Super Bowl LVIII is nearly here! The highly anticipated game will see Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers face off against Taylor Swift and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs are making their fourth Super Bowl appearance since 2019. It's actually a re-match against the Niners, whom the Chiefs defeated in 2020 at Super Bowl LIV. As we do every year ahead of a Super Bowl, let's explore who owns the Kansas City Chiefs…
Who Owns the Kansas City Chiefs and How'd They Earn Their Fortune?
The Kansas City Chiefs are owned by the Hunt family. The team's CEO and Chairman is Clark Hunt. Thanks to his ownership in the team, Clark Hunt's net worth is approximately $2 billion. The Hunt family has owned the team since its inception, and prior to their 2020 win, the Chiefs hadn’t won a Super Bowl since 1969. At that time, Clark was just four years old.
How did Clark Hunt and his family earn their multi-billion fortune, which enabled them to own the Kansas City Chiefs today? The answer lies in a rich family history rooted in entrepreneurship and sports.
Tracing the Origins of the Hunt Family Wealth
The Chiefs have been in the Hunt family since the team began. The family fortune can be traced back to Clark's grandfather, oil tycoon H.L. Hunt. According to legend, H.L. gambled his last $100 into $100,000 in winnings. He then used those winnings to purchase properties, eventually leading to the discovery of the East Texas Oil Field, one of the world’s largest oil deposits.
H.L.'s son, Lamar Hunt (Clark's father), was passionate about professional sports. His dream was to own an NFL team. After being rejected in several attempts to acquire an NFL team, Lamar teamed up with a group of fellow disgruntled tycoons who had faced similar rejections to form the American Football League. In 1960, Lamar founded a franchise which he called the Dallas Texans. In response, the NFL started its own Dallas-based franchise known as the Dallas Cowboys.
The Transition to Kansas City and the Birth of the Super Bowl
The competition for fans between the two Dallas teams forced Lamar to move the Texans to Kansas City in 1963. Upon moving, he renamed the team the Chiefs. In 1966, the NFL and AFL agreed to merge. With this merger, the league decided to launch an annual game that would match the best team in the NFL against the best team in the AFL. They didn’t have a name for this annual game until Lamar Hunt referred to it as the "Super Bowl" in a letter. The name stuck, and today, the AFC Championship trophy is named after Lamar Hunt.
Lamar was not just a football visionary; he also created Major League Soccer and co-founded the North American Soccer League. He even co-founded World Championship Tennis. Lamar passed away in 2006, and upon his death, his empire was inherited by his four children. Clark was elected by the siblings to be the Chairman and CEO of the Chiefs.
The Legacy of Clark Hunt
Clark Hunt was born on February 19, 1965, in Dallas. He graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1987 at the top of his class in business school. After graduating, he worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. After just two years, he moved back to Dallas to work for his dad. A year before Lamar's death, he granted control of the Hunt Sports Group to Clark, who had just turned 40 years old.
In addition to the Chiefs, the Hunt Sports Group owns FC Dallas. They previously had stakes in the Chicago Bulls and Columbus Crew. The family's sports empire is worth more than $3 billion, with Clark's personal net worth sitting at about $2 billion.
The Extended Wealth of the Hunt Family
Collectively, the Hunt family is worth around $16 billion. Their extended family is one of the richest families in the world, thanks to the 15 children sired by patriarch H.L. Hunt by three wives. This extensive lineage further solidifies their position in the realm of wealth.
Clark and his wife, Tavia, embody a blend of work and home life. The couple and their three children reside in a six-bedroom apartment atop the owner's box at Arrowhead Stadium. Additionally, they own a home in Dallas, showcasing their deep ties to both the franchise and the community.
The story of the Hunt family and their ownership of the Kansas City Chiefs is not just one of wealth but also of passion for sports and a legacy that continues to thrive in the world of professional football.
