Just when you thought this Chiefs season couldn’t get any worse, we found out yesterday that the Chiefs are moving to Kansas. It wasn’t enough to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2014. It wasn’t enough that Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL and LCL. It wasn’t enough to get their butts kicked by the worst team in the league. No, good ole Clark Hunt and the boys decided it was a good time to announce what most of us thought was inevitable, they are moving to Kansas. Let’s break down the move and what it means and why it matters.

The Border War

I know many people who aren’t Chiefs fans and aren’t from the area don’t see why this is a big deal. I mean the new stadium will be in the Kansas City area, they will still be the Kansas City Chiefs and the new stadium is like 20 minutes away from Arrowhead. Most people who don’t live in the Midwest already think the Chiefs play in Kansas. But this is a huge deal for these two states both financially and because there is a lot of hate towards one another.

I first learned of this hatred when I was 3 or 4 years old. I was actually born in Kansas and at the time we lived in Shawnee Mission, a suburb on the Kansas side of the metro area. Mizzou was playing ku in basketball. ku scored a basket, and since I lived in Kansas, I thought I should cheer and so I did so. I was immediately told sternly that we don’t cheer for them…ever. My dad is a Mizzou grad. He is one of the nicest men I have ever met. He is a fairly gentle guy. In all my years, I’ve probably heard the man say 10 bad words. 6 of them were towards ku in some sort of fashion. He hates them with a passion. And so, we as kids were raised to not hate, unless it was ku. I am so petty about it that I refuse to capitalize ku. This isn’t just a sports thing. This rivalry was a true war back during the Civil War when both sides did pretty horrendous things to each other. History books written by either side will blame the other and point out the atrocities done to them. Regardless, these states do not like each other. The only thing that brought these two states together was the Royals and the Chiefs.

While I try to be fair and balanced with my rankings and football takes, I am openly a Chiefs, Royals and Mizzou Tigers fan. I have a lot of friends who cheer for lots of different teams. I have family members who have moved to other places and become fans of area schools and teams. I don’t really do any of that. I’ve lived in Minnesota and Colorado but I don’t actively cheer for any of those teams. I mean if the Nuggets win, it’s cool. I’m not unhappy about it. But when I am not cheering for my teams, I’m just typically cheering against other teams. For instance my second favorite college team is whoever is playing ku. Like I said, the hatred is real. But on Sundays jayhawks and Tigers come together to cheer for the team we all love, the Chiefs. We show up at the K together to watch our Royals. It was the one thing that united us…until now.

Although we all cheered for the same team, Missouri people were always sure to point out which state the teams were really in. Although I was born on the Kansas side, I moved to the Missouri side when I was 6 and grew up there and went to school there. Despite moving around a bit as an adult, I still lived nearly 30 of my 46 years in Missouri. So even though I am probably not as upset as others, I’m team Missouri. But ultimately, given the other options I am glad that the team is at least staying in the KC area. But I am not looking forward to ku people reminding me which state the Chiefs are in.

Politics and stuff

I’m not going to get into the politics too much and I haven’t done a deep dive, but I’m confident the leadership in KC, MO screwed this up. I’m not sure if it would have mattered but they did not put up a good fight or really have anything substantial to offer. Governor Kehoe, who I once bought a car from back in 2010 that my son currently drives, jumped in and tried to save it. You may like or dislike Kehoe. I knew him a little bit when I lived in Jefferson City and he seemed like a good guy. He sold me a good car that still runs 15 years later. But I’m not an expert on whether he is a good governor or not. I’m just saying he tried to help. The Kansas governor and legislators obviously were highly motivated and had a good plan. They were more organized, had the land and the ear of Clark Hunt and the gang. It is easier to rally people when you say you aren’t going to raise taxes and even if you were, it would be to gain something new. That’s an easier ask than asking people to pay taxes for something they already have. One of the problems the Missouri side had is that not many people in Jackson County can afford to go to Chiefs games. So what are they really paying taxes for? The whole thing was a mess and the Kansas side took full advantage of it. Good for them.

What the hell is a STAR Bond?

The reason Kansas was able to pull this off without raising taxes is something called a Star Bond. This is where the City issues bonds and then they are paid back with new tax revenue generated by the new stadium and surrounding shops, etc. It’s a unique idea that Kansas used to offer more money than Missouri could. The downfall is the possibility that there won’t be enough revenue to pay back the bonds. Which could lead to raised taxes later. But they don’t care about that right now, the just got the Chiefs.

A win for Kansas…or at least Kansas City, Kansas

This is a win for their side of the border for sure. It will generate new business and more jobs, etc. And they will have people from Missouri coming over and spending money. Although many of them won’t do it besides buy tickets. Former Mizzou basketball coach, Norm Sterwart would fill up with gas at the border just to make sure they didn’t spend any money in Kansas. Kansas may have won the Chiefs but they will never beat Missouri folk in pettiness. One of the funnier lines from the Kansas Governor was that this was going to make the state of Kansas a big tourist attraction. While, tourist will come for events at the new stadium, they will still fly into MCI airport which is in Missouri and drive over. Having the Chiefs in Kansas isn’t going to have any impact on people living in Hayes. Just like Arrowhead didn’t have any impact on people living in Joplin.

Huge win for Clark Hunt

The real winner here is the Chiefs head honchos and the organization. While updating Arrowhead was a nice idea, it was never what Clark wanted. He wanted to host super bowls and final fours and concerts, etc. No one wants to come to anything in February in Kansas City. But if you have a dome than you can host year round. New stadiums typically get first dibs at a lot of opportunities. This will generate more revenue for the owners of the Chiefs. It was an absolute no brainer for them. One thing that Kehoe said that I disagree with is that this hurts Lamar Hunt’s legacy. Lamar was an innovator. He was a Texas boy who moved the team from Texas to Missouri. I don’t think he would have thought twice about this decision. This was the right move for ownership and the organization and I think anyone who looks at this scenario that is able to remove even a little bit of bias can say that.

This isn’t about the fans

At the same time, I am already tired of Clark and his team talking about how they are going to make this a better fan experience. If you ask anyone who has ever been to a game at Arrowhead, they will tell you it is the best game day experience anywhere. Sure the area around the stadium sucks and there isn’t much to do. But no one cares, because the parking lot is where the fun happens. People show up hours and hours before the game. Everyone tailgates. People play games, share food, watch the other games and have a big party. Last time I was there, we were playing the Chargers. Some Charger fans parked next to us. Yes, charger fans really do exist. We shared food and had some laughs. They talked about how nice everyone is and how this is the best experience for a game. We don’t need shops and restaurants. We are the entertainment and the restaurant. And then when you enter the stadium, it’s a whole other level. More on that shortly.

The other day, my I phone said there was an update. So it updates and I got to say, I hate every change they made. Facebook is always updating and changing in ways literally no one asked for. This new stadium is an I Phone update. Just like I am not getting a new phone over it, I’m not going to get a new team. But literally no one asked for this. Everyone and I mean everyone who is a Chiefs fan, loves Arrowhead and the experience there.

You want to host other stuff and make more money. We get it. We would do the same thing. But stop saying it is about us. Especially when there are going to be 10k less seats. This is about you. It’s fine but just call it what it is. The Chiefs could play in a cardboard box stadium and we would show up. We don’t even need seats because we stand the whole game anyway. Build your fancy stadium, we will show up. But stop telling us how great it is going to be. We already have everything we want at Arrowhead.

The loss of Arrowhead hurts the most

I think for most of us, Arrowhead not being there anymore is what hurts the most. We love that stadium. It is our house. Chiefs kingdom shows up loud and proud week in and week out. It is the loudest stadium in the NFL. I’ve been to other stadiums that make announcements for people to get loud on 3rd down when the other team has the ball. And not crappy franchises, I’m talking about Green Bay and Denver. There are no such announcements at Arrowhead. Everyone is already standing up and we have been yelling since first down. It’s rowdy and fun and it is ours. We, the fans made it what it is. Will we be loud at the new stadium? Of course. But will it be as loud? I don’t know. We like that it is cold. We don’t want to top shut in December or January. It gives us an advantage. We want to see our team play in all the ailments. We are some soft fans from LA or New Orleans. We don’t need or want a dome. We want Arrowhead. We have 5 or 6 more seasons to celebrate all its greatness.

Patrick Mahomes needs a raise

Finally, lets talk about Patrick. He has been heavily criticized the last couple of years. His stats aren’t the best but we saw on Sunday what we look like without him. I’m not saying he will ever catch Brady. I’m certainly at this point not saying he is the greatest of all time. But what I will say is none of this is possible without the success the Chiefs have had the last 7 years. Andy Reid deserves some credit. He certainly stabilized a terrible football team and made it a good one. But he was 1-4 in the playoffs before Patrick. He’s 17-4 since then. The Chiefs as an organization are 9-18 without Patrick in the post season. Clark Hunt would not be able to request much of anything from either state if it wasn’t for Patrick. There should be a Patrick bond where he gets 10% of the revenue. While Clark is doing what we all would do here, he wouldn’t be able to do any of it without Patrick. So while he is spending his time talking about new stadium plans, he best not forget to spend some time with Veach and Andy to get this thing fixed for the guy who brought him here. Whatever Patrick is getting paid, it’s not enough. But what Pat wants more than anything is to win. Pat delivered for Clark. Now Clark needs to deliver for Pat and for the fans. Because the best fan experience is watching a winning football team.