The Kansas City-based teams consisting of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Royals held a tax vote for citizens in the Kansas City area to pay a tax to help the teams rebuild stadiums. The two teams have leveraged against the city, saying that they would possibly relocate if the town votes no. Knowing this, the city’s residents decided that it wasn’t fair for the citizens to pay another tax resulting in the vote’s conclusion to be an overwhelming no.
Although the Royals and Chiefs could be on the move, it would only be as early as Jan. 31, 2031, due to their lease at Truman Sports Complex. This gives the teams and the City time to talk about the future.
According to the Washington Post, “The Chiefs had committed $300 million toward a proposed $800 million renovation of Arrowhead Stadium…” “The Royals would pay at least $1 billion toward a new stadium projected to cost around $2 billion.” The updating of stadiums is expensive but it wouldn’t be as expensive as relocating the team as a whole. The chief’s update to the stadium would be expected to cost $800 million, but if they relocated they would have to build a new stadium in the city they move to. Rebuilding would cost close to $1 billion as well as the fee for relocating. The Rams, after moving from St Louis to Los Angeles, paid almost $800 million in relocation fees to move to LA.
The reason the Royals stadium is expected to cost more is that the Royals wanted to move the stadium to a location downtown where more surrounding amenities are located. While the teams won’t be able to move for another seven years, there has been talk about about where the most recent Superbowl champs could go. The most believable answer would be the team moving down the street into the Kansas side of Kansas City, while the extreme would be the team moving back to Dallas. Before Lamar Hunt moved the team to KC, the Chiefs used to be called the Texans and were from Dallas. Another place the Kansas City Chiefs could land would be St. Louis. The city has been looking for an NFL team since the Rams left them in 2016.
Relocation can be a franchise-changing decision, examples of this are the Las Vegas Raiders and the Los Angeles Rams. Both teams moved into larger cities with bigger markets and changing the culture in general. Relocating the team to a different city can bring many opportunities to expand the franchise’s fan base and wealth. With this being said, the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs should take their time when discussing the potential relocation of their teams and consider their future in Kansas City.
