The Kansas City Chiefs weren’t always part of the city, nor were they the Chiefs to start with. They were originally the Dallas Texans from 1960 to 1962. But owner Lamar Hunt decided to relocate because he didn’t believe his AFL outfit — despite winning the previous year’s AFL championship — could compete with the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys in the same market. This, despite the Cowboys being terrible back then.
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As the story goes, it was Harold Roe Bartle, the mayor of Kansas City at the time, who convinced Hunt and company to come to his city. Bartle said he would triple their ticket sales and promised to put more seats in Municipal Stadium to make it happen.
They originally intended to keep the name ‘Texans’, but Hunt and head coach Hank Stram went with the winner of a fan vote that chose ‘Chiefs’, an homage to Bartle’s nickname, ‘The Chief’. So, not only did the mayor of Kansas City convince the football club to come, but the team is pretty much named after him as well.
Current Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas will be hoping he has a fraction of that influence at least on the NFL franchise. Because this time, instead of convincing them to come, the city’s mayor has to convince them to stay. Lucas recently visited Chiefs’ training camp, and his post about it spoke volumes.
“As the Team of the 2020s, the [Chiefs] are one of our greatest brands, sharing the best of Kansas City, bringing us together, and introducing our region to people around the world. They’ll be part of our community for generations to come. Great seeing them yesterday at camp,” tweeted the mayor, along with a carousel of pics.
As the Team of the 2020s, the @chiefs are one of our greatest brands sharing the best of Kansas City, bringing us together, and introducing our region to people around the world. They’ll be part of our community for generations to come
Great seeing them yesterday at camp. pic.twitter.com/sMvwLOcKp6
— Mayor Q (@QuintonLucasKC) July 29, 2025
“Generations to come” suggests Lucas has some plans. And if the Chiefs believe in good luck charms, they might want to stay with Lucas: He assumed office on August 1, 2019, a month before the start of this Andy Reid-Patrick Mahomes dynasty.
For those unaware, the Chiefs are at the moment the prize in a bit of a tug-of-war between Missouri and Kansas.
They’ve been in K.C., Missouri, all this time. But their iconic Arrowhead Stadium needs a facelift. While the Missouri side is trying to put up $800 million for renovations, there’s a proposal across the state line in Kansas City, Kansas, for a brand-new $3 billion stadium.
Owner Clark Hunt, son of Lamar, is worth $1.6 billion. So it is intriguing that he has taxpayers from two cities trying to offer him hundreds of millions and billions of dollars for a stadium to save him the trouble. That’s the status quo in pro sports, apart from Green Bay.
But both cities, which border each other, really want the Chiefs. It probably wouldn’t make a huge difference to fans, considering the proximity. But the city leaders — like Mayor Lucas — certainly have a lot to lose or gain.
62 years ago, in 1963, Mayor Bartle got Lamar Hunt to bring his Texans to K.C. by his promise of more ticket sales and more seats at Municipal Stadium. Now, in 2025, the new mayor, Lucas, must figure out a similar stadium-related bait to Lamar’s son, Clark, to keep them there.
