Rival mayor suggests Kansas City Chiefs relocation ‘opportunity’ after stadium redevelopment snub

Could a second NFL franchise be joining the Cowboys in Dallas?

The mayor of Dallas says that the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs have a ‘serious opportunity’ to relocate to Texas after the team suffered a blow in their efforts to redevelop their iconic Arrowhead Stadium. 

Eric Johnson has made no secret of his desire to tempt a second NFL franchise to Dallas to join the Cowboys and has mooted the possibility of the Chiefs returning to the franchise’s original home. 

The team began life as the Dallas Texans in 1959, relocating to Kansas City in 1963, when they took on the Chiefs moniker, something Mayor Johnson alluded to on X as he reacted to the news that voters in Jackson County, Missouri, voted down a proposal for a tax that would have helped the team redevelop their stadium. 

 “Welcome home Dallas Texans,” he posted. 

“The connections are so deep, the history is so rich,” Johnson went on to tell The Athletic. “We actually could put together the deals that would make sense for them to get them here.”

Los Angeles and New York both have two NFL franchises and Johnson believes he can put together a case for adding Dallas to this mix. 

“When the NFL looks at the next round of expansion, they will not find an American city where there is not an NFL franchise currently that will be a more lucrative or faster-growing market to put a team.”

The Chiefs are owned by Clark Hunt, the son of founder Lamar, with Clark a Dallas native, who lives in the city and is the chairman and CEO of MLS side FC Dallas. 

Johnson added that he regularly speaks with Hunt, but stopped short of confirming if the issue of potential Chiefs relocation has ever come up. 

"I’m not really at liberty to say other than I have a good open line of communication with Clark Hunt,” Johnson added. “And that line of communication remains.”

The issue of the Chiefs’ future was raised after a sales tax in Jackson County was rejected by voters last week. Had it been approved, the tax would have raised funds to help pay for major renovations at Arrowhead Stadium along with a new stadium for MLB side the Kansas City Royals. 

Chiefs team president Mark Donovan said before the vote that relocation would be an option, should the tax be rejected. 

"I think they would have to include leaving Kansas City," Donovan told KSHB.com.

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