Kansas City Chiefs Announce They're Changing States

Kansas wins over Super Bowl champions with domed stadium deal
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 22, 2025 4:17 PM CST
Chiefs Are Jumping to Kansas for New Dome
Kansas City Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt watches the start of a meeting of legislative leaders who had the power to decide whether the state issues bonds to help the Chiefs finance a new stadium on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metropolitan area, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, at the Statehouse in...   (AP Photo/John Hanna)

The Kansas City Chiefs announced Monday they will relocate across the Kansas-Missouri border in a new, $3 billion domed stadium that will be ready by the 2031 season. The team had talked about moving for years, negotiating with governments in both states on a stadium deal. The final step was taken Monday in a packed room at the Kansas Capitol in Topeka when the Legislative Coordinating Council, which includes the state's top lawmakers, unanimously approved a bond package to pay for most of the stadium and a surrounding district, the AP reports. The Chiefs have played in Missouri since 1963 and at Arrowhead Stadium since 1972.

  • The Kansas side: "Kansas is not a flyover state. We are a touchdown state," Gov. Laura Kelly said in celebrating the news, per KMBC. State officials say the construction project alone will generate 20,000 jobs and have an economic impact of more than $4.4 billion. The complex will be located in Olathe, which is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area.
  • In Missouri: Mayor Quinton Lucas said Kansas City was outbid, per KCTV. "One city or one county cannot outmatch competing offers from a state in modern professional sports," Lucas said in a statement, which wished the Chiefs well. A Jackson County official expressed discontent with the process in a post earlier in the day. "I refuse to play in this game where taxpayer dollars are pit against each other in an effort to make millionaires/billionaires richer, and put the needs of taxpayers 2nd or 3rd chair," Manny Abarca posted.

  • The owner: Team Chairman Clark Hunt, who was in the Topeka meeting, said in a statement that the team's partnership with governments in both states will continue. "Today's announcement ensures that for generations to come, Chiefs fans will have the best game-day experience in the entire National Football league," he said.
  • The fans: It's "a relief the Chiefs are staying in the metro, the state line is irrelevant," one posted, per the Kansas City Star. "Thankfully they are not going somewhere like St. Louis." Another complained about a historic loss, writing, "Arrowhead has become something akin to Lambeau, Fenway or Wrigley & shouldn't be so easily discarded for a stadium that looks like every other modern McStadium."
  • A player: "Do not like," Chiefs offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz posted.

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