By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A decision by the Kansas City Chiefs will reverberate throughout St. Joseph.
The Chiefs have signed a three-year agreement to return to Missouri Western State University for training camp later this year. The Chiefs have been holding training camp on the St. Joseph campus for the past 10 years, but the initial contract had expired after the Chiefs broke camp this year.
The three-year deal has options for the next two years. It will require Missouri Western double seating for fans, from 2,500 to 5,000, as well as make upgrades to Scanlon Hall, the dorm the Chiefs use during training camp. Improvements will likely cost a bit more than a million dollars.
It is more than worth it, according to Missouri Western and area officials.
Missouri Western President Matt Wilson says the school knew it had competition for the training camp of the Super Bowl champions.
“They made it very clear during last training camp that with the 10-year agreement expiring that they were going to look around at all of their options,” Wilson tells those gathered for the announcement at Spratt Stadium. “And I truly think that it’s a testament to our organization that the Chiefs would go and they would look far and wide and high and low and they would come back and they would select us as a long-term partner.”
It is hard to underestimate the impact Chiefs training camp has on St. Joseph.
“Name me another event that’s going to bring 65,000 folks into our community for an activity or event,” Wilson asks, saying the training camp is a highlight of the summer. “As we have done this every year, and I hope that we will continue to do it, it really makes this just an event. And, really, if you think in the summer where do you want to be, you should be here in St. Joseph.”
Missouri Western Athletic Director Josh Looney felt confident the Chiefs enjoyed their time in St. Joseph.
“I knew that we concluded 2019 putting out best foot forward and really that’s been St. Joseph and Missouri Western since 2010 when they got here,” Looney says.
Looney says he understands St. Joseph is proud to be the home of Chiefs training camp.
“The eyeball test this (past) year is unbelievable,” Looney says. “You saw red all over the city; the red rally downtown that kicked things off. Our restaurants were packed for those lunch crowds. You saw the hotels packed this year as well and that red didn’t stop. It stayed through St. Joseph throughout the season. Now you’re probably seeing just as much if not more after they’ve been Super Bowl champions.”
This is a real plum for the community, according to Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner Lee Sawyer.
“There has always been such a following of the Chiefs, year in and year out, and with the success that they’ve had, and to be able to re-up for a three-year (agreement, plus a possible two more years, there’s no question it’s fabulous for Buchanan County,” Sawyer tells St. Joseph Post.
Sawyer admits to anxiety about whether the Chiefs would return.
“Oh, sure, we were worried,” Sawyer says. “But we were all talking and trying to figure out what we could do collectively, whether it’s the county, the city, Missouri Western, our legislative folks to see what we could do to make it happen.”
Each entity is pitching in a little bit. Buchanan County is paying for the fuel used in the construction equipment creating the new berm to expand fan seating.
St. Joseph Mayor Bill McMurray is excited for the Chiefs to return and excited for a new season.
“Oh, it means all the economic development opportunities and it means a great spirit, as the president said a spirit of excellence, and it means the Chiefs are going to come here again this next summer and they’re going to win the Super Bowl again next year,” McMurray says with a chuckle. “And the mayor has said so, so it’s going to happen.”