The harsh reality of Chiefs camp
Kansas City Chiefs training camp always brought excitement to St. Joseph. Every July, the team’s arrival would put the city on the map. Three weeks later, Chiefs owners, GMs and coaches would give the community an “atta-boy” before heading south to start the long season.
Amid the emporia, there was always that seed of doubt. That little voice would whisper, “how long is it going to last?”
We now know the answer. Chiefs camp at Missouri Western State University will run its course sometime around 2031.
It came as absolutely no surprise that the team’s mega stadium deal with the state of Kansas included a $300 million training facility in Olathe, a city with all the uniqueness of a food court. The team was deliberately vague about renewal provisions in the latest contract with MoWest.
Camp appears set to move to Olathe as part of a $3.3 billion package to build a covered stadium near Legends in Kansas City, Kansas. For St. Joseph fans, the loss of Arrowhead Stadium is a mixed bag. The KCK site is closer to St. Joseph and offers nearby amenities beyond a lonely Taco Bell. But there’s the nostalgia factor with losing Arrowhead, plus a potential price hike for parking and personal seat licenses.
The loss of training camp is what really stings for St. Joseph. The community poured its heart and soul – and millions of dollars in public funding – into camp. Whenever Chiefs brass played the “NFL experience” card, some combination of the city, county, state or university would have to pony up for new turf, practice fields or an indoor sports complex.
It’s worth asking what St. Joseph got out of Chiefs camp. The economic benefits were oversold for what was mainly a day trip, but some restaurants, shops and gas stations saw a bump. Camp generated prestige for St. Joseph and produced top-notch infrastructure that MoWest gets to keep. It seemed to benefit Mosaic’s marketing efforts and Tech N9ne’s career profile.
The Chiefs, a team valued at $6.5 billion, held all of the leverage in this relationship. They asked and St. Joseph or MoWest delivered, time and time again, until the team decided a better deal could be found elsewhere.
Unlike Jackson County, Kansas City and the state Missouri, St. Joseph can’t point to any particular missteps that produced this result. We always suspected it would end this way, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept.
