Arrowhead Pride
On Monday, the Chiefs’ owner said there is urgency in making a decision, but he can’t force it.
On Monday, the Kansas City Chiefs’ chairman and CEO Clark Hunt held his annual training camp press conference. Unsurprisingly, the subject of the team’s stadium came up.
Last week, we reported on team president Mark Donovan’s training camp press conference, in which he described the team’s progress on deciding whether it will renovate the current stadium at Jackson County’s Truman Sports Complex in Missouri, or build an entirely new facility across the state line in Kansas.
[T]he team is proceeding carefully, ensuring it understands every detail of each possible proposal before making a decision. Essentially, the goal is to have a ready-to-sign agreement in place for every one of the team’s options. Only then will the children of original team owner Lamar Hunt — Clark, Lamar Jr., Sharron and Daniel — decide what to do.
Hunt confirmed Donovan’s assertion that much progress had been made “on both sides of the state line,” but stopped short of giving a timeline for a decision.
“I [have] found over time with stadium situations that until they’re done, they’re not done,” said Hunt. “There’s a lot of work — a lot of moving parts — and we’re working through those. Certainly I would say we feel an urgency [in] bringing the process to a conclusion, but that doesn’t mean I can [make it] happen in any specified period of time.”
Still, Hunt acknowledged that the clock is ticking. He noted that the team’s lease on its current stadium ends in the spring of 2031 — a bit more than five and a half years from now — and constructing a new stadium typically takes four and a half to five years.
Whenever the decision is made, Hunt confirmed that ultimately, he and his siblings will make it together.
“It’s something that will affect our family for multiple decades,” he noted, “and maybe several generations. So having broad input is really important. I’m hopeful that the decision will be clear-cut for us. I don’t know that it will be when we get to that point, but certainly having a collaborative process is important.”
Hunt denied that the amount of money his family will have to invest in the project — whatever and wherever it is — will be a large factor.
“We’re not really focused on our financial commitment,” he insisted. “We’re more focused on getting it right: picking the option that’s best for our fans, one that’s best for the community and best for the organization for the next several decades.”
Hunt said that if the team chose to stay in the TSC, the adjoining property isn’t “really a ripe area for development” — but that, depending on where it would be located, there could be opportunities for development alongside a new stadium in Kansas.
But just as Donovan said a week ago, Hunt believes he understands how fans feel.
“Anybody who’s been coming to...
