Kansas City Chiefs announce they
will leave Arrowhead and relocate across the Kansas-Missouri border
[December 23, 2025]
By DAVE SKRETTA and JOHN HANNA
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs announced Monday they
will leave their longtime home at Arrowhead Stadium for a new, domed
stadium that will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line and
be ready for the start of the 2031 season.
The announcement came shortly after a council of top Kansas
lawmakers voted unanimously inside a packed room at the state
Capitol to allow the state to issue a little more than $2.4 billion
in bonds to cover about 60% of the cost of the new stadium, a new
training facility and retail and entertainment space.
The bonds will be paid off with state sales and liquor tax revenues
generated in a defined area around it.
“The location of Chiefs games will change,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt
said after the meeting, “but some things won't change. Our fans will
still be the loudest in the NFL, our games will still be the best
place in the world to tailgate, and our players and coaches will be
ready to compete for championships, because on the field or off the
field, we are big dreamers, and we're ready for the next chapter.”
The Chiefs intend their $3 billion stadium project to be built in
Kansas City, Kansas, near the Kansas Speedway and a retail district
known as The Legends. The area includes Children's Mercy Park, the
home of MLS club Sporting Kansas City, and Legends Field, the home
of the Kansas City Monarchs minor league baseball team.
The Chiefs also plan to build their $300 million practice facility
in the Kansas City-metro suburb of Olathe, Kansas. They've committed
to at least $700 million in other development.
“Today's announcement is truly historic. Actually, it's a little
surreal,” Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said. “Today's announcement will
touch the lives of Kansans for generations to come. Today's
announcement is a total game-changer for our state.
“We have always been Chiefs fans,” Kelly said. “Now we are Chiefs
family.”
State officials also predict that more than 20,000 new construction
jobs will be created.
While the final location for the stadium has not been decided,
Chiefs president Mark Donovan said it would seat about 65,000,
roughly 10,000 fewer fans than Arrowhead Stadium. That follows a
trend across professional sports of building stadiums and arenas
that have fewer overall seats but more amenities, luxury seating and
premium spaces.
“We have a lot of work to do. We're still early in the process,”
Hunt said. “In the months ahead, we will hire an architect and
contractor and get to work on the five-plus-year timeline to build a
new stadium.”
A big blow for Missouri officials
The move by the Chiefs is a massive blow to Missouri lawmakers and
Gov. Mike Kehoe, who had been working on their own funding package
to prevent a third NFL franchise and the second in a decade from
leaving their borders; the Rams left St. Louis for Los Angeles in
part due to their inability to secure funding to help replace The
Dome at America’s Center.
Kehoe had backed a special legislative session in June to authorize
bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums,
plus up to $50 million of tax credits for each stadium and
unspecified aid from local governments.
“They thought new and shiny was better than old and reliable,” Kehoe
said after the Chiefs' announcement, adding that the club was in
discussions with Missouri officials about staying at a renovated or
rebuilt Arrowhead Stadium as late as last week.
“We won’t give up. We’ll look for cracks in the armor and find out
if there’s a Missouri Show-Me solution through our sports act.”
But both Hunt and Donovan said Kansas had a key advantage: The team
was negotiating only with state officials, rather than with state
and local officials, as in Missouri.
A local vote upended initial renovation plans
The Chiefs originally planned an $800 million renovation of
Arrowhead Stadium in a joint effort with the Royals, who are
similarly planning to build a new facility to replace Kauffman
Stadium. The facilities sit a couple hundred yards apart, across a
parking lot, and both teams have leases with Jackson County,
Missouri, that expire in January 2031.
[to top of second column] |
Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, right, and Kansas Gov. Laura
Kelly, pose for a photo during an event announcing the team will
leave Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. for a new stadium that
will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line and be ready for
the start of the 2031 season, during an event Monday, Dec. 22, 2025
in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
But last year, Jackson County voters soundly
defeated a local sales tax extension which would have helped to pay
for those renovations to the football stadium while helping to fund
a new ballpark for the Royals in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.
That energized Kansas' efforts to lure both teams.
The Royals were not discussed by Kansas lawmakers
Monday, but momentum appears to be building behind their own move
across the state line. An affiliate of the club already has
purchased the mortgage on a tract of land in Overland Park, Kansas.
“While the Chiefs aren’t going far away and aren’t gone yet, today
is a setback as a Kansas Citian, a former Chiefs season
ticket-holder and lifelong Chiefs fan,” said Quinton Lucas, the
mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. “Business decisions are a reality
and we all understand that, but Arrowhead Stadium is more — it’s
family, tradition and a part of Kansas City we will never leave.”
Hunt has long said his preference was to renovate Arrowhead Stadium,
which was beloved by his father and team founder, the late Lamar
Hunt. It is considered one of the jewels of the NFL, alongside
Lambeau Field in Green Bay, and is revered for its tailgating scene
and home-field advantage; it currently holds the Guinness World
Record for the loudest stadium roar.
This summer, Arrowhead Stadium will host six World Cup matches,
including matches in the Round of 32 and quarterfinals.
The team had two previous moves
Donovan told reporters Monday that the Hunt family believed Lamar
Hunt would have backed their decision because “he would have wanted
to increase and enhance the fans' experience."
Lamar Hunt established the Chiefs on Aug. 14, 1959. The team was
originally based in Dallas and known as the Texans, but Hunt was
convinced by then-Kansas City Mayor H. Roe Bartle to relocate the
team to Missouri with promises of tripling the team's season-ticket
sales and expanding the seating capacity of Municipal Stadium.
In 1972, the team moved into Arrowhead Stadium at the Truman Sports
Complex just east of downtown Kansas City.
The stadium has undergone numerous renovations through the years,
allowing it to stay relevant in a changing sports landscape. But
there has been little economic development around the stadium, the
facility itself is starting to show wear and tear, and there is a
limit to the number of luxury suites and amenities that the
franchise can utilize to help drive revenue.
While the Hunt family has long loved Arrowhead Stadium, it has
warmed in recent years to the idea of a replacement.
Not only would it solve many of the shortcomings of the Chiefs'
longtime home, a new facility with a fixed or retractable roof would
allow them to use it year-round. That would mean the potential for
hosting more concerts and events, college football bowl games, the
Final Four and perhaps one of Lamar Hunt's long-held dreams: a Super
Bowl.
“Chiefs fans on both sides of the state line can tell you that the
success we've enjoyed together has elevated the profile of the
entire region,” Clark Hunt said. “Sports are woven into the fabric
of this community. If you travel and go to New York or Los Angeles
or Europe or South America, you don't have to tell people which side
of the state line you're from. You tell them you're from Kansas
City, and there's a pretty good chance their response might have
something to do with the Chiefs.”
___
Skretta reported from Kansas City, Missouri. AP writers David Lieb
and Heather Hollingsworth also contributed.
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