Chiefs seek new football stadium designs — but forge ahead on renovation option

The Chiefs arrived to EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville on Monday for a three-hour football game broadcast to a national audience.

They’re far more relatable to the Jaguars behind the scenes.

The Jacksonville venue is undergoing a three-year renovation process, evidence of the construction surrounding the building.

Will that soon be the case in Kansas City?

Speaking from inside the Jacksonville stadium — and inside a room with poster renderings of the finished product in 2028 — Chiefs team president Mark Donovan said Monday the organization is taking the next step toward establishing its future home.

In both states — Missouri and Kansas.

Donovan said his team met again last week with Populous, the Kansas City-based international architectural firm tasked with designing the option of a renovated GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. They provided another set of renderings for that possible project.

The other possibility: The Chiefs this week will enact a six-week process seeking applicants to design a possible new closed-roof stadium in Kansas. The Chiefs have retained CAA ICON to evaluate those applicants.

That’s if that is the route they choose.

As we’ve said many times during this process, the Chiefs are weighing two vastly different options.

The Chiefs say they are still looking at multiple sites in Kansas, a search granted more time when Kansas lawmakers this summer agreed to a one-year extension on their STAR bonds package to lure either the Chiefs or Royals across the state line. The Royals have also not announced a determination for their next home, other than to say they do not plan to remain at the Truman Sports Complex, where they are currently neighbors with the Chiefs, past the expiration of the current lease in 2031.

A new football stadium in Kansas would include a dome and a price tag of about $3 billion.

What else would it entail? Well, that’s what the aforementioned six-week process is intended to reveal.

“That’s one of the things this opportunity creates — we can look at the best in the world, not just the NFL, in terms of venues,” Donovan said. “That’s one of the reasons to go to a competitive bid — to see what we can do.”

The option at Arrowhead had a face to it ahead of the failed April 2024 election in Jackson County, though the meetings with Populous over the past year-plus are intended to upgrade the images that were not publicly well-received.

The renovated renovations, if you will, have resulted from that public feedback, including a survey they sent to thousands of fans, and other stadiums currently going through renovations. Naturally, for example, they received a tour Monday of Jacksonville’s upgrades.

The Chiefs do not plan to release blueprints of either option until they make a final determination.

When would that come?

The team is working backward from the expiration of its current lease in 2031 — but also under some state and local timelines.

On the Kansas side, lawmakers provided a year extension, but they have expressed to the Chiefs they want to see a decision made by the end of 2025.

Under a renovation option at their current site, the Chiefs are targeting an April 2026 timeline for putting a ballot question in front of voters. The deadline for that ballot language is Jan. 24. Donovan reiterated Monday what he’s said in the past — the team considers a countywide sales tax a necessary piece to extending its lease.

There is a wrinkle there: The county currently has a temporary executive.

A week ago, Jackson County residents voted to recall Frank White Jr., a first in the county’s history. Kay Barnes, a former Kansas City mayor, is serving in the role temporarily, but the county legislature will soon vote on an interim executive to serve until November 2026. That person will fulfill what would have been the remainder of White’s term.

Legislative chair DaRon McGee confirmed to The Star’s editorial board that he will throw his name in the mix. He is considered a leading candidate.

This story was originally published October 6, 2025 at 7:15 PM with the headline "Chiefs seek new football stadium designs — but forge ahead on renovation option."