Kansas City Chiefs Ceo Clark Hunt Talks ‘The Kingdom’ and “Spectacle” of Taylor Swift’s Fandom

Millions of People Have Been Talking About the Kansas City Chiefs Lately. On the Heels of Taylor Swift’s New Heights Podcast Interview that Broke the Internet (with 20 Million Views and Counting) and Displayed Just How Well The Superstar Singer-Singer Third Straight Super Bowl Championship by way of espn’s The Kingdom. The Six-Episode Docuseries, Produced by Words + Pictures in Association with Skydance Sports, NFL Films, 2pm Productions and The Team’s Foolish Club Studios, Mayad Ende. with Another Vince Lombardi Trophy, But The Show Itelf is An Example of What’s To Come Out of Kansas City. Chiefs Ceo Clark Hunt Tells The Hollywood Reporter That with the Launch of Foolish Club Studios, The Team Is Actiely Pursuing Additional Scripted and Unscripted Projects As They Grow Their Entertainment Aspirs and Seek to Exawk. Below, Hunt Opens Up on Who Team Said Yes to The KingdomHow The Recent Moves Align With His Father Lamar Hunt’s Legacy and the Magic of Having Swift in the Building on Game Day.

WHAT FEEDBACK HAVE YOU FIELDED ABOUT The Kingdom SINCE IT DEBUTED?

The Feedback Has Been Tremendous. I’ve Had Several People Reach Out and Say That Had No Idea About The History of the Team and All The Contributions that My Facher Made to the Game of Pro Football. That’s been fun to hear.

WHY SAY YES TO A PROJECT LIKE THIS?

We have Several Groups Reach Out to Us Wanting to Chronicle The Team’s Historic Pursuit of A Third Straight Lombardi Trophy. AT FIRST WE WEER A LITTLE BIT HESITANT AND WORRED ABOUT The DISTRACTIONS THAT MIGHT COME CACK. But We Really Got Comfortable with The Words + Pictures Team that Cold DO An Outstanding Job While at the Same Time Not Encroaching on the Football Team During the Process. We’re Big Fans of the Work They Had Done Before, Particularly with The Last DanceWHICH Chronicle of the Chicago Bulls Sixth Nba Championship. My Family’s Invested in the Bulls, and that Was A Very Special Time for Our Family. One of the Things That Most Excited Us About Working With Them Is That Not Only Does The Kingdom Tell The Story of Last Year, But It is Really Tells The Story of the Kansas City Chiefs Across Six Decades.

What Other Reservations Did You Have?

Beyond The Distraction, The Only Concern That You Have Who You Allow A Film Crew to Follow The Team Is That You May End Up Giving Away Some Game Plans. That washating we discussed with Words and Pictures, and as it turned out, it wasn’ an anxue at all all.

The First Episode is Titled “Family Business,” and Obviously the Name Caunght My Eye for a Number of Reasons. This Trly is a Family Business for You, and that Extends to the Launch of Foolish Club Studios, Named As A Tribute to Your Father. Can You Talk About That And How It Aligns with Your Father’s Mission?

We’re Very Excited To Now Have Foolyish Club Studios As Part of the Chiefs Business Overall in that It Gives Us Another Way to Connect with Fans. My Dad Was Really About the Entertainment Aspect of Professional Sports and Special Procebically Professional Football. He was always look for Ways to make the fan experience Better. I Something We’ve Done Over The Past Decade with Our In-House Production Team, 65 Toss Power Trap Productions, To Help Give Our Fanbase A Behind-Tess Loka. What they are on the field. Now we have an opportunity with foolish club Studios to Really Expand on that to do broth scripted and unsorsiprated type Ventures. We couldn’t be happier that The Kingdom IS OUR FIRST VENTURE OUTTERE BECAUSE IT REALLY DOES A TREMENDOUS JOB OF LETING OUR FANS IN SEE WHAT GOS While Also Learning About the History of the Organization and How That Ties To The Current Day Chiefs and the Success That We’re Having on the Field.

Your Mentation of Scripted Projects Is Really Interesting. An Obvious Project WHEN IT COMEES TO PROFESSIONAL SPORTS Teams is a nonfiction or Documentary Project or Series. What Kinds of Stories to You Want to Tell On the Scripted Front?

Yeah, so good example of what we have might do from a scripted StandPoint is A Production that actuly preceded Foolish Cup Studios – The Hallmark Movie[[Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story]. That Project Really Oped Our Eyes in Terms of the Brand Power That Chiefs Have and the Opportunities for the Types of Stories We Can Tell. The Chiefs History and the Important Role that My Dad and the American Football League, the Dallas Texans and the Early Chiefs Teams Played In Making the NFL WHAT IT IT ALSO ALSO ALSO PROVIDEE. We May Also End Up Doing Projects That Are Completely Away from The Chiefs. We’ve Had Partners Reach Out to Usk If We’d Like to Be Involved in Other Things, MOSTLY IN THE SPORTS SPACE, BUT THAT’S AVENUE Weas Wea End Up Pursuing.

Like what?

I’m not going to go into specifics on what we have might do there because we’re talking to several people about projects, but at May not be limited to the Kansas City Chiefs. We have the abity to do Things away from the Chiefs and Away from Football.

Speaking of the team, The International Piece Has Been Important To You In Terms of Broading The Fanbase. WHAT Are The Challenges of Broadening the Fanbase Beyond the United States?

That’s an avenue that i also have to give my dad Credit for Because if you go back to the ’80s and’ 90s, he was One of the Biggest Proponents of the NFL Expanding Internationally. In Fact, He Served On the NFL International Committee, Which Helped Launch NFL Europe, The Nfl’s First Effort to Really Take the Game Internationally. He Voluntered the Chiefs to Play in Preseason Games Internationally Whenever He Could Because He Understood It Was a Great Way for the Team to Build a Fanbase that Went Went Beyond. Of Course, The Nfl’s Efforts in that Regard Have Grown Significantly Over the Past Couple of Decades with The League Now Playing Several Regular Season Games A Year Internationally. That’s Something The Chiefs Have Embraced, and We Will Open the Season This Year in Sálo Paolo, Brazil Against the Chargers.

IT’s A New Market for Us. We’ll Have A CHANCE TO BECOME The ONLY NFL TEAM to WIN FIVE REGUral Season Games in Different Countries if We Win That Game. That’ll be the goal as we open the Season. But We Really Look at It Just As A Way to Grow Our Fanbase. We have a very large fanbase now in the United States, and we’re focused on growing that fanbase international, bot in terms Grassroots Things to Help Build A Fanbase As Well.

You ‘in the fortunate position now of having really genuine superstars on the team. At the top of that list are patrick mahomes and travis kelce. How do you lean on Those guys and the other Stars at this moment to Broaden the Base, Both in Terms of the Chiefs But Also The Team’s Entertainment Aspirs

It’s Something My Dad Taughht Me About the Sports Business is that Fans Love Engaging with the Team Team, But They Love Engaging with The Stars on a Team Even More. We’re Very fortunate to have players like patrick mahomes, travis kelce, chris jones. Those Players Are Noty Outstanding on the Field But Outstanding in the Community and They Love Connecting with Our Fanbase. One of the Things About Modern Day Professional Sports is You Want To Give The Players Every Overy Opportunity That You Can To Connect with Our Fans. With A Production Like The Kingdomwe’re able to take the fans behind-the-seeds in the Players’ Family Lives. You’ve already seen in the early episodes a lot of what patrick mahomes and his family go through broth during the Season and out of Season to get ready for a championship Pursuit. I One of the most compelling things about a series like The Kingdom.

Clark, I’ve Noticed that You’ve Been Asked A Lot About Taylor Swift’s Impact On the Chiefs Fandom in Recent Days. I apologize for adding to the churn, but we cans’t ignre the Effect their Relationship is Having on the Team and Pop Culture. You and i are talking on the heels of the New Heights Podcast Interview that Drew Millions of Listeners. WHAT HAVE THESE LAST COUple of Years Been Like As An Owner? How do you Embrace the unpredictability of how their relatation Impacts your World?

The First Thing To Mentation Here Is How Happy We Are Are for Both Travis and Taylor in Their Relationship. That’s the most Important Thing. IT CERTAINLY HAS OPENED UP An Opportunity for US to Connect With A New Demographic from A Fan StandPoint. I’m pretty sure that the chiefs raanked no. 1 Among NFL Teams in the Female Demographic. From the Time that Taylor Started Dating Travis, We’ve Seen A Big Shift from Approximately 50 Percent Male and Female to Now Our Fanbase in North American. She clearly have had a big impact. I enjoyed seeing the New Heights Podcast and Hearing Her Talk About Her Pension for the Team. She’s Clearly not a casual fan. She’s Gone All In, Who’s Is Really Great. Again, we couldn’n be more happy for their relaction and we’re happy to have taylor as part of the Chiefs’ Kingdom.

As Someone Who Has Grown Up Going to Chiefs Games, How Is The Energy Different Who She’s Inside Arrowhead Stadium?

Well, There’s Usualally A 100 Percent Focus on What Is Happy on the Field. WHEN TAYLOR ATTENDS A GAME, There’s Always a Little Bit of A Spectacle Going on in A Suite Somewhere in the Building, Who Networks Have Done A Great Job of CAPTING. But I Know Our Fans Really Enjoy It and Love Having Her Knowing That She’s Such A Great Chiefs Fan. IT DOES CREATE A DIFFERENT ENERGY WHEN She’s in Atendance.