KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Your chance to own a piece of Chiefs history is getting closer.
Later this month, a company working in tandem with Jackson County, Missouri, government hopes to launch a website for the sale of old seats from the upper deck of Arrowhead Stadium.
The county contracted Schneider Industries and S&S Seating to reassemble and sell the seats the Chiefs replaced this off season. The county will get a 50 percent cut of the net profits. It expects to earn about $250,000, which it will go to the Parks + Rec department.
Prices have not yet been set on the red chairs. They will be sold in pairs. Some will have an arrowhead logo, a cheaper version will not include the logo.
"Anytime it's memorabilia, you want it to be just like it would be in the stadium. Unless it was just unconditionally too rusty and nasty. All the condition of all these [seats] would qualify for straight out of the stadium memorabilia, as it was as you sat in it the last game. That's what the fans are wanting," explained Dale Sprinkle of S&S Seating.
The Chiefs removed about 30,000 seats from their Kansas City, Missouri-based stadium in February. Sprinkle said around 10,000 of those are in good enough shape to be reassembled and sold.
After signing the contract with Jackson County in July, Schneider and S&S spent several weeks organizing the pieces removed from Arrowhead. They will ship the parts to Indiana, where a team will reassemble them into sellable products.
A company called Prographs is working with Schneider and S&S to sell pieces of chairs as memorabilia for fans to hang on the wall. Prographs will even offer some chair backs or seats autographed by current and past Chiefs players.
"It seems like every guy's got a man cave and the good thing about that is they have plenty of wall space so they can keep adding and adding to it. If they run out of room, I tell them to buy a bigger house or take over another room," explained Brad Peterson of Prographs with a laugh.
He expects to launch a website selling autographed and non-autographed pieces of the seats in September.
Jackson County said it will use money from the sale to make playgrounds more accessible by removing curbs and other barriers which prevent children in wheelchairs or with other handicaps from using the equipment.
"We have 21 playgrounds throughout the Parks + Rec system and of those nine need upgraded to be fully accessible. We're thrilled about the opportunity to make a positive impact in our community as we continue to make our County Parks system, the third largest in the country, a welcome and memorable experience for everyone," Director Michele Newman said in a statement.
Jackson County residents will have at least 24 hours to buy seats before the sale is open to the general public.
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