Chiefs’ new $4bn stadium already under threat as ‘loophole’ could see team miraculously stay in Missouri

The Kansas City Chiefs announced their plans to move away from Arrowhead Stadium on Monday.

After months of ongoing speculation, Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt and Kansas Governor Laura Kelly finally announced that they would be moving away from their iconic stadium situated in Missouri and across state lines into Kansas in 2031.

x/@JoePompliano

The move away to a new state-of-the-art domed stadium has been approved and agreed upon by the team and its new home state, much to the dismay of Chiefs fans.

But the one glaring takeaway from the 33-page agreement is that it is not 100 percent final.

According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, whilst the Chiefs are firmly set on leaving the state of Missouri, the state are well within their rights to still propose an alternative offer for a renovated Arrowhead Stadium.

“The agreement to move isn’t officially done,” Florio wrote on Friday. “There are several “conditions precedent,” which is legalese for “stuff that has to happen before it’s real.”

“The Chiefs, for example, have to acquire, by purchase or long-term lease, the stadium site.

“And while the Chiefs have agreed to engage in no negotiations with anyone else while the process of hammering out a fully final and binding agreement with Kansas continues, the Chiefs have a hand in the ultimate kill switch for the project: Failure of the NFL to approve the Kansas deal by October 31, 2026.

“Even though the Chiefs can’t negotiate with Missouri in the coming months, nothing stops Missouri from reacting to its recent “shock to the system” by coming up with an equal or better offer to keep the team at a renovated Arrowhead Stadium and to publicize those terms in advance of the eventual NFL vote to approve the Kansas stadium.”

As it stands, the current arrangement with Kansas is that the cost of the new stadium, which is expected to fall into the region of a $3 billion price tag – and rise to $4 billion when factoring in the entire relocation – will be split 60-40 in the favor of the football team.

The Chiefs will be responsible for forking 40 percent (approximately $1.2 billion) of the cost, while Kansas will pick up the remaining 60 percent ($1.8 billion).

Additionally, it is expected that the Chiefs will pay $7 million annually in rent, of which $350,000 will cover government administrative costs, whilst the rest will go into a fund that can be used for any maintenance and operations of the new stadium.

Getty

Getty

Missouri would need to launch huge proposal if they are to deter the Chiefs from leaving

Whether Missouri will launch their own proposal to try and prevent the planned relocation remains to be seen.

However, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe had already previously proposed renovation plans for Arrowhead – the Chiefs’ home since 1972 – which included adding a retractable roof for it to become “an all-weather protective environment.”

But the cost of doing renovations to a stadium that has served as a huge home advantage to Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid and co over the years has been projected to exceed $2 billion.

Despite the Chiefs holding hopes of one day hosting a Super Bowl, these hopes have been dashed due to not being able to meet the NFL’s minimum requirement of having 70,000 fixed seats.

As it stands, the new stadium plans outline an expected capacity of between 65,000 and 68,000 fans, but there is the possibility that they could add additional – temporary – seating to meet the required threshold.

The Chiefs have never hosted a Super Bowl in their franchise history, but they are hoping that they will benefit from the NFL’s tendency to reward newly-built stadiums with hosting duties within four years of their opening.

That is, of course, if they do officially move to Kansas.

Stay up to date with the latest from the NFL across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.