Chiefs new home? Proposed Kansas City, KS stadium design plans leaked

Dan Snyder is gone, and Clark Hunt seems intent on filling the void he left behind. As the Kansas City Chiefs blossomed into a dynasty, a brighter spotlight on the franchise began to reveal a lot of unpleasantries. The Chiefs, formerly known as the Dallas Texans, wound up at Arrowhead Stadium after self-proclaimed tribal chief and mayor Harold Roe Bartle attracted oil tycoon Lamar Hunt to move his team to Kansas City in 1962. Over 60 years later, the franchise may leave Kansas City.

The Chiefs — and Kansas City as a whole — are not in Kansas, mind you, but in Missouri. If billionaire owners and politicians are to believed about anything at all, that could soon change.

From Kansas City to Kansas state: Lawmakers review stadium concepts

Team owner Clark Hunt suggested that the Chiefs plan to explore options for a new stadium, whether in Kansas City or in Kansas. The comments came after voters in Jackson County rejected a 40-year sales tax initiative that would have helped renovate Arrowhead Stadium. That's right, Chiefs fans, it's a threat: pay up or they're leaving. Though it may be an empty threat, the threat was posited nonetheless, and Kansas has taken the bait.

With Jackson County refusing to pay for the majority of $800 million renovations, Kansas lawmakers sprung into action to lure the Chiefs across state lines by financing the full cost of a new stadium. While discussing the last-minute attempt to attract Clark Hunt to Kansas, lawmakers reviewed conceptual renderings of a domed stadium for the Chiefs, which could be positioned near The Legends and Kansas Speedway in western Wyandotte County.

"Time is short for us at this point and so we need to see what other options are out there for us," Hunt said on Saturday. "When we started on this process three years ago, it felt like we had a very long time — a long runway with about 9 1/2 (years) left on our lease. We’re now down to 6 1/2 and so I do feel very much of a sense of urgency."

Hunt has seen the value of his franchise skyrocket in recent years. Head coach Andy Reid helped transform the Chiefs from a bottom-dweller to a perennial contender. Kansas City has won three Super Bowls in the past five years. In 2023, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift helped attract millions of fans to Kansas City. The Chiefs saw a 39.4 percent jump in overall viewership for prime-time games during the 2023 regular season.

The Chiefs were ranked No. 29 out of 32 teams on the NFL Players Association's annual team report cards, and Clark Hunt was graded as the worst owner in the league. Only 56 percent of Chiefs players believed that Hunt is willing to invest money to upgrade the facility, which ranked him 27th among his fellow owners.

The Chiefs are one of six teams that still make certain players have roommates, and less than 50 percent of players feel they have enough room to be comfortable on flights. Players complained that "the lockers were old and in desperate need of renovation." Many players complained about wanting "a chair at their locker instead of a stool so they can lean back when sitting."

That surely sounds like Dan Snyder behavior. The only difference is that this one has a dynasty on his hands.