This New York Times story authored by Ken Belson starts the way most national stories do about the KC Chiefs these days -- the "revival" of the team following the worst season in franchise history. The story focuses in on Clark Hunt's role and how he responded to last year's nightmare of a season.
But buried in the second page of the article is this nugget of information:
The Chiefs are in discussions with potential naming rights partners for the stadium, although Mark Donovan, the team's president, said the Arrowhead name would remain because it was so identifiable.
"We know we're on a lot of fans' bucket lists," he said.
On the surface, that sounds like some juicy news but after a review of past naming rights stories, it's really nothing new. Way back in 2006 the Chiefs reportedly started talking about selling the naming rights to Arrowhead Stadium. Former KC Star beat writer Adam Teicher reported way back in 2007 that the Chiefs were talking about a name change following a new lease agreement. Two years ago, Bob Gretz reported that the naming rights had been sold, which we now know wasn't accurate.
In the few times the Chiefs have publicly acknowledged discussing the sale of the stadium naming rights, they have consistently said that Arrowhead will remain a part of the name. That was really my biggest concern -- keeping Arrowhead in the name.
I would guess that if / when the Chiefs sell the naming rights, it could be something like "Corporate Sponsor Field at Arrowhead Stadium".
Soo, anyone up for a KickStarter fund to do this thing ourselves?