Featured image credit: Kj1595/CC BY-SA 4.0/Edited for size
Clark Hunt, chief executive of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, has said that a renovation of GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium could extend the life of the venue by up to 25 years as the team continues to weigh up the possibility of building a new home.
Hunt has previously expressed a preference to renovate Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs’ home since 1972. The team’s lease deal is set to expire in 2031.
Hunt said in August that staying at a renovated Arrowhead Stadium would be the team’s “No.1 priority” but insisted that all options would be evaluated. His comments came after the Chiefs revealed in March 2022 that developers had approached the team over the possibility of developing a new stadium in the state of Kansas.
Arrowhead Stadium is located in Kansas City, Missouri, next to Kauffman Stadium, home of Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals. The Chiefs’ plans for Arrowhead Stadium are likely to be impacted by the Royals, with the latter eyeing up a new ballpark in Kansas City.
Although the Chiefs have not fully committed to renovating Arrowhead Stadium, Hunt said the team feels “optimistic” about such a project. “We spent a couple years studying the structural integrity of the stadium and earlier this year, we preliminarily concluded that GEHA Field at Arrowhead could be renovated and extend the life up to another 25 years,” he said, according to CBS Sports.
Hunt added that three options – renovating Arrowhead Stadium, building a new stadium on the current site, or constructing a new venue at a separate location – remain on the table.
“But we’re working hard behind the scenes to try to get into a position where if the Royals make a decision later this summer – as they said they’re going to do – we’ll be in the position to go with them if they decide to go with a public vote,” he said.
The Royals announced in November that the team had identified several sites to develop a proposed $2bn (£1.6bn/€1.8bn) downtown ballpark and mixed-use development that would be the largest public-private project in Kansas City history. The Royals’ lease deal at Kauffman Stadium also expires in 2031.
Arrowhead Stadium will be one of the host venues during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which the US will stage with Canada and Mexico.
Share this