For 49 seasons, fans have cheered, jeered and tailgated around the parking lot in the communal setting of Arrowhead Stadium. Officially, that ended on Thursday, a day before the first, and only, home game of this Chiefs preseason.
The cheering and tailgating won’t change. What’s changed in the stadium’s name.
When the Chiefs kick off against the Minnesota Vikings Friday evening, they’ll do so at GEHA Field at Arrowhead.
The stadium opened in 1972, a shared space with Royals Stadium, now Kauffman Stadium, at the revolutionary Truman Sports Complex located east of downtown Kansas City. And the Chiefs resisted changing or altering the name of their home venue for nearly a half century.
Starting Friday, fans will enter a stadium named for Government Employee Health Association, a Lee’s Summit headquartered-business that supplies medical and dental plans for federal employees and retirees and their families.
GEHA, founded in 1937 at Union Station, has about 2 million customers.
“We have an excellent product and excellent service and we want to increase our presence and ability to serve additional federal employees and military retirees,” said GEHA CEO Art Nizza.
The length of the deal and financial information weren’t disclosed. But no fan entering or sitting in the stadium will miss the new signage.
The Chiefs had previously considered sponsorship opportunities. Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said the timing was right now.
“We’ve been open to having the right partner, and that’s what I would say about GEHA,” Hunt said. “It’s a local company, and truthfully a company we didn’t know much about as an organization.”
That started to change in recent years. In 2019, the company signed a partnership deal with quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“GEHA, the partnership I’ve had with them has been special,” Mahomes said in a 50-yard-line interview conducted by Chiefs radio play-by-play broadcaster Mitch Holthus. “For them to now be a part of this stadium and it be GEHA Field, it’s just the start of a special relationship they’ll have with the Kansas City community.”
Besides the partnership with Mahomes, GEHA became the presenting sponsor of the Chiefs’ digital show “The Franchise,” and the stadium’s Drum Deck. A naming rights arrangement was reported as a possibility in 2020.
Keeping “Arrowhead” in the stadium name was important, Hunt said.
“One of the important elements is we’ve retrained Arrowhead in the name,” Hunt said. “For many generations of fans the stadium will always be Arrowhead.
“But for a new generation, a Patrick Mahomes generation of fans, it will be GEHA Field at Arrowhead. I think our fans understand how important is is to have great partners like GEHA to help us put a winning product on the field and compete for championships.”
The Chiefs are among the last teams in the NFL to arrange corporate sponsorship for naming rights. They played their first two preseason games against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium and Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Their first regular-season road game, on Sept. 19 will be at Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium.
Among the earliest examples of stadiums named for companies in sports: Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, was named for chewing gum magnate William Wrigley in 1926.
In the NFL, one of the earliest examples of selling naming rights was Rich Stadium. In 1972, the Buffalo Bills’ new venue was named for a local food products company.
