Jackson County approves plan to resell old stadium seats

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The county that's home to the Kansas City Chiefs is moving forward with a plan to remove and store tens of thousands of old Arrowhead Stadium seats with the intention of reselling them to fans and sports memorabilia collectors.

Jackson County officials voted last week in favor of the plan despite concerns about the county spending time and money selling stadium seats when other projects need attention, the Kansas City Star reported.

The county will pay nearly $43,000 to remove and store the 30,000 dismantled seats.

"When I look at it, that's not what the county does," said county legislator Dan Tarwater at a recent meeting. "We don't sell things like that. We're not good at it, plus we don't really have an outlet to do it."

The decision comes as the Chiefs replace some of the Arrowhead Stadium's seating as part of an $11.5 million renovation project. The team had planned to sell some of the 20-year-old chairs through a sports memorabilia vendor and give away others to season ticket holders, but the county intervened because the team doesn't own the seats.

County Executive Frank White's chief of staff, Caleb Clifford, said Jackson County will be able to recoup costs and make a profit by restoring and selling the chairs. He said Harris County in Texas grossed $1.5 million from selling seats removed from the now-dormant Houston Astrodome.

Clifford said it would be "a monumental mistake" to not try to get the most value from the surplus seats.

The county will next seek bids from companies to help market the seats.