Crap, I’m going to have to write about the Kansas City Chiefs, aren’t I? I hate to do so, since “sports team owner said a thing” is such an insidious journalism trope, and I hate to give every owner utterance more air — but Chiefs owner Clark Hunt did say a thing, and people are already writing about it, so, fine, let’s just cut to the chase:
Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said that it’s possible his team could look to build a new stadium, either where Arrowhead is currently located or elsewhere, but he said the Chiefs are optimistic that with renovations, Arrowhead could be their home for another quarter-century.
“We do feel optimistic about that. We spent a couple years studying the structural integrity of the stadium, and early this year we preliminarily concluded that Arrowhead could be renovated and extend the life for up to another 25 years,” Hunt said.
This is the big decision for sports team owners with stadiums that are more than a decade or two past their last major renovation — Arrowhead Stadium was last redone in 2010-15, at $375 million in cost, $250 million of which came from taxpayers — deciding whether to demand a new one or just demand renovations to the old one. A little over a year ago, Hunt hedged spectacularly on whether his stadium should be redone again or replaced, calling it both “state-of-the-art” and “a cement stadium that’s been around for a while now,” but now he’s seemingly landed on more renovations for now, though he could always end up pulling a Tennessee Titans you-could-renovate-but-it’d-be-cheaper-to-build-a-new-one gambit. And team president Mark Donovan made sure to keep the team’s options open in a separate interview:
“I want to be consistent and reiterate something that [Chiefs chairman and CEO] Clark [Hunt] said last time he spoke on this; if everything plays out the way we think it’s going to play out, our preference is to upgrade and renovate the stadium and make GEHA Field at Arrowhead even better,” Donovan said on Friday. “We’ve gone through the process and made some progress there. There are still three viable options on the table and we’ve got to do the due diligence on: renovate/upgrade, build new on-site, or build new somewhere else. All three of those options are still part of our dialogue.”…
“We’ve learned a lot in this process,” Donovan said. “The good news is we think the building itself is actually, structurally, pretty sound, which gives us the opportunity [to renovate]. Having said that, we’ve learned that it’s going to take a significant annual investment to keep that building structurally sound. And the other thing we’ve learned on the good and the bad is, just like any project, there’s certain days where you get that phone call; it’s like, ‘Hey, we just found this. Might be an issue.’ And we’re talking about core samples of cement that was poured in 1970, those issues could be significant and they could factor into the decision.”
All this, of course, is taking place against the backdrop of Royals owner John Sherman’s talk of building a new stadium, possibly downtown, at a decidedly unspecified public cost. It would only make sense, in sports-owner logic, for Hunt to demand equal spending on his team whenever a Royals subsidy price tag is arrived at, and that number may or may not be enough to build a whole new stadium, so kicking the renovation-or-replace can down the road until that time is absolutely the move here. In the meantime, just get the public used to the idea of a “significant investment” coming up for something, and try not to remind anyone that the last significant investment just wrapped up eight years ago.
The main benefit of Clark Hunt’s pitch is that the public is more likely to support his plans than the Royals because the Chiefs are, you know, good compared to the always dumpster fire burning over at Kaufmann Stadium. The only problem is that, if it’s so cheap to renovate Arrowhead Stadium versus building a new facility, why not invest in it yourself and maximize the profits? It’s all just parking lot right now.
And then I remind myself that the joy of being a billionaire is having others pay for things for you while you make the money.
Yeah, I think you answered your own question. It’s not “Can Hunt afford it?” but rather “Can Hunt afford it better if someone else is paying for it?”
The Royals weren’t always a dumpster fire because they won the World Series in 1985 and 2015.
Also, there is no more “Arrowhead Stadium”. The correct name of that facility is GEHA Field at Arrowhead.
Not until they pay me to say it, it isn’t.
Looking forward to 2045 Royals!
Yeah, but with the Royals, it’s either making the World Series or finishing in Last Place. And the fans would kind of like to not have the season over by July 95% of the time.
If I remember, when the two stadiums were built they could latter install sliding roof between them. Why don’t they do this instead of building a new Royals stadium, be good for both teams
Some shade would be nice…..
Do you ever notice that every time an NFL team has stadium wants they play home games in Europe?