Report: Kansas, Chiefs still without signed contract to use Arrowhead Stadium

As Kansas proceeds with a massive renovation project on the schools football stadium and facilities, the Jayhawks needed new places to play home games in 2024. And in a novel solution, the Jayhawks announced a number of home games would be played at Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs.

That announcement was made in January, but days before the first scheduled game at Arrowhead for the Jayhawks, there’s a snag: There’s no contract between the school and the Chiefs to play there, according to a report from KCUR. Kansas played two early home games at the home stadium of MLS team Sporting KC.

But in response to records requests from KCUR, the Kansas athletic department recently revealed there’s not a signed contract for Kansas to play at Arrowhead Stadium. The Jayhawks are scheduled to host TCU there this Saturday, Sept. 28.

“It’s complex,” KU Athletics spokesperson Daniel Berk said to KCUR, adding only that one of the snags in consummating a deal is insurance coverage.

According to records obtained by KCUR, the Jayhawks paid Sporting KC $100,000 in rent for use of the facility and an additional $150,000 for game day expenses, with a few more mechanisms to have the Jayhawks pay for notable damage to the playing surface and divisions of revenue from parking, concessions and merchandise. That contract, according to KCUR, was four pages long.

Right now, Kansas is scheduled to play four home games at Arrowhead Stadium: vs. TCU (Sept. 28), vs. Houston (Oct. 19), vs. Iowa State (Nov. 9) and vs. Colorado (Nov. 23). The Chiefs are playing away games on all but one of the following Sundays, but will play a home game on Sunday, Nov. 10, a day after the scheduled Kansas-Iowa State game.

And while there remains no contract as of Wednesday, there is apparently confidence from KU that a deal will get done.

“It’s been six months of complex communications, but we fully expect to have an agreement,” Berk told KCUR.

The Chiefs did not respond to KCUR’s requests for comment.