'Momentous Step': Kansas City Chiefs Make Team Move Official

The Kansas City Chiefs NFL team will be moving across the state lines from Missouri to Kansas, with the first game planned to take place in the new stadium for the start of the 2031 NFL season.

 Speaking to reporters on Monday, Democrat Kansas Governor Laura Kelly and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the Chiefs would be moving to a new domed stadium in Olathe, Kansas, which is situated about 30 miles away from Arrowhead, where they have played for more than half a century.

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“Today we are excited to take another momentous step for the future of the franchise," KC Chiefs owner and chairman Clark Hunt’s announcement read. "We have entered into an agreement with the State of Kansas to host Chiefs football beginning with the 2031 NFL season.”

"In the years ahead, we look forward to designing and building a state-of-the-art domed stadium and mixed-use district in Wyandotte County, and a best-in-class training facility, team headquarters, and mixed-use district in Olathe, totaling a minimum of $4 billion of development in the State of Kansas,” it added.

Gov. Kelly shared, "This agreement to bring the Chiefs to Kansas takes our state to the next level. With this new stadium, we’re creating thousands of jobs, bringing in tourists from around the world, attracting young people, and most importantly, we’re continuing to make Kansas the best place in America to raise a family. This is a game-changer for Kansas, and it’s a signal to America and the world that our state’s future is very bright."

The Kansas Gov. said that in addition to the move, the team will establish a “new team headquarters and a brand new practice facility.”

The move comes after Missouri residents in 2024 voted for an extension of a sales tax that reportedly would have been to support a planned upgrade of the famed Arrowhead Stadium to allow the city to host a Super Bowl and other major sporting events.

But as the Arrowhead Addict noted, many of the residents didn’t believe the upgrade was going to happen. 

It read:

No doubt about it: There was a largely political element to this story. It came from all angles. On the surface level, there’s a long, socially accepted practice of rich billionaires coming to the tax-paying common man, asking for money to build the privately owned stadiums that they profit from, with the promise of immeasurable financial impact and the rooting interest of a metro area. Meanwhile, there is a large part of the public that will, without a doubt, never vote to give a billionaire a cent of tax money no matter how great the proposition is.

Kansas lawmakers then approved major public funding for the new domed stadium, and the Chiefs' move was official.

Clearly, the winner here is Kansas, with the Sunflower state being the recipient of all the revenue around the Super Bowl-winning team, rather than Missouri.

For the fans, this is really a mixed bag of news, with many trying to decide if Santa just delivered them another lump of coal after their superstar QB, Patrick Mahomes, went down with a torn ACL, having to undergo surgery on his knee, with hopes of returning by week 1 of the NFL season in 2026.

Meanwhile, backup quarterback Gardner Minshew stepped in for Mahomes, and eight plays after Mahomes got hurt, Minshew was taken out of this week’s game after reportedly suffering a knee injury, though sources indicate it's not an ACL injury.

The team will now be starting a QB who was on the practice squad to start the year, Chris Oladokun, for the remainder of the season.

Arrowhead is the third-oldest stadium in the league, after the previous owner, Lamar Hunt, moved the team to Missouri from Texas. They have played in that stadium since the 1972 season.