Opinion: The Chiefs' Potential Move to Kansas is Heating Up, and You Probably Shouldn't Care

While Kansas courts the Chiefs and Royals, is it worth caring what side of the state line either team plays on?

Feb 14, 2024; Kansas City, MO, USA; A general overall aerial view of Arrowhead Stadium (foreground) and Kauffman Stadium at the Truman Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Chiefs could be moving from Kansas City, Missouri to Kansas City, Kansas in the coming years. If you're not local to the KC area(s), you may have had to re-read that sentence multiple times for it to even begin to make sense. If you're a Kansas Citian, you may believe that the sky is falling or that it's raining manna from heaven, depending on which side of the state line you prefer. Currently, I'm not sure if you should care at all.

On Tuesday, the Kansas Legislature passed a plan to bring the Chiefs and/or Kansas City Royals from their current homes at the Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City, Missouri — specifically and notably in Jackson County — to somewhere in the state of Kansas. Where, exactly? Not sure. At what cost? TBD. To what impact? Hard to judge that without knowing the financials or locations.

There are still endless unknowns and there will be months and months of ongoing negotiations and evaluations before real decisions are made. So, now what? Briefly indulge my geographical life story. It'll make sense in a bit.

I was born in Wichita, Kansas and was raised there until my family moved to Shawnee, Kansas — about a half-hour drive away from Arrowhead Stadium. Then, I went to college and later lived in Olathe, Kansas — also about a half-hour from Arrowhead. I lived and worked in Overland Park, Kansas — more like 20 minutes from Arrowhead — before moving to Kansas City, Missouri in 2020 — a nifty 15 minutes from the home of the Chiefs. I've spent my whole life living and working on both sides of the state line, and I have true midwestern love for both states. Why do my bi-state allegiances matter to you?

If the Chiefs were to move from Arrowhead to a site near Legends in KCK, they'd be moving approximately 30 minutes to the west. All of this strife and political posturing over a 30-minute "relocation." I've thought about it for months, and I can finally declare it confidently: I just do not care which side of the border the teams play on.

Many of the surrounding factors of the future homes of the Chiefs and Royals certainly do concern me. I'd like for both teams to play in quality facilities that create the best experiences for their fans and players, placed at locations that benefit the city (or cities) in short-term and long-term ways, ideally at minimal cost to taxpayers and state budgets. I'm not at all arguing for total stadium apathy. I'm making the case that the dotted line on the map is one of the least important parts of this whole discussion for most people who care about the teams.

Here's the question I keep circling back to: If you're a fan who attends games, wouldn't you want the best two stadiums, locations, and situations regardless of what state they're in, as long as they're within a reasonable distance and remain "Kansas City?" If the Chiefs get a massive spaceship of a stadium on the Kansas side and the Royals take another swing at a downtown ballpark district in KCMO, is that not the best thing for you and the teams? It seems a lot better to me than the Chiefs' remarkably underwhelming proposed Arrowhead renovations or the Royals' ever-changing attempt to find a permanent parking spot downtown.

What the Chiefs are exploring is also extremely commonplace in the NFL. Just to name a few examples among teams with relatively new, modern stadiums: The Las Vegas Raiders play in Paradise, Nevada. The Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, Texas. The Los Angeles Rams and Chargers play in Inglewood, California. The San Francisco 49ers play in Santa Clara, California. The New York Jets and Giants play in East Rutherford, New Jersey! Maybe that's a bad thing, maybe it doesn't matter, but it's already happened throughout much of the NFL.

Instead of asking Jackson County to foot the bill for both teams, the potential two-state split should theoretically allow for each team to secure more resources while planning alone. The Chiefs weren't planning to add a roof or, frankly, any upgrades of significance to most fans with their plan ahead of the April vote. With Kansas politicians going all-out in pursuit of the Chiefs, a brand-new stadium could certainly be domed as the Chiefs play the leverage game between states. If KCK hosts Super Bowls (and Final Fours and other similar traveling indoor events) and the Royals return to the drawing board for a more cohesive plan to find their way into downtown KCMO, that seems like the closest thing to a win-win that fans could ask for.

Again, the details will matter and both states will have to grapple with the fact that publicly funded sports stadiums rarely bring back the returns they promise. I care about how both teams thread that needle on behalf of the well-being of the only two states I have called home and the people who live there. But it doesn't make sense for fans to allow themselves to be swept up into a battle between states while politicians in Topeka, Kansas and Jefferson City, Missouri want you to believe that, either positively or negatively, a team's 30-minute move is going to change your life. In reality, as long as they settle on either side of the state line, they'll be the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals either way. They just won't share a parking lot.

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