Chiefs Position on Arrowhead To Be Admired
Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt's position on Arrowhead Stadium should be applauded by fans.
There's been a lot of talk about the future of the Truman Sports Complex as the home of the Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs. Yet, the approach both teams have taken towards their future to this fan seems very different.
KCTV 5 reports Chiefs owner Clark Hunt prefers that the Chiefs remodel Arrowhead and try to stay at Arrowhead for the next 25-30 years. KCTV quotes Hunt as saying:
That would be our No. 1 priority,” Hunt said. “We’re going to evaluate all options, obviously. We have to figure out what’s best for the franchise, what’s best for the fan base. But it starts with evaluating Arrowhead and that’s where we’re at.
If you spend any time looking at the latest stories coming out about Hunt's preference you get an understanding that the team's attachment to Arrowhead Stadium is steeped in history. The team's history, the family's history, and even the history the fans have with the team and the traditions that have been developed around the stadium.
The Royals, similarly, are undertaking the same type of evaluation of Kauffman Stadium that the Chiefs are towards Arrowhead. Both teams are trying to figure out the viability of the facilities to serve as the teams' homes in the future.
In September of 2021 Royals owner John Sherman confirmed the team was looking at future options including a downtown stadium. Here's how KSHB reported it:
We’re in a good spot here at Truman Sports Complex, but we need to start thinking about our plans for our stadium over the next five to 10 years, Sherman said.
Yet whenever Sherman has talked about it there doesn't seem to be a lot of thought given to history. The team's history. The stadium's history, the park's value to baseball history. Or the emotional connection at least some fans have towards the ballpark. In fact, many fans feel the fix is in, and within ten years the Royals will be playing somewhere downtown.
When it comes to baseball, it's like any stadium built after 1960, but built before the Orioles opened Camden Yards, is disposable. Many of the parks of that era were. Yaknow the multipurpose stadiums built by cities to house both the football and baseball teams that all vaguely looked like every other one. Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh come to mind. Yet The Truman Sports Complex is significantly different and I don't understand why that doesn't figure into the equation.
I could go into the many reasons why I'd like to see the Royals and Chiefs stay at The Truman Sports Complex except I've written those stories. You can check them out here and here.
Bottom line, I admire Clark Hunt's understanding of what Arrowhead means to his family, the team, and the fans. I'm not so sure you can say that about John Sherman and the Royals and that's just one more thing that frustrates me as a Royals fan.