In a topic they may spark another border war Chiefs president Mark Donovan has hinted at investors possibly be interested in moving the team to the Kansas side of the border, specifically the Johnson County area. As you can expect a TON of Chiefs fans (mainly the Missouri side) are upset about even the thought of moving out of Arrowhead, and has brought the much debated question of what goes into stadium relocation decisions? Why is Mark Donovan even considering these investors' propositions?
It comes down to a few factors, money being the main driving force. If the Chiefs and the city of KCMO cannot come to an agreement on public funding, then relocation is by all means possible as private investors will then control the base of finances, however I do not think Mark Donovan or Chiefs stakeholders are remotely out of their mind enough to move it completely out of the area. The Chiefs are not the Chargers, they actually have a fanbase, and a raucous, diehard, and quite large base at that. In other words the other prominent factor of fanbase apathy does not exist in this case, so that really leaves only the monetary aspect, of which there are really no investors (to my knowledge) that want to see the Chiefs leave the Kansas City metro area. Fret not Chiefs Kingdom, don't go #BurningItDown just yet (Call me a sellout the brand placement was right there)
So why move to Kansas? Like I said before public funding via the KCMO government may be reallocated to the Royals to build a new downtown stadium (another red hot topic that may get discussed in a future article) so it will fall more on the shoulders of private investors to fund Arrowhead. Where are a lot of said investors located? Good ole Johnson County, Kansas. JoCo has shown a ton of growth over the past few years and is only growing further, mainly due to these investors and their assets making a home there. It's growing in population, business, and overall is seen as a family friendly area, so building a sports stadium there would make sense. However let's look at the other factors, I.E. the rivalry of Kansas and Missouri, the fact that KCMO is much bigger than KCK and JoCo still, Arrowhead being Lamar Hunt's baby and the tradition behind the building, and the fact that this may actually cause the second primary reason teams completely relocate cities in fanbase apathy, and you can see the conundrum here.
In my opinion? Arrowhead (Yes Arrowhead, GEHA, I'm not gonna say the whole name) should stay the Chiefs' home for the foreseeable future. If a few Johnson County elites wanna move it to Kansas that is their prerogative, but they will have to deal with the vitriol, potential apathy, and wallets of a very, VERY large majority of Chiefs Kingdom. I suggest not making this fanbase angry, we saw what happened when GEHA got their hands on the name, and how reactionary this fanbase can be in something as menial as that. Play your cards right Donovan, the Kingdom is watching.
Burn Notice: 10/10, Border War.
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