Jackson County makes last-minute pitch to Chiefs before high-stakes Kansas meeting
Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota sent a pair of letters to the Kansas City Chiefs Monday morning that emphasized Missouri’s financial advantages over neighboring Kansas and touted the possibility of a domed Arrowhead Stadium.
The two letters, sent to Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt and President Mark Donovan, appear to illustrate the top executive’s last-minute pitch to the team just hours ahead of a potentially monumental meeting of Kansas lawmakers over the future of the team.
Top Kansas legislators are poised to discuss a financial proposal between the Chiefs and the state of Kansas on Monday followed by a scheduled announcement from Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly.
Together, the meeting and likely announcement in Topeka could mark the culmination of a protracted fight between Kansas and Missouri over the future of Kansas City’s storied football team.
In the pair of letters to Hunt and Donovan, which The Star obtained copies of, LeVota attempts to make a case that Missouri could offer the team a slew of financial incentives that are not available in Kansas.
“The Hunt family built something extraordinary in Kansas City,” LeVota wrote. “Jackson County wants to help you build the next chapter — not with promises or hype, but with real specifics of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal incentives that only we can deliver.”
The first letter lays out LeVota’s argument that Missouri could offer the Chiefs $400 to $600 million in federal tax benefits that Kansas cannot match.
LeVota based that estimate on a trio of financial sources: hundreds of thousands of dollars in opportunity zone benefits for the areas surrounding Arrowhead Stadium, new market tax credits that qualify for high federal priority and Jackson County’s ability to receive an investment tax credit.
“We are making generational and enormous decisions in stadium location and I want to make sure your team has all the information to allow your financial advisors to fully model what Missouri can offer,” LeVota wrote.
In his second letter to Chiefs top brass, LeVota argues that Missouri could offer the team a renovated — and potentially domed — Arrowhead Stadium with fewer long-term costs than Kansas.
LeVota acknowledged in the letter that he had not previously spoken with the Chiefs about a domed Arrowhead. He said he wanted to float the possibility “if that is an issue that weighs on the team’s decision.”
Renovating Arrowhead with a new dome, LeVota wrote, “would be much cheaper to operate than a new domed stadium in Kansas to the tune of saving over $250 million dollars.”
In defense of this argument, the top executive wrote that a domed stadium in Missouri would utilize a Thermal Energy Network tied to heat from nearby wastewater infrastructure that would sharply reduce costs and unlock large federal clean energy incentives.
A Missouri stadium would use the nearby Blue River Waste Water Plant as a key energy source, LeVota wrote.
The top executive closed out his letter by highlighting how Missouri’s option combines lower costs with a permanent protection against rising electricity costs and offers a “dramatically better” financial outcome for the team that preserves its legacy at home.
“Arrowhead Stadium is more than a building — it’s where Lamar Hunt’s vision became reality, where the Chiefs became champions, and where Kansas City comes together,” LeVota said.
The pair of letters came at a chaotic moment in the Chiefs’ home state of Missouri, where officials have tried to seek answers about the team’s intentions ahead of Monday.
Separately on Friday, LeVota floated a new sales tax to fund renovations at Arrowhead, which he dubbed “Operation Save Arrowhead.”
This story was originally published December 22, 2025 at 11:59 AM.
