Only a decade after the National Football League (NFL) approved the Los Angeles Rams, formerly the St. Louis Rams, request to leave the state, Missouri sports fans experienced yet another loss. In December 2025, the Kansas City Chiefs organization announced they would be leaving their home of the past 50 years — GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium — and move across the state border to Kansas City, Kan. Clark Hunt, the Chiefs’ chairman, claimed this new stadium would allow the Chiefs to host “world-class” events such as the Super Bowl and the College Football Playoffs. Set to be completed by the 2031 NFL season, this new Kansas stadium is slated to have nearly 10,000 fewer seats than the current stadium, which frequently sells out. Even with a successful NFL program, including five Super Bowl appearances since 2020 and one of the largest fan bases in the league, many football fans and concerned Missourians have the same question: why can’t Missouri keep a team?

The Show-Me-State’s inability to house professional sports teams doesn’t end with the NFL. In the other three of the four major professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Hockey League (NHL), Missouri has lost seven teams in the past century. The Rams and Chiefs departures are just two of Missouri’s most recent failings as a host to NFL teams. In 1987, Missouri football fans experienced their first heartbreak when the St. Louis Cardinals relocated to the Phoenix Metropolitan area, becoming the Arizona Cardinals. After calling St. Louis home for nearly 30 years, the franchise’s departure was attributed to a failing stadium and limited revenue, similar to the Rams’ and Chiefs’ moves. Government teacher and football coach Melvin Trotier played football as a member of the Chaminade College Prep School’s class of 1998. 

“Once I heard that the Chiefs were in negotiations to leave the state, I figured it was going to happen. Missouri, as a state, does not tend to invest in its sports teams or sporting events. Case in point, the state canceled its funding for the Tour of Missouri cycling race, despite drawing millions of dollars in tourism,” Trotier said. “Unfortunately, moves like this hurt fan support on the whole. While die-hard fans will still drive across state lines to watch [the] Chiefs, support for a new football franchise would be tough to find after the loss of three teams. Other teams now also probably perceive the Missouri market as weak.”

In 2010, the Tour of Missouri, one of the top five cycling events outside of Europe, had its funding revoked. The event was introduced in 2007 after an initial contract, providing three years’ worth of state funding for the event, was signed by Gov. Matt Blunt (R-Mo.). In 2010, the task of reevaluating funding allocation fell on Blunt’s successor, Gov. Jay Nixon (D-Mo.). Nixon’s administration claimed the decision to renew the contract fell fully on the Missouri Division of Tourism, whose objection to providing support for the Republican-backed race stemmed from an inability to afford the funds requested by the organizers of the race. However, the 2008 variation of the race brought in an estimated $30 million in local economic impact, compared to the $1.5 million investment from the state. The revenue generated prompted citizens to question if there were political motives involved in the cancellation of the event. 

“[Having professional sports and events] is important because it [exposes young people]  to the environment and team chemistry. It also brings people together. [Missouri should have more professional sports] because it would give more people the chance to see [the top-level] of different sports [that] are out there. [If St Louis had a professional football team, younger kids would] look up and think ‘oh, I want to play here in my home state.’ Some may give up because we don’t even have a team, and it would demotivate them to keep going [in the sport],” varsity football player and junior Ethan Bain said.  

Although a loss of sports teams devastates fans like Bain, the NFL’s 2016 decision allowing Rams’ owner Stanley Kroenke to move the team to Los Angeles benefited millions of non-football fans across the St. Louis metro area. After a four-and-a-half-year lawsuit alleging a breach of contract and causing financial damages to the city, St. Louis’ City, County, Regional Convention and Sports Authority and the NFL reached a settlement requiring Kroenke and the NFL to pay the St. Louis region $790 million, over half the team’s value at the time. This move also forced the Rams organization to pay a $645 million relocation fee, which was divided among multiple NFL teams. This fee, combined with the settlement fee, resulted in a nearly $1.5 billion payout made by the Rams. Regardless, the Rams’ value nearly doubled almost immediately upon their arrival in Los Angeles. The team’s value has continued to grow exponentially, and it is now the second-most valuable franchise out of the NFL’s 32 teams. The Rams’ ranking is immensely higher than the Chiefs’, who stand 22nd league-wide.

“The [stadium] that the Rams’ ownership asked for, and [Missourian’s] financed publicly, now sits as a testament to the lack of loyalty of the teams, more so than the loyalty of the fans. Fans were not willing to continue funding improvements to a stadium we’d already financed, so the [teams] owners left for better property values and a better market,” Trotier said. 

The official announcement that the Chiefs would leave the state came after a funding bill failed in an April 2024 election in Jackson County, Mo — the location of the Chiefs’ home stadium. The bill would have extended and allocated a pre-existing sales tax increase toward the renovation of the Chiefs’ stadium, and was heavily supported by both the Chiefs and Kansas City Royals, the city’s MLB team. The two professional teams contributed over $3 million to the bill’s campaign. Despite these efforts, the organizations still faced a loss, with only 40% voting in favor of the proposal. The lack of support from the county came as a surprise, as the Chiefs reported nearly $1 billion of economic growth for the Kansas City region the year prior. 

“Why should taxpayers fund a billion-dollar stadium project when the owners have billions of dollars of their own? The problem is more than just state or even local funding of sporting events or teams — it’s the [idea] of supporting these teams with public money. The incentive of possible economic gains wasn’t enough to outweigh the perception of spending tax dollars to help owners further their own goals. [Hopefully], the proximity of the new stadium will still provide a distinct economic impact, [with the creation of] jobs, hotels, restaurants [and] tourism for those on the Missouri side of Kansas City. [This would ensure] it will not be a total economic loss in the long run,” Trotier said. 

While these professional sports organizations are multi-billion dollar entities, the modern-era of sports seems to emphasize the business aspect of teams instead of the fans and city culture that make them who they are. Beyond the Chiefs, the Chicago Bears have recently floated the idea of leaving their current stadium — Soldier Field — to move to neighboring Indiana. The move has become a more real possibility, as the Bears have faced conflicts with securing public funding. Additionally, this month, the state of Iowa became a contender to house the Bears franchise. Nationally, sports teams moving locations isn’t necessarily rare, but to see a single state, especially one of Missouri’s size, lose so many teams, evokes concerns. 

“[When teams move] it makes it seem like they aren’t loyal to their fans; [which is important because] that’s where you came from and who you represent. [It’s like] their first true love, [but they] are saying all these words and committing and then going back on them,” Bain said. 

In 2020, actor Dwayne Johnson bought and revamped the United Football League, formerly known as the XFL. Despite Missouri’s track record with pro sports teams, St. Louis was lucky enough to land one of the eight founding teams of this professional minor football league. The St. Louis Battlehawks began playing at The Dome at America’s Center, which was previously the Rams’ home stadium. Following the trend of their predecessor, the Battlehawks brought in over 100,000 fans in the 2024 season, but attendance declined by 14% the following season. However, the decline in viewership seemed to be a league-wide trend, and not dependent on location. In fact, the overall success of the Battlehawks can be attributed to the failure of the Rams, with fans claiming they are united by an “interest in football and hatred for Kroneke.” 

“If the teams themselves aren’t loyal to their communities, why should we [as fans] be loyal to them? St. Louis itself is still bitter about the loss of the [NFL’s] St. Louis Cardinals, [as well as] the Rams. This all connects to the lack of community connection and loyalty to a team. Traditionally, teams were tied intensely to the cities they occupied. There are very few of these teams left [such as the NFL’s] Green Bay Packers and the [MLB’s] St. Louis Cardinals,” Trotier said.