The Chiefs are one of three teams trying to take advantage of the absence of a home team in St. Louis. But if Chiefs owner Clark Hunt had his way, no such opportunity would exist.
“I actually was not in favor of St. Louis moving. It had been my hope that one team would move to L.A. and that it would be one of the California teams,” Hunt told reporters on Saturday. “It ultimately did not play out that way though.”
So was Hunt one of only two owners who ultimately voted against the decision to let the Rams leave?
“We don’t discuss votes at the league meeting,” Hunt said.
It previously was believed that Hunt was opposed to the Chargers and Raiders sharing a stadium in Carson, California, primarily for competitive reasons. With two teams from the same division in the same stadium, each would have had one less travel obligation per year. Also, it specifically was believed that Hunt was the lone member of the six-member L.A. committee that voted against the ultimately-failed recommendation that the Carson project receive the green light.
Hunt’s reference to his preference that “one team would move to L.A. and that it would be one of the California teams” hints at that reality; he apparently wanted either San Diego or Oakland to make the move, not both. (Eventually, one of those two teams could still indeed move to L.A.)
With the Rams gone, Hunt confirmed that Chiefs, Bears, and Colts preseason games will be aired in the vacant St. Louis market this year. But Hunt was still careful to be respectful not to create the impression that the Chiefs are trying to prey on a fan base on the rebound.
"[I]t’s something we’re trying to be very respectful of,” Hunt said. “We know there are a lot of great Rams fans in St. Louis that are very disappointed to lose their team to Los Angeles. We’re not proactively courting them at this point. Probably the best thing we can do to build a fan base over there is to go out and have a great season on the field.”
To have a great season on the field, the Chiefs should strive to not lose five in a row after a Week One win. (They followed that streak with 11 straight victories a year ago.)
“We’re trying to build off of what we accomplished last year,” Hunt said of the team’s Final Eight performance. “I’ve jokingly said that I expect us to get off to a better start and I think that goes without saying. We do think we have a team that can compete for a championship and that’s what the guys are about – they’re out here working hard trying to do that.”
With so much focus on the Broncos trying to hold it together and the Raiders trying to take the leap and the Chargers trying to build a new stadium, the accomplishments of the Chiefs last year and the fact that most of the team is back for this year means that everyone should be taking the Chiefs seriously as a team that could indeed get back to the postseason, and perhaps get even closer to doing something that the franchise hasn’t done since the last year before the AFL-NFL merger: Get to the Super Bowl.
