The future of Kansas City’s two 50-plus-year-old stadiums are connected, and the Chiefs are waiting for the Royals’ next move — even as they hatch their own plans to offer the best premium fan experience.
Chiefs owner Clark Hunt reiterated his stance during training camp that renovating Arrowhead Stadium — which he said could extend the facility’s life by 25 years — is preferred to building a new stadium nearby or another location altogether.
Arrowhead is part of the Truman Sports Complex that also houses the Royals’ iconic Kauffman Stadium — which the team is hoping to leave by 2028. The Chiefs want to be able to support the Royals’ decision on a new ballpark site when it comes this summer, Hunt said.
“If and when they go,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan added, “then that creates opportunity for us, and what does that mean, right? And it gets really complicated — you got a sports complex now that has one tenant. How do you deal with that?”
No Place Like Dome?
Any stadium talk of course has fans wondering if the Chiefs could opt for an indoor stadium.
“Certainly a benefit of a dome stadium is that you are weather-protected, which does give you the ability to host more events,” Hunt said before pointing out the stadium’s long list of non-football events this year.
“Not having a roof doesn’t preclude having many of those events,” he added. “But certainly if you have a roof, you possibly could do more during the winter.”
