KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt adores GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
He’s said his late father, Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt, loved the 50-year-old football stadium as much as any place on the planet.
So, it’s no surprise that Hunt reiterated Sunday after the Chiefs clinched an eighth straight AFC West title and made the playoffs for the 10th time in Andy Reid’s 11 seasons with the franchise that the team wants to stay put amid the Royals’ ongoing push for a new stadium.
The Chiefs, it seems, would eschew pushing for their own new stadium, preferring instead to renovate Arrowhead again.
“Nothing’s changed from our perspective,” Hunt said. “We’re still focused on Arrowhead. We believe it’s one of the best stadiums in the National Football League. And we hope to make it our home for at least another 25 years.”
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But that last bit — that Hunt and the Chiefs are eyeing a 25-year commitment to stay at Arrowhead — may be a sticking point moving forward.
The lease agreements for the Chiefs and Royals are tethered to Jackson County’s 3/8-cent sales tax, which was last renewed in 2006 for a 25-year term.
The Royals are believed to be seeking a 40-year extension of the sales tax if they opt to move downtown into a new stadium.
However, there’s no way to approve a 40-year agreement for the Royals and a 25-year agreement for the Chiefs under the existing structure.
The Royals have yet to decide — or, at least, have yet to publicly announce — a preference between a downtown stadium, moving to a site in North Kansas City or some other option.
But Hunt has made it clear that the Chiefs’ preference is to stay put for another quarter-century.
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