnist of the year.