Chiefs lay out their vision of a renovated Arrowhead Stadium. Here’s the price tag
The Chiefs’ vision for a future Truman Sports Complex home without their longtime partner, the Royals, includes a “fan activation zone” after Kauffman Stadium comes down.
Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt and team president Mark Donovan laid out the organization’s renovation plans Wednesday. Those include the fan zone (a covered entertainment space where Kauffman currently stands); new clubs and suites in the end zone; new, larger video boards; completion of the upper concourse with a connecting bridge; and other enhancements.
The price tag: $800 million. Of that, $300 million will be paid by the Chiefs, who also would pay for cost overruns.
The remainder will be largely up to Jackson County taxpayers, who will decide whether to fund the project with an April 2 ballot measure to secure a 40-year 3/8th cent sales tax that would send equal dollars to the Chiefs and Royals.
“There are many steps to go, the first and most important is April 2,” Donovan said.
Wednesday’s reveal was attended by Jackson County officials, KC Mayor Quinton Lucas, Kansas City Sports Commission president Kathy Nelson, Jackson County Executive Frank White, and Royals owner John Sherman and vice-president and CEO Brooks Sherman (no relation).
The Royals have announced their new stadium would connect to the Crossroads, Power & Light and South Loop Link project. The new baseball stadium would be located adjacent to T-Mobile Center at the site of the former Kansas City Star Press Pavilion at 1601 McGee Street.
The current lease and sales tax, which funded renovations at Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums, is set to expire in 2031. The Royals have played at Kauffman Stadium for the last 50 years, with the Chiefs as their next-door neighbors at the Truman Sports Complex.
Securing a sales tax would separate the teams for the first time since 1973. Arrowhead Stadium opened in 1972 and debuted a substantial renovation in 2009.
Changes to Arrowhead would follow the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where six games are scheduled in June and July that summer. Donovan expects works to begin on the renovations in 2027; the work would be targeted for completed by 2030 or 2031, he said.
With the changes, seating capacity at GEHA Field at Arrowhead would remain above 70,000, but some 3,000 parking spaces would be added, including a parking deck in Lot E.
What isn’t part of the spending: a roof or new training facility. Also, the Chiefs don’t plan to create a shopping or entertainment district around Arrowhead, like the Royals are envisioning in the Crossroads.
“Right now in this market this is not a location worthy of developing, so as harsh as that sounds, that’s the reality from a business standpoint,” Donovan said of the area around Arrowhead.
Hunt said the Chiefs don’t have an alternative plan if the April 2 measure doesn’t garner voter approval.
“We would not be willing to sign a lease without the financing to properly renovate and re-imagine the stadium,” Hunt said. “The financing puzzle is very important to us.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2024 at 11:01 AM.