KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After 50 years of playing in what’s dubbed the World’s Loudest Stadium, the Kansas City Chiefs may be moving to the other side of the state line.
According to Kevin Clark, an NFL insider and host of the Ringer’s NFL show, Chiefs President Mark Donovan revealed at the annual NFL owners meeting Tuesday that he has been contacted by several land developers with interest in building a new stadium on the Kansas side of KC.
Clark tweeted, “Chiefs prez Mark Donovan, when asked this AM about potential new stadium options, said the team has considered options in the state of Kansas. They like Arrowhead and the legacy of Lamar Hunt’s stadium, but have been pitched by Kansas developers on a bunch of options. Something to watch.”
While the Chiefs would not be moving cities, they would join the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders as teams to move locations in the last six years. The move seems logical to some as Arrowhead Stadium is the third oldest stadium in the NFL behind only Soldier Field and Lambeau Field, homes of the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, respectively.
One Kansas Citian who is not thrilled about the idea of the Chiefs moving to Kansas is KC Mayor Quinton Lucas.
“Kansas City has proudly hosted the Chiefs since the early 1960s,” Lucas said in a tweet. “We look forward to working with the Chiefs, our state of Missouri partners, and local officials to ensure the Chiefs remain home in Kansas City and Missouri for generations to come.”
Lucas isn’t alone in his hesitation to move the stadium synonymous with the city of Kansas City. In response to Clark’s tweet, one user wrote, “Chiefs would lose so many fans if this happened. I’ve been a Chiefs fan since 92. Watched every game through a 2-14 season. This would be a deal breaker.”
Another user wrote, “Kansas developers need to stay the hell out of it. There will be trouble for them if they move. I’ll never support the team if they move.”
The Chiefs have played in Arrowhead Stadium since 1972, so many fans’ skepticism towards the move is understandable. The stadium has been a subtle claim-to-fame for Kansas City after breaking the Guinness World Record for “loudest crowd roar” in a 2014 game against the New England Patriots. A Guinness representative recorded the roar at 142.2 decibels, which mimics the level of sound on a busy airport tarmac.
There is some good news for hesitant Chiefs fans though, as the current lease on Arrowhead Stadium isn’t set to expire until 2031. The allure of a shiny new stadium could easily be outweighed by the penalties of breaking the lease, which caused the NFL and LA Rams Owner Stan Kroenke to pay $790 million to St. Louis for breaking the team’s lease in 2016.
If the move comes to fruition, the Chiefs would join MLS team Sporting KC and the Kansas Speedway in professional sports played on the Wheat State side of the city. However, they would become the first team of the major four sports leagues to play their home games in the state of Kansas (NBA, NHL, NFL and MLB).
