Chiefs chairman Mark Donovan sets date to decide Arrowhead’s future: renovation or new stadium?

THe Chiefs have set a deadline of six months from now to determine a plan for the future Arrowhead Stadiumwhether that means renovating their iconic home turf or building a completely new stadium in Kansas or Missouri.

After a joint ballot initiative with the Royals to help fund facilities by extending a sales tax was rejected by voters in Jackson County, MissouriEarlier this year, the teams agreed to move forward with separate plans. Now they’re waiting for leaders in both states to Kansas City metro to put forward their best arguments.

Kansas lawmakers last month approved a plan that would finance up to 70 percent of the cost of new stadiums for professional sports franchises in an effort to lure the Chiefs across the state line. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson responded a week later by saying he expects his state to have a relief plan in place by the end of the year to keep teams on his side of the metro.

“This is a generational decision. This is going to impact the future of this franchise for generations,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan said Friday, the day veterans reported to training camp at Missouri Western in St. Joseph, Missouri.

“We have to do this right,” Donovan said. “We’re going to do the due diligence. We’re going to take our time and do it right. But the timing is realistic. You can only take so much time to do it right. And that window is starting to close.”

The Chiefs and Royals have played at the Truman Sports Complex for more than five decades, where a lease agreement includes the use of a sales tax to pay for their upkeep. And while Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium remain beloved by fans, the reality is that both are aging and it’s unclear how long either would last even if they were renovated.

Royals owner John Sherman has said his team will no longer play at Kauffman after the 2030 season, preferring instead to build a new stadium downtown. The Chiefs initially hoped to renovate Arrowhead but have become increasingly open to building new.

Chiefs owner Clark Hunt has long hoped for a Super Bowland that would be more likely with a new stadium. If it had a retractable roof, the stadium could also attract lucrative events like the Final Four and college football playoff games.

One factor working against Missouri is the uncertain political environment. Parson cannot seek re-election due to term limits, meaning the Chiefs will have to wait until later this fall to know who they will work with in the future.

“Really the deadline is how do you get up and running in a new facility or a renovated facility by January of the 2031 season,” Donovan said. “You’re looking at an existing structure, something we’ve worked on a lot, there’s a little bit less lead time. When you’re talking about something new, that adds a year and a half to the lead time. So we feel like we’re in the window right now to get something done in the next six months to be in a good position. That’s the timeline that we’re working on.”

Donovan said another factor in the decision is fairly simple: real estate

If the Chiefs do build new, they want enough land for 20,000 parking spaces so the franchise can maintain its longstanding tradition of tailgating. They would also have to decide whether a new training facility — their current one is located near Arrowhead Stadium but is also getting old — would be built near a potential new stadium or stand alone somewhere else.

“It’s important to understand that we’re playing Chiefs football home games at GEHA Field at Arrowhead (until) 2031. That’s our plan,” Donovan said. “What we need to have is a place to play our games for the ’31 season. In order to do that, we have to go back to, when do you build? If you’re renovating, how do you do that over multiple seasons while still playing there? There’s a lot of factors that go into that. We have to have options, and we have to have those options to a point of definition to make a decision.”