The Kansas City Chiefs’ move to Olathe isn’t just about relocating its headquarters and training facility — it’s one part of the franchise’s goal of becoming the “world’s team,” Chiefs President Mark Donovan said last week.
That goal involves a multifaceted approach, including expanding the brand internationally but also creating partnerships on a hyper-local level.
At the Olathe Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting on Friday, Donovan shared some of the team’s insights into the decision to move the team’s headquarters and training facility to Olathe and the hopes for a future partnership with Olathe Public Schools and the city of Olathe.
Here are the key takeaways.
Why Olathe?
In December, the Kansas City Chiefs announced their plan to move its headquarters and training facility to Olathe as part of a broader move across the state line to Kansas.
Donovan said the Chiefs considered many different cities on both sides of State Line before landing on Olathe.
He said the mayor, city council, chamber of commerce and school district working together to secure the development set Olathe apart. (For its part, Olathe Public Schools has said no partnerships with the Chiefs are officially in the works, a spokesperson told the Post.)
Donovan said everyone shared what the project would mean to Olathe, but also what they could contribute to it.
“It was very clear to us early on that this is a community that is very similar to who we are as an organization,” Donovan said. “It locks arms together to get something done.”
Donovan said he and other Chiefs leaders spent over three years looking at different stadiums and training facilities across the country for inspiration.
“The Vikings have a place that it really developed in an amazing way, put a whole medical facility around their facility and created this sense of place — a neighborhood where people live, work, play.” he said. “And we sort of modeled after that.”
Partnerships are key
Donovan said he noticed a pattern amongst the most successful organizations.
“They partner with the school district and they partner with the city,” he said. “We had separate meetings with the school district on what are your plans, what are you looking to do, how can we help you, how can you help us,” Donovan said.
He didn’t provide specifics, but said the team is excited about future joint projects with the district and city.
“We’re going to create a headquarters that is going to be a place to live, work, play, a place to celebrate, a place to be proud of, and hopefully a place that’s gonna really be great and bring even more development in this region,” Donovan said.
The headquarters will cost an estimated $300 million and is part of larger move that includes a new $3 billion domed stadium in Kansas City, Kansas. Both sites are set to be part of a sprawling state STAR bond district that will draw sales tax reveneus from the area to help finance the project.
Flag football team in the works?
Donovan discussed what he calls “the future of football, as we know it” — flag football. He said people can start playing it at a younger age and that it attracts a wider audience.
“One of the key points of participation is creating opportunities for both boys and girls to play the sport at any level,” he said.
On April 23, the Kansas State High School Activities Association will consider establishing flag football as an official high school girl’s sport.
“If we get that past, as we speak today, there’s a young girl in Olathe… [who] will have the opportunity to play high school flag football for a state championship,” he said.
Donovan went on to say that that could lead to a collegiate scholarship and a spot in the Olympics.
“That young girl from Olathe comes back with a medal around her neck, she’ll have the opportunity, potentially, to play professional flag football,” he said.
The National Football League announced in December that it will invest in creating a flag football league. Flag football will be a sport at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Donovan said the Chiefs would be excited to have a professional flag football team. He also encouraged the audience to urge their schools to support the sport’s sanctioning.
He said that the Chiefs will be launching a “massive” campaign in the coming weeks focused on girls’ flag football.
“The world’s team”
Donovan said the new headquarters and training facility is part of a larger goal for the franchise. He said years ago he set the goal to make the Chiefs “the world’s team.”
“The world’s team is not about being the most popular team,” he said. “The world’s team is about being the very best sports and entertainment organization in the world.”
He said fan experience, media production and expanding the brand internationally will be key to claiming that title.
Donovan said he wants the new HQ to be “the best in the world.”
