The cost of success keeps going up for the Chiefs.

The two-time defending Super Bowl champions are nearing a four-year, $72 million contract extension with center Creed Humphrey (above), according to multiple reports. The deal includes $50 million in guaranteed money and will make Humphrey the highest-paid center in NFL history, in both overall and annual value. 

The pact arrives less than three weeks after Kansas City made similar history in a four-year, $25.6 million extension with kicker Harrison Butker that makes him the highest-paid player ever at that position. 

Since winning Super Bowl LVIII in February, the Chiefs’ active dealmaking also includes a five-year, $100 million deal for head coach Andy Reid that makes him the highest-paid coach in all of U.S. sports, contract extensions for general manager Brett Veach and president Mark Donovan, and smaller agreements with several other key roster pieces. 

And they’re still not done. Veach is well aware that several other Chiefs stars, including guard Trey Smith and linebacker Nick Bolton, likely will seek to reset the market in a manner not unlike Humphrey and Butker. That’s particularly so after a historic run for Kansas City that has included three titles, four trips to the Super Bowl, and six AFC championship game appearances in the last six seasons.

“They all want close to or top-of-market deals,” Veach told The Kansas City Star. “They all deserve it. You have to systematically work through it.”

Of course, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes still has a $503 million pact with the Chiefs that is No. 2 in U.S. team sports in overall value behind Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani. Mahomes restructured his contract this past spring to help facilitate the Chiefs’ other roster moves, and the pact has been recently topped on an annual basis by several other NFL quarterbacks.

Chasing History

The Chiefs are aiming to become the first team in the NFL’s Super Bowl era to win three straight titles. In the eight prior instances of back-to-back titles, none of those teams even reached a third consecutive Super Bowl, with a heightened strength of schedule, injuries, contract issues, and other factors all helping to derail the chance at that third championship in a row. 

But Kansas City will seek to push through all that in pursuit of unprecedented success, in part through this aggressive spending, and the team still has salary cap space as the 2024 regular season approaches. 

Florida State’s football team flew to Ireland on Wednesday night in preparation for Saturday’s season opener against Georgia Tech in Dublin. But the school’s legal representatives spent time this week meeting with officials from the ACC for a court-mandated mediation surrounding FSU’s efforts to leave the conference. 

There was no immediate resolution to their litigation. Representatives for the ACC and FSU did not immediately respond to a request for comment about this week’s mediation.

FSU isn’t the only school embroiled in litigation with the ACC, though. Clemson is also using lawsuits to determine whether it can explore leaving the conference. Their sticky situations are making for an awkward start to the conference’s first year expanded to 17 members. And it may not end anytime soon.

Just Getting Started

FSU, Clemson, and the ACC will likely be duking it out in court for the entire football season, if not longer. After all, the schools’ demands seem hard to compromise on: FSU wants to be able to leave the conference without paying more than $100 million in exit fees—and Clemson, at the very least, wants the opportunity to do so. The ACC wants them to either stay or cough up the cash.

Neither FSU nor Clemson informed the ACC of their intention to leave in 2025 by an Aug. 15 deadline imposed by the conference.

In the past, schools and conferences have been able to privately renegotiate exit fees and end their relationships relatively amicably. These situations, however, are different. If FSU or Clemson prevail, it could put the league’s entire future at risk by deeming the contracts binding it together invalid. The ACC, therefore, appears to have no real motivation to settle.

Don’t Look Away

FSU enters the season ranked 10th in the AP Top 25 poll, and Clemson is 14th, with a high-profile matchup against No. 1 Georgia to kick off its season next weekend in Atlanta. Both football programs have a chance to be in the running for a spot in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, which should keep their legal fights with the ACC in the limelight throughout the fall.