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Saturday Edition

February 8, 2025

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Tomorrow’s Super Bowl matchup might seem stale to some people. It is, of course, a rematch from two years ago, and seeing both teams in the postseason has become a foregone conclusion. But go back about a dozen seasons, and you’d see a pair of franchises that were far from contender status.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]] and David Rumsey [[link removed]]

How the Chiefs Franchise Reversed Its Fortunes

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

While it might seem like the current Chiefs team, led by star quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid, has been ruling the NFL forever, it still wasn’t that long ago that Kansas City was just an average franchise in the league, or even one of its worst.

The last 10 seasons of Chiefs football have certainly been a historic dynasty, one that has included three Super Bowl titles, a fourth AFC title, playoff trips every year, and now, a bid for an unprecedented third straight championship in the Super Bowl era.

Through that period, Kansas City has not only become a winner on the field, but also more than quadrupled its estimated value to $4.85 billion [[link removed]], asserted itself as the most popular NFL team among U.S. television viewers [[link removed]], and become a fixture for corporate America frequently turning to figures such as Mahomes, Reid, and tight end Travis Kelce for endorsements.

More broadly, the Chiefs have rapidly become a prominent league brand, akin to NFL mainstays such as the Cowboys and Patriots, with Kansas City owner Clark Hunt seeking to become a more visible owner along the lines of Jerry Jones in Dallas and Robert Kraft in New England, leaders of two of the league’s three most valuable franchises.

“Clark sees what Jerry’s doing, what Robert’s doing,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan said this week in New Orleans [[link removed]], the site of Super Bowl LIX. “The challenge for us is, like, how do we do that?”

Less than 13 years ago, such lofty aspirations were nowhere to be found within the Chiefs organization. In 2012, the team finished 2–14, tied with the Jaguars for worst in the NFL. That was actually the second two-win season in five years for the Chiefs, who burned through three different head coaches over five years before hiring Reid in early 2013. (The 2012 campaign included real tragedy as well, when former linebacker Jovan Belcher [[link removed]] killed his girlfriend before dying of suicide, partly taking place at the Chiefs’ training facility.)

Soon after Reid’s arrival, though, an entirely different era began to emerge. The head coach insists maintaining a relentless focus on fundamentals and minimizing distractions has been paramount throughout the run of success since.

“You can’t get too far from what’s real,” he said.

Beyond the 2013 arrival of Reid, now the highest-paid coach in U.S. sports [[link removed]], a key element in the Chiefs’ ongoing success is the continued reworking of Mahomes’s contract once he established himself as a superstar. The quarterback signed in 2020 a 10-year extension worth up to $503 million, then the largest player contract in U.S. sports history.

Since then, however, the 29-year-old has restructured his contract twice [[link removed]] to help give the Chiefs salary-cap relief and use that room to pursue other talent. Now, he’s not even on the current top-10 list [[link removed]] of the NFL’s highest-paid quarterbacks. Given that Mahomes is already one of the most successful postseason quarterbacks in league history [[link removed]], and is pacing well ahead of Tom Brady [[link removed]] at a similar career stage, his average annual salary of $45 million represents a massive bargain for Kansas City.

Mahomes, however, has repeatedly insisted he’s not underpaid, and said he is content with his financial status.

“The most important thing is winning,” he said. “It’s not about your stats, or how it looks, but winning football games.”

Despite the escalation in the Chiefs’ business, the team is still just 24th in estimated NFL franchise value. Some of that relates to Kansas City’s 33rd-ranked media market size, according to Nielsen.

A key element, however, relates to its stadium, as Hunt, Donovan, and other franchise leaders plot a successor facility to the 52-year-old, publicly owned Arrowhead Stadium.

The facility has been renovated multiple times, most recently in 2010. Another major round of work, however, was sharply rejected last year by Jackson County, Mo., voters [[link removed]]. Since then, the Chiefs have considered new proposals for an Arrowhead renovation plan, as well as several potential sites for new facilities in both Missouri and Kansas [[link removed]]. No final decisions have been made, but regardless, settling on a plan for a next-generation facility is very high on the Chiefs’ to-do list.

“We’re going to have to make a decision on that in the fairly near future, just because we’re now down to six years left on our [Arrowhead] lease,” Hunt said [[link removed]].

How the Eagles Reinvented Championship Roster Construction

Alex Gallardo-Imagn Images

The Eagles have arrived at their second Super Bowl in three seasons, and third since they won the Lombardi Trophy in February 2018. The franchise continues to reinvent championship roster construction and the ownership structure itself.

In December, the NFL formally approved the sale of an 8% minority stake [[link removed]] that valued the Eagles at $8.3 billion. While Philadelphia’s majority owner Jeffrey Lurie considered bringing in private equity partners under new league rules [[link removed]], he ultimately opted for two family investment groups that bought in separately.

That new valuation is a bump from the roughly $6.75 billion estimated by several preseason lists (the Cowboys were No. 1 at around $10 billion).

The latest stakes—totaling roughly $664 million—are more than triple the $185 million Lurie paid for the club in 1994. Lurie, 72, still owns 85% of the Eagles, with other minority investors making up the other 7% or so.

During the postseason, the Eagles had the rare opportunity to host—and win—three home playoff games [[link removed]] at Lincoln Financial Field. That success in January came after a 14–3 regular season and NFC East championship that earned the Eagles the conference’s No. 2 seed.

While star running back Saquon Barkley and quarterback Jalen Hurts get the credit for performing on the field, Philadelphia boasts an all-star front office led by executive vice president and GM Howie Roseman.

Roseman lost personnel decision-making power during the Chip Kelly era (2013–2015) but since returning in 2016 has become a salary-cap wizard en route to building on one of the league’s most feared rosters. Given the Eagles’ recent success, Roseman, 49, should likely be in line for another contract extension (in 2022, he signed one through the 2025 NFL season).

“I’ll do anything for a championship,” Roseman said Monday at Super Bowl Opening Night.

The main question mark is sustainability: The franchise already has more than $1.2 billion in cap allocations [[link removed]] between 2025 and 2030—the most in the NFL. Roseman has been a proponent of using void years—which stretch a player’s cap hit past the seasons included in his contract—to ensure additional space in the short term.

Hurts, who signed a five-year, $255 million extension in 2023, is by far the highest-paid player on the team with an average annual salary value of $51 million through the 2028 season.

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is nearing the end of the five-year, $35 million contract he signed in 2021. His $7 million annual salary had him just outside the 10 highest-paid coaches in the NFL [[link removed]] before the season. (“His future is going to be great,” Lurie said this week.)

A win over the Chiefs would virtually guarantee extensions and big raises for the Eagles’ main cast. But, given it would be just the third major professional sports championship for the city of Philadelphia since 1983, a victory could also give Lurie leverage as he considers future stadium options [[link removed]], with the Eagles’ lease at Lincoln Financial Field set to expire in 2032.

At Super Bowl Opening Night, Lurie was asked about the idea of building a dome or stadium with a retractable roof.

“I love outdoor football,” he said. “I love it. I love the cold games. I like the hot games. I like the snow games. On the other hand, does Philadelphia deserve to host the Super Bowl? The NCAA Final Four? Lots of great events. It’s an incredible sports city. Does it deserve that? Yes, so you’ve got to balance all of those things.”

If the Eagles dethrone the Chiefs and win Super Bowl LIX, the city of Philadelphia might let Lurie do anything he wants.

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Super Bowl Ticketing Tough Trends In the Big Easy

Front Office Sports

Ticket prices in New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX have dropped significantly throughout the past two weeks. On Jan. 27, the get-in price was $5,650, according to data from TickPick, but that number has been cut nearly in half just two weeks later—and a few days from Sunday’s game.

The falling ticket price to enter Caesars Superdome comes as hotel prices have shot up [[link removed]], which have cut into the budget of fans headed to the Bayou.

Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Shows [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]] Edited by Peter Richman [[link removed]], Meredith Turits [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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