The Kansas City Chiefs and the Cleveland Browns play during the first half of an NFL football game ... [+]
Three months ago, Kansas City Royals owner John Sherman publicly declared his baseball team was considering a move from its Kauffman Stadium home to downtown Kansas City.
Such a move by the Royals almost certainly wouldn’t occur until after their lease expires following the 2030 season.
Nonetheless, Kansas City Chiefs fans wondered whether the football team would ponder something similar to its Harry S. Truman Sports Complex neighbors.
But a Royals migration to downtown would actually give the Chiefs, who already need ample acreage to meet the demand for their robust tailgating scene, more reason to stay put.
“If the Royals weren’t playing at the sports complex,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said during his annual mid-season press conference, “it would open up more space and maybe allow us to do some more programming that we haven’t done in the past.”
At the very least, it could allow the Chiefs to have more event space. But the Chiefs could be thinking of something even more grand.
The wave of the future in the NFL is for teams to have their stadium or practice facility serve as a hub for a larger entertainment district.
The New England Patriots have Patriot Place, an outdoor complex adjacent to Gillette Stadium, which has restaurants, hotels, a movie theater and shops, including a Bass Pro Shops.
The Dallas Cowboys’ The Star District is considered the league’s gold standard. The property has a 12,000-seat practice facility also used by high school teams and 19 restaurants, a hotel, a cigar bar, a spa and multiple shops.
The Chicago Bears have played at Soldier Field for 50 years, which is located on the city’s museum campus. But they recently purchased a property in suburban Arlington Heights — home to the Arlington International Racecourse — for $197.2 million, potentially allowing them space for a similar venue.
“The way fans want to consume the game and the kind of spaces that you need, those things change over time, and we’re paying attention to that,” Hunt said. “One possibility will be another renovation of Arrowhead.”
The previous renovation improved Arrowhead Stadium by widening the concourses, adding restrooms and supplementing the stadium with other attractions like an augmented Hall of Fame.
To help pay for it, Jackson County voters narrowly approved a three-eighths cent, 25-year sales tax hike, and both the Royals and Chiefs agreed to extend their lease for the same duration and have it expire in 2031.
The Chiefs’ last big stadium news occurred in March when they signed a naming rights agreement with GEHA, a local medical and dental insurance company, to rename its stadium GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
About half a year later, the Royals held their press conference and discussed their possible move.
Before announcing it to the public, Sherman notified Hunt, an indication of how the teams work in concert.
“Obviously, we’ve been connected to the Royals for almost 50 years now here at the sports complex, so their decision on their long-term future will have an impact on us,” Hunt said. “We’re going to watch as they go through the process and at some point in the next year or so start thinking about what’s next for the Chiefs from a stadium standpoint.”
