KANSAS CITY, Mo. - As the Kansas City Chiefs’ future home becomes a hot-button issue, Mayor Quinton Lucas is making it clear: Missouri was still very much in the game until the final whistle.
Lucas revealed he had been expecting a major announcement about the Chiefs after New Year’s Day - one that would’ve kept the team rooted at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. That was, until news broke that the Chiefs were shifting their focus across the state line to Kansas.
It’s a move that’s left more questions than answers. Chief among them: how long had talks been going on with Kansas officials, and when exactly did Missouri leaders realize they might be losing the team?
One of Lucas’ biggest criticisms isn’t just about the decision - it’s about the process. On the Missouri side, any public financing plan would’ve gone to Jackson County voters for approval.
In Kansas, the public never got that opportunity. That contrast has raised eyebrows, especially given the scale of the potential investment.
Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota had already laid out a plan, and Lucas confirmed he was slated to be part of a news conference on January 2nd - a press event that now looks like a missed opportunity. According to Lucas, that announcement would’ve detailed the Chiefs’ commitment to staying at a renovated Arrowhead and a proposal to place the funding package on the April ballot.
Lucas said the Missouri side had been crafting a serious offer - one that involved the city, county, and state combining forces for a package worth more than $1.5 billion. That’s not a small number. It shows just how committed Missouri leaders were to keeping the Chiefs right where they are.
“I think Kansas City was going to be an active participant,” Lucas said. “We saw that there were - if not challenges - opportunities for more of us on the Missouri side to build into what could be a good incentive to retain the Chiefs. We knew this was an active competition.”
That competition appears to have tilted in Kansas’ favor - at least for now. But Lucas isn’t calling it a betrayal. He made it clear this was business, not personal.
“You know I consider Mark Donovan a friend,” Lucas said, referring to the Chiefs’ team president. “I consider a number of folks in the Chiefs organization friends, but this was a business transaction at the end of the day.
I get it, they get it, and so, I don’t feel betrayed. I’m disappointed.
I’m disappointed as a Chiefs fan more than a mayor.”
The Chiefs, for their part, have remained tight-lipped, declining to comment on Tuesday. But Lucas said when he first caught wind of Kansas’ push last Thursday, it didn’t line up with what he believed was the current state of negotiations with Missouri.
Still, as Lucas pointed out, until ink meets paper, nothing is final. “Until the deal is signed,” he said, “you don’t actually have a promise.”
In the meantime, Lucas is already turning his attention to another major team - the Kansas City Royals. Sporting a Royals pin on his lapel during the interview, he hinted at the next big stadium battle on the horizon.
The focus now shifts to how Kansas City plans to keep its baseball team from following the Chiefs’ lead. That story continues Wednesday.