The future of the Kansas City Chiefs is up for grabs after a failed ballot measure to fund renovations to Arrowhead Stadium, and Dallas appears to be interested.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson tweeted, “Dallas Texans, welcome home!” Plus a smiling emoji with a link to an article about Johnson County's Question 1 failing Tuesday night with his 58% to 42% standard. The measure would extend the sales tax to fund renovations to the Kansas City Royals' new stadium and Arrowhead.
Johnson threw in a hashtag for the Cotton Bowl, the stadium the Chiefs hope to move to.
Johnson expanded on his concerns in a statement to the Dallas Morning News the next day, saying there is enough room in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for two franchises, even if one of those teams is the Dallas Cowboys. He claimed that there was.
“Dallas was named America's top sports city because we play to win,” Johnson said in a statement to the Dallas Morning News on Wednesday, referring to last year's Sports Business Journal ranking of the best sports cities. That's because I do.”
“As I've said before, our market is large enough, growing enough, and more than enough to support a second team in the NFL, especially a franchise (and owner) with deep roots here. I love soccer.”
The Chiefs made no outright threat to leave Kansas City if Question 1 doesn't pass, but the Chiefs and Royals are trying to convince voters that their stadiums are worth billions of dollars in public funds. spent millions of dollars on it.
Their future path is currently unclear. The Chiefs are locked into a lease at Arrowhead Stadium through 2031.
This isn't the first time Johnson has called for a second NFL team in the DFW area rather than in a metropolitan area that doesn't have a team (the Cowboys are in Arlington, which is outside his jurisdiction).he Tweeted a proposal for the expansion team in June 2022after that A month later, it provided a new home for the Los Angeles Chargers..
One person who wasn't a fan of the idea was Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Obviously, the Chiefs won't move to Dallas for a variety of reasons. The idea that an NFL team, especially one with local ties and history like the Chiefs, would relocate to a region second only to the most popular and valuable franchise in American sports is comically unrealistic. The NFL itself probably doesn't want to unnecessarily downsize its base and at the same time incur the wrath of Jones.
It is unclear what Mr Johnson thinks he will achieve by pursuing this. But one group with a bigger chance lies just beyond the Chiefs' current home state line.
The Chiefs' destination is more likely to be Kansas than Dallas.
The Kansas City Star reported that former Kansas House Speaker Ron Rickman Jr. is working with other political parties to try to lure the Chiefs from the Missouri side of Kansas City to Kansas. He explained it with a bad pun that would make Scott Boras blush.
“Jackson County screwed up. It's going to be a tough scramble for the ball and we're in a great position to scoop and score,” Rickman said in a text message to The Star.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has also expressed interest in the idea.
Obviously, the best outcome for the Chiefs involves a bidding war between the two states that doesn't require changing metropolitan areas. It will still be years before action is taken, but Tuesday's failure on the first question could be seen as the start of a fight between local governments.
