Chiefs donate to group backing Missouri Republicans amid stadium debate. How much?
The Kansas City Chiefs paid $25,000 to a political action committee that supports Republicans in the Missouri House in a donation made public on Tuesday.
The check marks the Chiefs’ first major political contribution in Missouri this year and comes about two months after Missouri lawmakers passed a sweeping stadium-incentives plan in the hopes of preventing the Chiefs and Royals from leaving for Kansas.
The Chiefs made the $25,000 donation to the Missouri House Republican Campaign Committee, which raises money to elect Republicans to the Missouri House. The PAC also reported donations this month from other organizations, including the Missouri Soybean Association.
Hannah Beers Sutton, the PAC’s executive director, said the check from the Chiefs was part of the PAC’s annual summer caucus fundraising event held in St. Louis last month. The committee raised $1.6 million for that event.
“We just get our checks in through the year, but people have to sponsor (the event),” she said. “The Kansas City Chiefs, they always sponsor it, just like other organizations.”
A spokesperson for the Chiefs did not respond to a request for comment about the political contribution, which was first reported by the Missouri Independent on Wednesday.
The donation comes as officials in Missouri and Kansas jockey over the future of the Chiefs and Royals. Lawmakers in both states have passed public funding in the hopes of securing the teams, but neither team has committed to residing in either state.
A lobbyist for the Chiefs told Missouri lawmakers this summer that, if the team stays inside state lines, they want to build a $1.15 billion renovation of Arrowhead Stadium in Jackson County. The Royals, on the other hand, have been less specific about their plans if they decide to stay in Missouri.
Campaign finance records reviewed by The Star show that the Chiefs have frequently contributed to the PAC, in addition to the political arm for state Senate Republicans, over the past several years.
Last year, Unity Hunt, a company that oversees the assets of the Lamar Hunt family, including the Chiefs, paid $300,000 to a political action committee opposing a statewide abortion rights ballot measure. Voters later approved the measure, called Amendment 3, last November, overturning the state’s near-total ban on the procedure.
A Chiefs spokesperson told The Star at the time that the donation to the anti-abortion group came from Lamar Hunt Jr., who wired money from his account with Unity Hunt to the PAC.
Hunt Jr., the son of Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt, has previously been outspoken about his opposition to abortion and in 2020 served as the master of ceremonies at a Kansans for Life banquet.
This story was originally published August 13, 2025 at 4:37 PM.
