EMPIRE OF THE SON

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS CHAIRMAN AND CEO CLARK HUNT HAS GUIDED HIS FRANCHISE TO THE PINNACLE OF NFL SUCCESS, WITH THREE SUPER BOWL WINS IN THE PAST FIVE SEASONS. HE TELLS NEWSWEEK HOW HE SET OUT TO CONTINUE HIS FATHER'S AMBITION OF GLOBAL FAN GROWTH

- by JOE KOZLOWSKI

LARK HUNT MAY NOT BE AS FAMOUS as Kansas City Chiefs players like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, but his impact as the NFL team's chairman and CEO has been equally if not more important to its recent meteoric rise.

Under Hunt's leadership, the long-suffering franchise has seen an incredible reversal of fortune. After enduring a 50-year Super Bowl drought, KC is now sitting pretty with a talented roster, three Super Bowl titles since 2020 and a new legion of fans across the globe in their ambition to be the World's Team.

Given that most fans in “Chiefs Kingdom” will only see Hunt on a confetti-strewn stage lifting a trophy, it's easy to think that he's just showing up to seize the spotlight. But, behind the scenes, he had the franchise ready to seize the moment, whenever success arrived.

"When Mark Donovan joined the organization over 15 years ago [as chief operating officer] and began his leadership as president of the team [in 2011], he and I talked about where we wanted to take the Kansas City Chiefs, where we wanted the brand to go," Hunt told Editor-in-Chief Jennifer H. Cunningham in an exclusive Newsmakers interview for Newsweek.

"And this was a time period where we weren't a very good football team and we were probably, you know, below the median in the league in terms of our fan base. And what we said to each other is we want to prepare for success, for the day that we have success on the field and make sure that we capture that moment."

Donovan, for his part, highlighted the efforts of Hunt, and his late father Lamar Hunt, who founded the American Football League's Dallas Texans and, ahead of the 1963 season, moved the team to Missouri to become the Chiefs.

Donovan told Newsweek: "It starts with support. Clark and the entire Hunt family have been really supportive, [with] our aggressive efforts to continue to grow, not only regionally and nationally, but also internationally.