Chiefs Exit Leaves Missouri With Arrowhead Demolition Dilemma

The Chiefs will play at Arrowhead Stadium through the 2030 season before their planned move to Kansas, but it remains uncertain what will happen to the iconic venue when the NFL team’s lease expires in January 2031.

Arrowhead Stadium has been the home of the Chiefs since 1972—the team has won 14 of 22 playoff games it has hosted—but its future beyond the NFL is unclear. The stadium is owned by Jackson County through an entity called Jackson County Sports Complex Authority, which will have to decide whether to maintain the facility or demolish it once the team departs for its planned $3 billion domed facility in Kansas that will be publicly subsidized. 

Missouri House majority leader Jonathan Patterson said last week during an interview on local radio station KCMO that ultimately, the county will be “on the hook” for either $20 million of annual maintenance or $150 million for a demolition.

“It is unbelievable what it costs to demolish those things,” he said. 

Missouri House of Representatives director of communications Ben Peters isn’t sure where those numbers came from, but tells Front Office Sports via email, “It will be interesting to see what steps are taken going forward.”

“Next week, Missouri starts its legislative session here in Jefferson City, and there’s a pretty good chance that someone will be filing legislation that would put departing teams on the hook for demolition costs in some fashion,” Peters says.

State Sen. Rick Brattin has already signaled plans to do just that. He issued a statement Dec. 22 calling the Chiefs’ departure “deeply disappointing and profoundly disrespectful” to Missouri taxpayers. He also said he intends to file legislation that would require any professional sports team that leaves a publicly funded stadium to “pay one percent of the total demolition cost of that stadium for every year the team used it.” 

Patrick Tuohey, senior fellow at the St. Louis–based Show-Me Institute, says officials should take the immediate financial hit to tear down the stadium rather than risk decades of maintenance costs that may never be recouped—underused sports venues that become financial burdens are known as “white elephant stadiums.” 

Another White Elephant?

“My fear is that it’ll be like the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis,” Tuohey tells FOS. “They did not tear that down. They tried to use it to host events, and it will just become another failed project that does not generate enough revenue to pay for itself.”

The Edward Jones Dome was the former home of the St. Louis Rams, before they moved to Los Angeles after the 2015 NFL season. Now called The Dome at America’s Center, it is publicly owned through the St. Louis Regional Sports Authority and is operated by the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Bureau. It still hosts events—legendary rock band AC/DC and country music star Zach Bryan are both scheduled to perform there in 2026—but it has struggled financially. In August, a state auditor report found that it is not prepared for the upkeep costs that will be required going forward; while it will need roughly $155 million in repairs and maintenance over the next decade, the St. Louis Regional Sports Authority has only about $88 million in cash—leaving a $67 million shortfall. 

Tuohey is concerned that public officials will “overreact” to the loss of the Chiefs by making an offer to keep the state’s MLB team. The Royals are also seeking a new facility—their lease at Kauffman Stadium expires after the 2030 season. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas has already made clear his intention to fight to keep the Royals in Missouri, saying in a statement last week that “our unified, hardworking, and exceptional team will continue our strong efforts as we work to retain the Kansas City Royals in a transformational downtown facility.”

What just happened with the Chiefs will undoubtedly “inform the next deal,” according to Tuohey.

“Nobody wants to be the governor or mayor who loses a team,” he tells FOS.

Representatives for Patterson, the NFL, the Chiefs, and the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority did not immediately respond to requests for comment.