KANSAS CITY AWARDED SUPER BOWL

Nov 16, 2005, 2:40:30 PM

CARL PETERSON COMMENTS

VIDEO: Chiefs Founder Lamar Hunt and NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue
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*See transcript below.

Game contingent on renovations to Arrowhead

The NFL’s Super Bowl – considered to be among the most prestigious sporting events in the world – is coming to Kansas City. Today, in a vote taken at the fall session of the league’s annual meeting, NFL owners passed a proposal to bring the NFL’s championship game to Kansas City in a year between 2012 and 2021. The actual date will be at the discretion of the National Football League. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced the passing of the proposal in Kansas City early this afternoon.

“We are very grateful for the action taken by the membership of the National Football League,” said Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt, who made the proposal to the membership, but was quick to pay tribute to the work of many people in the organization to bring the Super Bowl here including his son Clark, the organization’s Chairman of the Board, Vice Chairman of the Board Jack Steadman and Kansas City Chiefs President Carl Peterson. “There’s a lot of work to be done, but the foresight of the membership on this matter is much appreciated.”

The awarding of the Super Bowl was contingent on two key elements, said Hunt. Arrowhead Stadium, which opened in ‘72 and is one of the oldest stadiums in the NFL now, must be renovated and would include a climate-controlling “Rolling Roof” structure. The awarding of a Super Bowl would also require the city and the team to meet all the bid specifications laid out by the league.

A renovated Arrowhead will feature the largest seating capacity of any modern Super Bowl site and “the state-of-the-art Rolling Roof is unprecedented by the league and the roof structure will be an icon for Kansas City and the entire National Football League,” Hunt said. Moreover, the 300-acre Truman Sports Complex will allow for an efficient atmosphere of game day hospitality that has become a staple of all Super Bowls, including a Corporate Hospitality village, The NFL Tailgate Party and ample parking for more than 20,000 vehicles. Hunt indicated that the city and team will know the date for a Kansas City Super Bowl approximately five years in advance of the actual date. The construction schedule for the renovation and completion of the “Rolling Roof” is expected to be completed by the 2010 NFL season.

Plans to include a “Rolling Roof” over Arrowhead were included in the original plans for the stadium prior to its construction in the early ‘70s. “During my 17 years here in Kansas City I heard many times from Lamar Hunt about the original architectural design of a “Rolling Roof,’” Peterson remembered. “I think it extremely appropriate and well-deserving that Lamar’s fellow owners have awarded the city a Super Bowl. No one is more deserving than Lamar and his family, but I also want to say that it is a reflection of the National Football League and its ownership that they respect the loyalty, the participation and the involvement of the Kansas City Chiefs fans and the support they’ve given this franchise through the years. This community is deserving of this.”

The Chiefs are currently in negotiations with the Jackson County Sports Authority to extend the team’s lease at Arrowhead to 25 years, as part of an extensive renovation of the stadium that will include the Rolling Roof structure to provide a climate-controlled facility.

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FUTURE SUPER BOWL PRESS CONFERENCE
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
NOVEMBER 16, 2005

NFL COMMISSIONER PAUL TAGLIABUE: “I am very pleased to announce that our membership today approved a Super Bowl to be played here in Kansas City within a 10-year timeframe on the understanding that the Chiefs and the public authorities partnering with the Chiefs would be able to go forward and have a climate-controlled Arrowhead Stadium with a roof. The decision was clearly in recognition of the tremendous support that the Kansas City Chiefs have had from their fans in this area and also the role of Lamar Hunt in creating the NFL today and the history of professional football. The resolution leaves to a future date the precise year of the Super Bowl. There was some suggestion that the appropriate target time might be Super Bowl XLIX (49) or Super Bowl LI (51), which would recognize in effect the 50th anniversary of Mr. Hunt’s role in creating the current NFL through the merger of the American Football League and the National Football League.”

CHIEFS FOUNDER LAMAR HUNT: “This is obviously a very happy day and in some respects a surprising day because this is an issue that we as an organization, the Kansas City Chiefs, had talked about for a number of years, the concept of bidding for and requesting a Super Bowl. I want to thank my son Clark, who is over here to the left, and also the President and General Manager of the Chiefs Carl Peterson and the Vice Chairman of the Chiefs Jack Steadman, who has been one of the principle labors in a lot of the stadium discussions that have led to this day.

When we first thought of the idea of bidding for a Super Bowl, we felt that obviously climate-controlled was very important. The thing that we’ve heard over and over was that the public and many members of the media would like to revisit the idea of the rolling roof, which was originally designed for the stadium. Added to that now that had to be now that we’re in the 21st century we had to be a little more definitive and get into the weather-protection aspect because the original rolling roof did not have weather protection and rain protection but it did not have the temperature protection that would be part of this process so we conceive the idea to request a game during a 10-year window as Paul Tagliabue mentioned amended a little bit this morning and actually part of the vote was to focus on the 49th or 51st games with the idea that Super Bowl 50 or L – as I guess it would be known – would be reserved for some other sight and we were very opened-minded to that. The actual designation of the year would be at the election of the league or designation of the league would clearly encompass the delivery of the thing such as the completed structure with the roof in place. It’s a happy day for us and a happy day for Kansas City and I think it’s going to be a great lead for the actual total renovation for the Sports Complex, specifically Arrowhead Stadium.”

Q: That’s the 500-million dollar question, how confident are you in Jackson County to get that to be approved?

HUNT: “The lease negotiations are ongoing between the Chiefs organization and Jackson County and also I think ongoing between the Royals and Jackson County. We are of course primarily interested in the Chiefs side of it. We are working towards an early December completion of those lease negotiations and then the announcements would come to what would be done as far as placing on the referendum ballot but we think an exceptional opportunity for Mid-America for Kansas City for Jackson County this community to have this award of a game and it is a firm award based on our producing various ingredients which is the 500-million-dollar questioned you asked there that is an important part of it because the roof is not a cheap thing to build.”

Q: What about the Royals? Are they or do they need to help with this thing?

HUNT: We believe it can be done without the Royals and we certainly do not speak for them. They are not part of our equation.”

Q: Would you roll the roof over to the Royals?

LAMAR HUNT: “It would have to be designed such that could happen and structurally it can happen. That would be questions that would be answered as we move along.”

Q: What will be the league’s involvement in this process?

TAGLIABUE: “Well, working with the Chiefs and all the local organizations. We did a survey of all the facilities available in Kansas City and all the available areas and they made a presentation on that to the membership this morning and I think the core of that was as we go forward as the community goes forward to the next decade with a construction that’s underway on hotel facilities and other public facilities and other additions to the community that might be contemplated certainly this area would meet all our needs to have a good Super Bowl and to have it as a great fan experience.”

Q: If everything doesn’t get worked out to have the Super Bowl within this 10-year window, would Kansas City be eligible to host the game at a later date?

LAMAR HUNT: “I guess we would always be eligible, but I think a one-time offer is the right description because our request was for one game in a 10-year window and the league has a history of three cold weather games counting one coming up this year or cold-weather sites being two in Detroit and one in Minneapolis and that is in the first 40 years (of the Super Bowl). I would not expect to nor did we request that we would be part of the rotation. On getting back to your question Randy, Frank Supovitz who looks after that now for the league director special events, that may not be the right title but his charge is the Super Bowl he I believe made two different site visits to Kansas City and looked at everything you can think of from party sites to hotel rooms, press headquarters, potential place for an NFL experience and the one ingredient – I am not speaking for Frank – but one ingredient there would probably be an expansion of the square footage for the convention center which I think there is already some expansion underway or is funded so that would be an important part of the process.”

Q: Could the impending construction of a new downtown arena be a positive in this process of trying to get renovations for Arrowhead?

LAMAR HUNT: “I think definitely was a positive and the fact that the new arena is being built and it shows that there is progress going on here and certainly that facility probably can be used during the Super Bowl week or time periods or it may be for concerts. I can’t speak for a facility that is not built but it’s all part of the progress.”

TAGLIABUE: “I would say this stadium (Arrowhead) will now be a state-of-the-art facility for many events including regular season NFL games, postseason games the Chiefs might host a collegiate championship game. Like Lamar said maybe it’s one Super Bowl, but it’s a multi-purpose 21st century that will be here for many events including Chiefs games.”

HUNT: “I might toss in there that we would hope to have NCAA Final Four basketball would be a potential for the (Arrowhead) facility. Obviously our proposal was very light on a golf course play and tee times during the week of the game, but seriously I think that has been addressed before the cold weather sites and other past games and including the one coming up this year.”

Q: What do you expect or anticipate it will cost to build a renovated Arrowhead Stadium with a rolling roof?

LAMAR HUNT: “I don’t remember what those numbers are. They seem to grow every year in several hundred million dollars. Today we are talking about a game that is going to be probably nine to 11 years out picking the game 49 or 51 are ones that have been suggested this morning. Those numbers grow each year along with the impact of the game and the number of countries the game is telecast.”