Chiefs owner Clark Hunt responds to F-minus grade, points to facility investments
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 11: CEO Clark Hunt of the Kansas City Chiefs looks on prior to Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium on February 11, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, Fla. — Patrick Mahomes entered the Kansas City Chiefs’ training facility last summer for a session of work that didn’t involve his passing the ball to any teammates. That day, Mahomes, the Chiefs’ star quarterback, was the leading actor in a commercial for T-Mobile. He wore a generic yellow practice jersey and the scene was captured on the Chiefs’ indoor practice field.
During a break, after several takes under bright production lights, Mahomes approached team president Mark Donovan to discuss the one problem: the lack of air conditioning.
“Come on, man,” Mahomes said to Donovan, who responded by nodding.
A few days later, the Chiefs practiced in the indoor complex. Without air conditioning, the conditions were suffocating, the temperature close to 100 degrees. Sweat was visible through coach Andy Reid’s red windbreaker.
Mahomes’ decision to voice his displeasure, along with other players, helped lead team owner Clark Hunt to add an air conditioning system to the complex. It was part of an ongoing upgrade to the facility, which is projected to be completed by early September.
“We are making some pretty significant investments in the training facility this year and we’ll continue to do that,” Clark told The Athletic on Monday during the NFL owners’ meetings. “We’ve outgrown that building in a number of ways.”
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Clark said the Chiefs will have a new, more expansive cafeteria inside the facility. He expects other major changes to the facility, too, although he declined to share details.
Clark stressed that such expenditures indicate he understands the importance of improving the Chiefs’ facilities. Less than a month ago, a sizable number of Chiefs players from last year’s team gave him an F-minus — the lowest grade for an owner, based on his willingness to invest in the facilities — in the NFL Players Association’s annual team report cards. When the NFLPA released the findings of its second annual survey, which assesses players’ working conditions and environments, the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Chiefs ranked 31st of 32 teams.
The most damning information from the Chiefs’ report card was the players’ complaints about the facility’s outdated locker room, the place where they spend hours, sometimes six days a week. The report said players believed the locker room would be renovated after the 2022 season and before the start of last season. That promise, the report said, was not kept by Hunt and the Chiefs.
“The answer (the players) got back was, ‘You guys won too far in the (2022) playoffs, and we didn’t have time to fix it,’” former NFLPA president J.C. Tretter said last month at the NFL Scouting Combine. “They just won another Super Bowl. I know there’s some frustration of, ‘We keep winning Super Bowls and nothing is coming back to us. There’s no priority on making our lives better, but we kept making the organization more money.’
“That’s reflected in their results. That’s why (Hunt’s) grade is so low.”
However, Hunt denied that part of the report.
“I have spoken to some of our veteran players about that, and they’ve confirmed to me that it was miscommunication,” Hunt said. “Certainly, I personally never said anything to them about a renovation of the locker room. It was a misunderstanding.”
Linebacker Willie Gay, who played the past four seasons for the Chiefs before joining the New Orleans Saints earlier this month, agreed with Hunt.
“No one ever said, ‘Hey, you guys get a renovation if you win a Super Bowl,’” Gay told The Athletic on Monday. “They won a Super Bowl in 2019, and that didn’t happen, so as players, we knew we were not getting any renovations.
“But s—, we are winning Super Bowls, so at the end of the day, how much can we argue? Hey, the facility is falling apart, but we (won) the second Super Bowl in two years. I love Clark Hunt as a person.”
The data for the union’s survey was gathered from August to November of the 2023 season with 1,706 players participating, up from almost 1,300 participants in 2022.
Chiefs players gave the highest grade to Reid, who received an A-plus, top among his peers. The Chiefs were either a D-plus or worse in owner, locker room, treatment of families, nutrition, training rooms, training staff and team travel.
“We received responses from 47 of the Chiefs players,” the NFLPA told The Athletic in a statement. “The report cards reflect their experiences.”
Last year, Tretter said the union’s goal for the survey was twofold: to encourage poorly graded teams to improve the working conditions and basic services offered to players and their families and to educate players on the state of all teams as they prepare to make decisions in free agency.
Last year’s report card showed the Chiefs were one of the few teams without chairs or couches in front of players’ lockers. They instead had stools without backs. Before and after practices, some players would lie on their backs on the floor to rest and relax. The only change the Chiefs made before last season was to provide players chairs with backs at their lockers.
“Money was spent very tightly around there,” Gay said of the Chiefs. “When we did get something, whether it was a chair or T-shirt, it was like, ‘Man, we got new chairs!’ That was a big upgrade. We enjoyed the small things that we got.”
A year ago, Hunt said the report card better educated him about his organization, revealing what he considered his blind spots.
Reid acknowledged Monday that the Chiefs have a smaller-than-usual training room. The Chiefs ranked 31st in that category, as many players feel the room is significantly understaffed and lacks equipment that is often standard. Just 43 percent of the players who participated in the survey said they get adequate one-on-one treatment time.
“I got all the work I needed,” Gay said. “I have heard guys say, ‘They won’t let me get treatment. They told me: Get on the list.’”
Hunt, 59, has become one of the league’s most respected owners since he became the Chiefs’ CEO in 2010. He acknowledged that he has invested more money in building and retaining his coaching, personnel and business staff during Reid’s tenure, which began in 2013.
“I think Clark does a great job,” Reid said Monday. “Whatever they say about everything else, I give him an A-plus because he gives us an opportunity to win games. As a coach, that’s what you like. He’s not just right over the top of you, beating you up every five minutes. He gets it. We have a great working relationship. He allows us to get players and keep players. That’s a tough thing to do as you navigate through the salary cap.”
Next Tuesday is an important day for Hunt. The Chiefs, and the Kansas City Royals, have said Jackson County, Mo., will remain home if voters approve an extension of the three-eighths-cent sales tax on a ballot initiative.
If the vote passes, the Royals plan to move downtown and build a new ballpark while the Chiefs plan to renovate Arrowhead Stadium, a 52-year-old venue that will be one of the host sites for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The changes to the stadium would enhance suites, video boards and club lounges. All of the renderings the Chiefs displayed last month were of Arrowhead. The training facility was not mentioned in the proposed renovations.
Arrowhead’s projected renovations are expected to cost $800 million. Hunt said he and his family would contribute $300 million. Last week, the Chiefs and Royals reached community benefits agreements with the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority, which included more than $260 million in support and more than $200 million in economic relief for the county by eliminating the obligation to pay stadium insurance premiums and park levy to the teams.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to extend (the stadium’s lease) for 25 years,” Hunt said. “Arrowhead’s been a great home. Even today, it’s still one of the best stadiums in the NFL. We’re very excited about the opportunity to modernize Arrowhead. If we’re fortunate enough to have the vote pass, we’ll turn our attention to the training facility.”
If the Chiefs indeed renovate their stadium, Hunt said the team’s training facility could undergo a major renovation that would be completed by 2031, which is the last year of Mahomes’ 12-year contract.
If voters don’t approve an extension of the sales tax, Hunt said the Chiefs will consider alternative options, perhaps one that could lead the team to move to Kansas to build a new stadium and training facility.
Regardless of Tuesday’s vote, Hunt vowed to communicate better with the players.
“We’ll certainly include the players in our thinking on the future of the training facility,” Hunt said. “We’ll want their input and we’ll seek that when the time is right.”
Many players have made their voices heard through the NFLPA survey.
“We’ll actually have a better process than that,” he said. “We’ll have direct communication with them and let them tell us what’s important.”
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