A renovated Arrowhead or a dome in Kansas? Inside the Chiefs' looming stadium decision

New York Times

30-05-2025

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Clark Hunt wants a dome. The Chiefs' owner can visualize the potential next chapter of his franchise, one that could begin in just six years.
'I do think for the community, a dome would be a tremendous asset,' Hunt said in late March at the NFL's annual league meeting. 'It would give the Kansas City region an opportunity to host significant events.'
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The Chiefs' stadium question is about to reach a couple of key checkpoints. By the end of June, the franchise hopes to decide which side of the Missouri-Kansas state line the team will play its home games after the 2030 season. With that timeframe in mind, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe has called the general assembly back for a Tuesday special session, in part to discuss the stadium tax-incentive program.
The most ambitious option for the Chiefs — who are considering renovating Arrowhead Stadium or building a state-of-the-art venue — involves the construction of a dome in Kansas that would cost an estimated $3 billion.
That option has already led Hunt and team president Mark Donovan to answer the question of whether a dome in Kansas would guarantee higher profits for the Chiefs and lead to more lucrative, alluring opportunities for the region.
'Yes,' Donovan said at the league meeting. 'It's definitely part of the conversations in Kansas. This is one of the reasons you do this.'
In less than a decade, the Chiefs have become the NFL's most prominent franchise in terms of marketing and elevating TV viewership, boosting the league's business growth in the United States and around the world. The Chiefs are also the first team in NFL history to reach five Super Bowls in six seasons. Hunt knows a dome would further propel his franchise.
A domed stadium — similar to venues such as SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles Rams and Chargers), Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas Raiders) and U.S. Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings) — would allow the Chiefs to host numerous events: the Final Four, a College Football Playoff game, the Big 12 football championship game, more concerts, college bowl games and WWE events.
🇺🇸 New Design: New Kansas City Chiefs Stadium
The stadium is to be fully covered. It will cost around $2-3 billion to build the venue.
🔗 https://t.co/dkoMSmZRfs
📸 MANICA pic.twitter.com/YyMnKu7eU3
— StadiumDB.com (@StadiumDB) June 4, 2024
Hunt believes a dome would give the Chiefs the chance to host a Super Bowl.
'We're doing really, really well as a franchise,' said Donovan, who is on the NFL committee that selects Super Bowl sites. 'One of the highest compliments Clark has ever (given) me and our (business) team, as we're looking at the two options, is you guys are maxing out this market at Arrowhead.'
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In the past year, legislators in Missouri and Kansas have battled, publicly and in their legislative sessions, to present the best financial framework and political support to attract the Chiefs. Legislators in Kansas, with bipartisan support, approved state bonds last summer to aid in financing new stadiums and practice facilities for both the Chiefs and Kansas City Royals. If the Chiefs move to Kansas, the state bonds could cover up to 70 percent of the cost of building a new stadium. The bonds would then be paid off over 30 years through revenue from sports betting, state lottery ticket sales and new sales and alcohol taxes collected from an entertainment district built around the stadium. The bonds expire June 30 but could be renewed for another year.
'Hypothetically, as you're trying to figure out how to put a deal together, if you're on either side of the table, you look at deadlines,' Donovan said. 'That June 30 (deadline) is real.'
The NFL's G-5 program, which allows a team to borrow up to $300 million for projects if it matches with its own money and receives government assistance, would help support the construction of a new stadium in Kansas. The loan is repaid through revenue sharing and premium seating revenue.
In response to Kansas' aggression, Kehoe's 'Show Me Sports Investment Act' would allow Missouri to cover up to 50 percent of stadium construction costs through state-issued bonds. Kehoe said the plan would allow each team to bond up to the annual amount it generates in state tax revenue. The bill passed the Missouri House of Representatives earlier this month but lacked support in the Senate, which adjourned early, leading Kehoe to call the special session for next week.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, a lifelong Chiefs fan who began attending games at Arrowhead when he was a child, has stressed repeatedly that he believes the teams will remain in Missouri.
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'The way that we do our stadium obligations in Missouri is that they are publicly owned as compared to what you see in Kansas,' Lucas said in August. 'That makes a very big difference (in) tax implications long term. If you look at the economics, if you look at the plans the teams have said before, both teams will be in Kansas City, Mo., for years to come.'
The Chiefs and Royals, who play their games at Kauffman Stadium, share a lease at the Truman Sports Complex that runs through Jan. 31, 2031. While the Royals want to play in a new ballpark before the end of the lease, the Chiefs will play all of their home games at Arrowhead through the 2030 season.
'Both options are very much in play,' Hunt said of renovating Arrowhead or building a dome in Kansas. 'Really, our timeline is driven more by having enough time to do the renovation work or the construction so that we can be in the new or renovated building in the summer of 2031. To really comfortably stay on schedule, it would be best to have some direction by the summer.'
When Donovan reflects on the Chiefs' first misstep, he can pinpoint the day immediately: Feb. 28, 2024.
At the time, the Chiefs were the NFL's reigning back-to-back champions, the first team to accomplish that in two decades. Two weeks after their overtime victory in Super Bowl LVIII, Donovan and Hunt were back at Arrowhead to present the future of the 53-year-old venue. Hunt unveiled renderings of what they hoped would be the next major renovations of Arrowhead, changes that would improve suites, video boards and club lounges. The renderings also showed other enhancements — suites behind the end zones, sideline clubs and concourses on the upper deck covered.
'The response was less than positive,' Donovan said. 'I believe that partially people walked into that presentation wanting to see a dome and a Power & Light (entertainment district) built next to it. They didn't see that, so it's just, 'What is this?'
'We're not going to make that presentation again without some changes, a better picture.'
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Working together, the Chiefs and Royals put forward their full plan to voters in Jackson County, Mo., just days before last year's April election. The clubs agreed to remain in the county — with the Royals building a new downtown ballpark — for at least the next 25 years if voters agreed to an extension of the three-eighths-cent sales tax.
Royals owner John Sherman said the club would pledge at least $1 billion from their ownership group for their project. Arrowhead's projected renovations were expected to cost $800 million. Hunt said he and his family would contribute $300 million.
Voters rejected the extension of the sales tax. The margin of defeat for the teams was overwhelming with 78,352 people voting no (58 percent) and 56,606 voting yes (42 percent).
'You learn the importance of communication and being careful with your communication,' Donovan said of last year's vote. 'It's amazing how little things get twisted around. It's hard to lose, man. That was a tough night, especially when you really believe it's the right thing. The system was really good for a long time. It didn't resonate that way with the voters.'
Arrowhead Stadium is the iconic heartbeat of Chiefs Kingdom – full of history, amazing memories, and so many more good times to come. Our vision is to elevate our unrivaled fan experience for the next generation of fans with improvements across all levels inside, new activation… pic.twitter.com/9gHLJ8MDBv
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 28, 2024
Several city and county leaders felt the Chiefs' and Royals' financial commitments weren't enough.
Jackson County executive Frank White, who is in the Royals Hall of Fame, never fully agreed to the proposal. KC Tenants, a 10,000-member tenants' rights and housing advocacy group, campaigned against the proposal, urging voters to reject the extension by stressing that taxpayers would pay too large a percentage to help build a new ballpark and further modernize Arrowhead.
'Two billion dollars in taxpayers' money, man, could do a hell of a lot to develop our community,' Michael Savwoir, one of the union leaders with KC Tenants, told Kansas City television station Fox4 hours after the election. 'The billionaires don't finance my follies. Why should I finance theirs? I think we can all agree it was a pretty shabby job of selling anything, pretty shabby in terms of how it was delivered — the message, the deceit, the strong-arming and the extortion.'
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Lesley Wright, who lives downtown and has been a Chiefs season ticket holder, voted no.
'It was a hard decision,' Wright said. 'I'm the biggest advocate for a downtown stadium. I love the Chiefs and Royals, but I felt as if the plan was not put together well. I didn't feel right about it.'
Even before legislators in Kansas approved state bonds, developers from the state had sent the Chiefs proposals for a new stadium in the past few years. In those discussions, developers have recommended multiple sites for a stadium. One logical destination would be Kansas City, Kan., near the Kansas Speedway and Children's Mercy Park, the home venue of Sporting Kansas City.
Just weeks after the vote in Jackson County, Mo., Manica Architecture, a firm in Kansas City, Kan., that has designed several American stadiums, revealed renderings to Kansas legislators that showed a sprawling enclosed stadium with a retractable roof. If the Chiefs agree to move to Kansas, the construction of such a stadium could begin in 2028.
Throughout last season, when the Chiefs were attempting to become the NFL's first three-peat champion in the Super Bowl era, everyone in the city — players, fans and employees of the team — had to start contemplating if Arrowhead's future was doomed.
'Arrowhead is home for me,' tight end Travis Kelce said. 'It's a part of my heart, playing in that stadium. But the fans want what the fans want. We play for them. I think it's up to them.'
🏟️ Arrowhead Stadium, the iconic home of the @Chiefs since 1972, is rich in history! Originally designed by architect Charles Deaton, it's celebrated for its unique bowl shape, amplifying crowd noise to record-breaking levels (142.2 dB in 2014).
In 1973, Arrowhead became the… pic.twitter.com/wzCsT44Ki4
— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) November 7, 2024
Charles Deaton designed Arrowhead to give fans the best view possible. The stadium's lines are symmetrical and curved, its distinctive spiral ramps dot the venue's corners. Arrowhead has a scalloped upper deck in each end zone, giving it a unique look.
The best feature of Deaton's design was discovered almost two decades after Arrowhead opened: It was created to produce thunderous sound. Roars from sellout crowds can be so loud that it's similar to being next to jet engines, a rare level of crowd noise that keeps opposing players from hearing the snap count.
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Arrowhead first set the Guinness world record for loudest stadium in 2013. The next year, after Seattle Seahawks fans broke the record, Arrowhead regained the record with the fans' collective voices generating 142.2 decibels in a blowout win over the New England Patriots, a record that still stands.
The stadium includes an apartment, which was built to be the home of team founder Lamar Hunt. In the 1990s, Hunt used to walk the parking lots and interact with thousands of tailgating fans before games. Hunt knew the fans were a major reason why the Chiefs have one of the NFL's best pregame atmospheres. Hunt often said: 'Arrowhead Stadium is my favorite place on Earth.'
Arrowhead is the league's third-oldest venue. Clark Hunt and Donovan have previously expressed their desire to preserve Arrowhead, so that it can be seen as an equal of other iconic, historic stadiums such as Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and Lambeau Field.
If the Chiefs choose to renovate Arrowhead, one question looms over Hunt and Donovan: Can the city and team build an entertainment district — with restaurants, a shopping mall and hotels — in the complex, which is located in Independence, Mo.?
Last July, Donovan said the overwhelming answer he heard from developers was no.
'You're not going to see Power & Light,' Donovan said of a potential renovation of Arrowhead. 'But you could see other entities that would have some relevance to game day.'
Missouri legislators have worked to convince the Chiefs that such a possibility can become a reality.
In 2007, in the middle of their championship run, the New England Patriots built Patriot Place, a complex adjacent to Gillette Stadium. Patriot Place features 1.3 million square feet of shopping, dining and entertainment options. Lambeau Field, the Green Bay Packers' home venue, is next to Titletown, an entertainment district on 45 acres that opened in 2017.
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'With the vacated Kauffman Stadium footprint, there's a lot of activity that you could do,' Lucas said. 'Lambeau has been in that spot for some time, but you see a conference center and you see Green Bay using that as an economic development tool.
'We heard from the voters that said they wanted funding that was generated from the stadium itself to pay for the stadium. I think there's a way we can get that done.'
Of course, Manica Architecture's renderings of a potential enclosed stadium with a retractable roof included such features around the dome — hotels, restaurants, apartments, office space, an outdoor concert venue and a huge Chiefs training facility.
In November, the Chiefs hired CSL International, a market research firm, to better understand what their fans want in a renovated Arrowhead or a new stadium outside the complex. In December, CSL conducted 10 focus group sessions, in both Kansas and Missouri, to get feedback from fans. The firm also sent an email survey to more than 300,000 people, a collection of season ticket holders, past attendees of Chiefs games and other stadium events.
Hunt said, 'The tailgating experience was really important to them.' The respondents also said a new stadium would need to be loud to give the Chiefs a true home-field advantage.
A wild card was recently added to the Missouri-Kansas battle with Clay County, Mo., north of downtown, holding the right to create its own sports authority. A county sales tax, like the one Jackson County voters rejected, could help fund a new stadium there.
#ChiefsKingdom, we love you ❤️ pic.twitter.com/bgKHpEf3sN
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 2, 2022
'When you think about two different opportunities, and you talk about where to put (the stadium), they don't care,' Donovan said of fans. 'Now there are hardcore Missourians and hardcore Kansans. But as long as you're in or around that (I-435) loop, it doesn't matter. That's further supported by the average travel time for a fan from this survey to a game is 70 minutes. That was helpful.'
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Since last year's vote, the Chiefs and Royals have worked separately on their potential stadium deals. But Donovan acknowledged that the Royals' decision will likely have a significant effect on what the Chiefs decide. The Royals are still interested in building a downtown ballpark, but the team could agree to move to Kansas, using the state bonds to help build a stadium in a suburban area, such as Overland Park.
If the Royals announce their decision first, the legislators from the other state will likely face more pressure to land the Chiefs.
'They need to get a deal done, and we'd think it'd be a good thing for Kansas City if they get a deal done (downtown),' Donovan said of the Royals. 'We need to get the best deal for us done, no matter what they do.'
Since the ballot measure failed last year, the Chiefs have made it clear to Missouri legislators that Hunt and his family are willing to contribute more than the $300 million they committed to last year.
What those legislators do next week could go a long way toward resolving the stadium saga. The Chiefs and their fans — on both sides of the state line — will be watching closely.