ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt spoke with reporters Monday from season ticket holder appreciation day at training camp at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Hunt spent time thanking the St. Joe and MWSU communities for making training camp a “tremendous experience.”
Last week, Chiefs President Mark Donovan provided an update on the team’s discussions for finding a new home, saying the team would like to have a good idea of their options six months from now.
On Monday, Hunt echoed many of the points made by Donovan, and while he called a six-month timeline “optimistic,” he said it was important to make significant progress during that time.
"We do have six-and-half years left on our lease at Arrowhead, and GEHA Field at Arrowhead is a special place; It's special for our fans and its special for our players and coaches, but we do have to look to the future," Hunt said. "We're glad to have some options. We really appreciate what the Kansas legislature did in passing the upgrade to the STAR Bond bill that potentially would give us an opportunity to look at a stadium over there."
He continued, "We're going to work very hard over the coming months and years to come up with a solution that makes sense for the organization, for the team but also one that makes sense for the community. We're approaching it very much with an open mind and look forward to talking with leaders on both sides of the state line."
Hunt said the team remains focused on finding a solution somewhere in the Kansas City area, though whether that be on the Kansas or Missouri side and whether that includes a new stadium or a renovated GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium are points that remain open.
"Part of our evaluation over the next several months and coming years will be looking at whether we're better off in a renovated building or a new stadium, and that new stadium could be on the Missouri side as well," Hunt said. "It doesn't have to be on the Kansas
side."
He also addressed the team’s training facilities, saying the team has outgrown the current facility located on the west side of the Truman Sports Complex. Hunt said building a new facility or expanding the current footprint are options.
"We love our training facility, but we've outgrown it," Hunt said. "Every NFL team has grown in terms of the number of people, number of players and number of coaches, and long term, that's going to be part of what we have to look at."
Watch Hunt's full news conference in the video player below.
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