The Kansas City Chiefs could be moving across the border after a vote in the Kansas House took place Tuesday.
The Chiefs, who currently play in Jackson County, Mo., were refused help by the county along with the Kansas City Royals. Now, the Kansas House easily passed a bill that would fund both teams.
The Kansas City Chiefs were told to fund their own stadium renovations if they wanted to stay in Missouri
The Kansas City Chiefs and chairman/co-owner Clark Hunt were essentially told to fund their own stadium renovation should they want to stay on the Missouri side of the border.
Jackson County voters voted against a sales tax that would’ve funded the renovation in question, but the Kansas Senate is all that stands between a similar bill funding new stadiums for both the Royals and the Chiefs.
According to Forbes, the Hunt family as a whole has a net worth of $24.8 billion, which is more than enough for them to fund whatever renovations they deem necessary personally. Regardless, they will have no issue moving across the border should the government agree to fund a stadium for them.
In an article from The Mirror, Hunt threatened to explore other options.
“Stadium development projects just take a long time and I don’t want to put a specific number on it, but with only six-and-a-half years left on the lease, we’re going to have to work very hard over the next year, year and a half to see if we can find an option.”
“We will approach it from a broader perspective going forward because time is short for us at this point and so we need to see what other options are out there for us,” the Chiefs chairman said.
The Kansas City Chiefs are stuck in Missouri until at least 2030
Regardless of how the bills play out for the Kansas City Chiefs, they are stuck in Missouri until 2030. While they can still make a deal with the state of Kansas in the meantime, their lease with Missouri runs through 2030.
The Chiefs are one of the few teams in the NFL that have the opportunity to hold their state hostage with an exponentially minimized risk of angering their core fanbase. They can hold the state they’re currently in hostage with the threat of moving a negligible distance away from their hometown fans.
A team like the St. Louis Rams ended up moving to an entirely different part of the country, alienating their hometown Midwest fans. The Chiefs can now move to a place where the government will give them funding while their hometown Midwest fans can still easily attend games no matter what side of the border they’re on.
Fans are angry that the government is assisting billionaires like Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt
While there are plenty of Kansas City Chiefs fans who are happy the Chiefs won’t be moving across the country, there are plenty of fans who think moving one step closer to the government assistance of billionaires is unethical.
Many fans cite other areas in which Kansas could use the funds allocated to build new sports stadiums when arguing why the government should not be helping. The counterargument suggests stadiums provide an influx in revenue due to the fans and economic vitalization to which they give way.
The bill in question now has to pass in the Kansas Senate.
