How Clark Hunt believes a downtown baseball stadium might affect his Kansas City Chiefs
Two months ago, before the Royals publicized their exploration of playing downtown baseball, they called their current co-tenants to offer them a heads-up.
Because while a new stadium would affect the landscape of Kansas City — and its downtown neighbors — it would also have an effect on the tenant that would stay behind.
The Chiefs.
Speaking to the media for his annual in-season news conference, Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt discussed the potential of a Royals move away from the Truman Sports Complex.
“Their decision on their long-term future will have an impact on us,” Hunt said. “We’re going to watch as they go through the process, and at some point here in the next year or so, start thinking about what’s next for the Chiefs from a stadium standpoint.”
The Chiefs last renovated Arrowhead Stadium a decade ago, after Jackson County voters narrowly approved a three-eighths cent, 25-year sales tax hike. In exchange, both teams agreed to extend their lease for the same duration, expiring in 2031. The improvements included widening the concourses, adding restrooms and supplementing the stadiums with other attractions.
Hunt called Arrowhead “one of the finest stadiums in the league” because of those renovations. If the Royals receive tax dollars for a new downtown stadium, though, it’s believed the Chiefs would want a piece of the monetary pie.
In the last two years, two of their AFC West counterparts — the Raiders and Chargers — have opened brand-new stadiums.
“We think that GEHA Field at Arrowhead is still one of the finest stadiums in the National Football League, and the renovations that we completed really brought the stadium back into the top tier in the National Football League,” Hunt said. “Obviously things change. The way fans wanna consume the game and the kind of spaces that you need — those things change over time, and we’re paying attention to that.
“We’ve had beautiful stadiums open now in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. They’ll be things when we get to the end of our lease here in nine or so years that I’m sure we’ll want to incorporate into the stadium. One possibility will be another renovation of Arrowhead.”
A Royals move, though, would alter not only the Chiefs’ home, but also the land around it. It could open the possibility of placing new entertainment facilities around Arrowhead Stadium, which is now essentially surrounded by tailgate space.
“One of the great things about the sports complex is how big it is,” Hunt said. “That’s created the opportunity for our fans to have the tremendous tailgate experience that they have before the game each week. We’re fortunate to have that kind of built-in experience already.
“Obviously if the Royals weren’t playing at the sports complex, it would open up more space and maybe allow us to do some different programming that we haven’t done in the past.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2021 at 12:20 PM.