If political campaigning proves anything, it’s that there are two sides to every story.
Take the Kansas City Chiefs. The franchise had a large headline across its Web site Thursday saying, “Kansas, Mizzou coming to Arrowhead in 2005.”
The Chiefs stated in a release they had “agreed in principle with the University of Kansas to face the University of Oklahoma at Arrowhead on October 15, 2005” as well as a Sept. 3 game between Missouri and Arkansas State and an NCAA Division Two game between Pittsburg State and Northwest Missouri State on Oct. 29.
Not so fast, KU officials said.
“We are playing Oklahoma, and we are playing them on October 15,” senior associate athletic director Larry Keating said Thursday. “What we are talking about now is whether or not we’re moving the game to Arrowhead.”
The Chiefs, it seems, made the announcement prematurely, even though they stuck the “in principle” tag to the release.
There are reasons for that, though. The Chiefs are promoting any positive nugget regarding the importance and versatility of Arrowhead Stadium because of a huge bi-state referendum on the ballot Tuesday across five counties in Kansas and Missouri. If passed, taxpayers in Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri would pay nearly $1.2 billion toward the construction of a downtown arts center and renovations at Kauffman and Arrowhead Stadiums — something the Chiefs want.
And though it’s a real possibility the Jayhawks will end up playing the Sooners next year at Arrowhead, KU is reluctant to speak of it until its finalized. And it certainly isn’t yet.
“We agreed in principle to TALK about playing at Arrowhead,” Keating said.
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The Chiefs’ press release Thursday detailed in great length the importance of keeping big-name events like the Big 12 Conference football championship game in Kansas City, and finished by listing every event to take place inside 32-year old Arrowhead Stadium. It also gave quotes from officials at Northwest Missouri and Pittsburg State, two schools who have played the annual “Fall Classic” at Arrowhead for the past three years.
But, as Keating pointed out, no quotes came from the camps of Kansas and Missouri.
Chiefs president Carl Peterson issued a statement, though, which may reflect the purpose of Thursday’s release.
“Obviously, we are very hopeful that County Question One passes on Tuesday, November 2,” Peterson said in the release. “The economic impact of these games to the entire Kansas City community is important and substantial.”
