Chiefs Owner: NFL Flag Teams Possible, Stadium Talks Progressing

NEW ORLEANS — Could NFL teams one day each own professional flag football teams, sharing branding and operations between the parent clubs and the new franchises?

That’s a possibility, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt told reporters Tuesday at the team hotel in downtown New Orleans. Commissioner Roger Goodell disclosed Monday the league is looking into starting professional men’s and women’s flag leagues.

“I certainly could envision on both the men’s and women’s side, if you wanted to sort of think into the future, every NFL team has their own men’s and women’s flag team that perhaps plays in the offseason and uses some of the branding of the parent team,” Hunt said. 

Over time, the leagues could have NFL in their names, he added. 

“On the domestic side, both men’s and women’s, I think it is a little bit more organic and I think having more players [operators and investors] is a good thing in the short term. … I think long-term, it might make sense to have something that’s NFL branded.”

The NFL is plowing resources into flag football, which is an Olympic sport in the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, in part to market to girls and women by helping them play a version of the sport.

Stadium Talks: Kansas Move Possible?

Hunt also said the Chiefs are making progress on their stadium talks with local authorities, which took a hit last year when voters rejected a renewal of the local sales tax to fund venues for the Chiefs and MLB’s Royals.

“We’re having really good discussions on both sides of the state line, and we’re going to have some really good options, and we’re going to have to make a decision on that in the fairly near future, just because we’re now down to six years left on our lease at GEHA Field at Arrowhead.” The comment means a move across the state border to Kansas from Missouri remains a possibility.

Hunt largely ruled out selling stakes in the team to private equity to raise the stadium funds. He spearheaded the NFL approving teams to sell private equity last year, and two teams—the Dolphins and Bills—have sold PE stakes. It’s too small a sample size for the NFL to draw conclusions on how the league’s decision is playing out, Hunt said. But he added he expected the league in years to come to change the number of PE firms allowed to buy into teams and the percentage of ownership allowed. 

On a personal note, Hunt observed that the Chiefs won their last Super Bowl in New Orleans, Super Bowl IV, at Tulane Stadium. Hunt was 5 at the time (his father, Lamar Hunt, founded the team), and he did attend the Chiefs victory, which until Patrick Mahomes came along was the team’s only NFL championship.

Coincidentally, the Chiefs are practicing at Tulane Stadium, though it’s not the one that hosted the Chiefs over five decades ago. That’s been torn down. Still, Hunt is ready to step back into history.

“I’m really looking forward to going to practice later this week and sort of being right there,” he said, “where Super Bowl Four happened.”