Clark Hunt says he’s surprised Chiefs players griped about facilities. He can fix it
A couple of weeks after the Chiefs hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in Glendale, Arizona, the league’s players association let us all know that things weren’t quite so sunny back home in Kansas City.
Let the owner know, too, apparently.
The Chiefs weren’t the intended target of the NFLPA’s report cards; instead, this was more like voluntarily stepping into the crosshairs and just hoping no one would notice.
It’s out there now.
In his first local news conference since it all got put on blast, Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said Friday he’s surprised that players used the anonymous survey to slam a several aspects of their accommodations, tied to a common thread of lack of financial investment.
Which leaves us with two conclusions:
• The survey landed exactly as the players hoped it would. Got my attention. Got your attention. And it go the owner’s attention.
• There’s no excuse but to fix it now, and that will require money.
The Chiefs ranked 29th of 32 teams on a report card that read like a college kid who keeps skipping class: B, D+, C+, A-, D+, D-, D- and F.
The players ripped the conditions of the locker room, weight room, training room and travel arrangements. They came with specifics. One of six teams that require younger players to have roommates on the road. One of a few that requires players to sit on stools, not chairs, in the practice facility locker room.
And on. And on. And on.
“We were surprised by some of the negative things in that report,” Hunt said. “ I’ve heard reports that at least some of that survey was taken earlier in the year, and there were some things that were subsequently changed, even before we were aware of the report. I’ll be interested to see it this coming year.
“Nobody likes criticism, but from my standpoint, feedback is always positive, and so we’ll take it and learn from it.”
Hunt pointed to the timing of the survey, but that’s basically semantics. The reality is these things have been a problem, per his own players, even if it’s bordering the nature of a first-world problem in comparison to the rest of of us.
The point is the Chiefs have been an outlier in comparison to their peers, and those peers took the survey as the same time the Chiefs players did. The question is whether they will continue to be an outlier.
And in expressing surprise by the feedback, Hunt is providing something of an excuse for the past results.
But that leaves the future without excuse.
If only we’d known.
Well, now you know.
It was clear Hunt had read every detail of that grade card, to his credit, and he mentioned a couple of things that the organization has already made plans to change as a result of the report. They will return to bigger airplanes, and they will provide babysitting during games. Both were among the frequently-mentioned complaints from players. Both had been removed during COVID, Hunt said, and they will be back.
It’s a good start.
A start, though.
Those were two items on a lengthy grocery list. To be fair, that list was so lengthy that it would be difficult for Hunt to memorize them all and recite them all off the top of his head. Those are the Chiefs’ own consequences of the situation — many of the remaining 32 teams need to make some tweaks, and they are looking at full-scale renovations to satisfy the complaints.
If they satisfy them.
Hunt did not commit to all of them, though he did hint at receiving the message.
“The things related to the facility — I think we’ve all been thrilled to be in this beautiful training complex here for the past 16 or 17 years, and it’s hard to believe that it’s already, aging. But it is,” Hunt acknowledged. “The league continues to grow; the staff continues to grow; and we certainly have to figure out how to accommodate our needs going forward, not only with the stadium, but also with the training facility.”
That’s another step in the right direction — admission of the issue.
The next? Correction.
The Chiefs are quite obviously interested in building something new rather than renovating the exiting campus to provide more space, but the chairs can be replaced tomorrow. Others will be behind the scenes, out of our view.
Well, until the NFLPA makes it public again.
In releasing the results, the NFLPA said it had hoped to provide an education of these kinds of things. We are those who received the education. You. Me. The owners know their facilities. If they are surprised, it’s certainly not the fault of the players.
The owners probably aren’t happy you and I have been invited into that inner circle, but that was the idea, right? It’s a bit more uncomfortable to be toward the bottom of the standings when those standings are plastered on the wall for all to see.
It’s visible now.
There is no room left for surprise — from you, me or Hunt.
And on draft weekend, perhaps it’s appropriate to phrase it like this: The Chiefs are on the clock to fix it.
This story was originally published April 29, 2023 at 6:00 AM.