Who owns the Kansas City Chiefs? Everything to know about the Hunt family
The Chiefs have been the NFL's most successful team this decade, but who owns the team?
The Hunt family's ownership of the Chiefs dates back to the team's founding (as the Dallas Texans) by Lamar Hunt Sr. in 1959. That makes the Hunts one of the longest-tenured ownership groups in the NFL.
His four children have shared ownership of the Chiefs since Hunt's death in 2006, and his son Clark serves as the team's chairman and CEO.
The Chiefs have won four Super Bowls since moving to Kansas City in 1963, three of which have come in the last five years. Kansas City is back in the Super Bowl once again this year and is trying to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight rings.
Should they accomplish the feat, Clark Hunt will be the first person to hoist the Lombardi Trophy after the game.
Here's what to know about the Chiefs' owners:
Who owns the Kansas City Chiefs?
The Hunt family has owned the Chiefs since their initial founding as the AFL's Dallas Texans in 1960.
Hunt Sr. founded the team that would become the Chiefs and the American Football League (AFL) to compete with the NFL's product in 1959. The Dallas Texans and the new league began play the following year, and three years after that, they moved to Kansas City, Missouri and became the Chiefs.
Hunt's son Clark took over as chairman of the Chiefs in 2005, one year before Lamar Sr.'s passing, and he added CEO to his title in 2010. Clark and his siblings, Lamar Hunt Jr., Sharron and Daniel, currently share team ownership. Their mom, Norma, also shared ownership in the years after her husband's death before her passing in 2023.
As the team's chairman and CEO, Clark Hunt handles the primary responsibilities of ownership, including attending owners' meetings.
Clark Hunt net worth
According to Forbes, Hunt and his family are worth $1.4 billion.
Lamar Hunt Trophy
The trophy given to the winners of the AFC championship game has been named the Lamar Hunt Trophy since 1984. It's named after Hunt (Sr.), the founder of the Chiefs and the AFL.
There is another Lamar Hunt Trophy in college football. It is awarded to the winner of the Kansas-Missouri rivalry game each year.
Lamar Hunt named the Super Bowl
Before the 1966 season was set to begin, an AFL-NFL championship game had been announced and billed as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. Hunt allegedly hated the name and coined the term "Super Bowl" in a 1966 memo sent to then-NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle.
The name stuck, and the NFL made it official by Super Bowl 3.
According to a 2016 Kansas City Star interview with Norma Hunt, the inspiration for the name came from a children's toy.
Norma had bought her and Lamar's children three bouncy "super balls" at a toy store. According to Norma's story, Lamar Hunt Sr. could not stop hearing about the super balls when thinking of a replacement name for the "AFL-NFL World Championship" moniker, which he hated.
"In a league meeting, (the term Super Bowl) just popped into [Lamar's] head," Norma told the Star.
The rest is history.
Other Hunt family sports ventures
Clark Hunt helped found Major League Soccer (MLS) and has been involved in owning three different teams: Sporting Kansas City (formerly known as the Wizards), which he helped run with his father until selling the team in 2006; the Columbus Crew, which he sold in 2013; and he's currently the owner of FC Dallas.
Lamar Hunt Jr. owns the Kansas City Mavericks, a hockey team that plays in the ECHL. Loretto Sports Ventures, an organization he runs, also once owned the NAHL hockey team now known as the Amarillo Wranglers.
Norma Hunt, Lamar Hunt Sr.'s widow, was the only woman to attend every Super Bowl prior to her death in 2023, months after seeing the Chiefs win Super Bowl 57.