The Kansas City Chiefs left St. Joseph at the end of training camp with some uncertainty about whether the team will be coming back next year, but many locals say there’s plenty of hope they will return.
The fate of another training camp on the Missouri Western State University campus now rests in the hands of the Chiefs organization, which has two years of options to come back to St. Joseph. However, a tweet sent out on the Chiefs’ Twitter account at the end of this camp read “Until next year St. Joe.”
Andy Carter, Missouri Western’s athletic director, experienced his first training camp this summer and said he was told by many Chiefs officials that the camp was run well.
“All the responses we got back from them was this was one of the very best camps they had here ... but at the end of the day they’re a business ... they’re a multibillion-dollar business,” Carter said. “They won’t be leaving here because they didn’t have a good experience.”
Mosaic Life Care has been the official health care provider for the Chiefs training camp, and spokeswoman Joey Austin said the hospital system will be the sponsor as long as the team stays in St. Joseph. She said the hospital and all the partners involved in training camp are moving forward as if the Chiefs are returning.
“We think it’s a benefit for the entire community so we know that those contract negotiations will start with Missouri Western and we want to be the best partner we can with them through that process,” Austin said.
Contract negotiations will take place in the spring, but Austin said she is proud of how this year went.
“I know they are going to be very strategic in their decision, but I also know that we provide a red-carpet experience for them when they come to St. Joseph,” Austin said.
St. Joseph Mayor John Josendale said Chiefs camp is great for the city and added all the local partners make it run well.
“I think the feedback we’ve gotten has been very positive,” he said. “When you look at the Red Rally and the excitement that brought the city, there are a lot of those people who may never go to a Chiefs game but they’re now part of the Red Kingdom.”
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