DALLAS — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original article here.
It's been quite a run for Kansas City Chiefs CEO and Chairman Clark Hunt the past few years.
The Chiefs have won three Super Bowls and advanced to six consecutive AFC Championship games since 2018. They're 6-0 this season and looking to become the first team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in a row. Hunt and his brother, Dan, also helped lead the effort to bring the FIFA World Cup to Dallas-Fort Worth in 2026. AT&T Stadium in Arlington will host nine games, the most of any site for the soccer tournament.
Hunt doesn't like to take credit for the success, but on Oct. 22 he found himself as the center of attention as he received the World Affairs Council's H. Neil Mallon Award for his contributions toward putting North Texas on the global stage. Past winners have included former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, former American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, NBA Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki and late U.S. President George H.W. Bush.
Though the Chiefs play in Missouri, the team has its roots in Dallas. Hunt's father, the late sports business pioneer Lamar Hunt, founded the team as the Dallas Texans in 1959 as a charter member of the fledgling American Football League.
Clark Hunt, a Dallas native, graduated from St. Mark’s School of Texas and Southern Methodist University, and still resides in the area.
In addition to helping bring the World Cup to DFW, the Hunt family owns FC Dallas, the region's Major League Soccer club.
About 1,200 business leaders, friends and family attended the event at the Fairmont Hotel to honor Hunt. During an on-stage interview with Mike Tirico, the esteemed sports broadcaster who is the play-by-play voice for "Sunday Night Football" on NBC, Hunt discussed how he has endeavored to carry on his father's legacy, the role sports have played in helping to make Dallas a global city and, of course, a little bit of football.
Hunt described his father as "just a kid from East Texas" who had a dream of bringing professional sports to Dallas. Not long after Lamar Hunt started the Texans, the NFL expanded and created the Dallas Cowboys.
Long before MLS, Lamar Hunt also had a vision of how big soccer could become in the U.S. and started the Dallas Torpedo franchise that played in the now-defunct North American Soccer League from 1967 to 1981.
"My brother and I joke that he was exactly right but his vision was 40 years early," Hunt said.
Hunt recalled working alongside his father for the bid to have Dallas host games in the 1994 World Cup and expressed pride that the region will host the most games in 2026.
Tirico drew a parallel between how the success of the Chiefs and the Hunt family's role in Dallas' growth as a sports city mirrors how the region has grown. Today, the Metroplex has more than 8 million people and continues to attract companies from across the world.
Hunt agreed and recalled growing up in Dallas. He said it used to be all fields to the north; now the region sees development all the way to the Oklahoma border.
"Everybody, not only in the U.S. but internationally, knows this is a great place to do business, this is a great place to raise a family and culturally it has as much to offer as any city in the United States," Hunt said. "And a lot of that has to do with the pro sports teams that are here."
When it came to the Chiefs in particular, Hunt said the creation of the team "kicked off the renaissance" in Dallas that eventually saw it "become one of the greatest sports markets in the world." With the team's recent success, he pointed to lessons for business leaders about fostering a positive company culture. Hunt said the success of the Chiefs begins with Head Coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach.
Hunt also noted the leadership of key players on the team like quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a native of Whitehouse outside Tyler who enjoyed a prolific career at Texas Tech University before getting drafted by the Chiefs, and tight end Travis Kelce and defensive lineman Chris Jones.
And speaking of Kelce, no conversation about the Chiefs is complete without at least a mention of Taylor Swift. Hunt called Kelce "the world's most famous boyfriend" and said the relationship has created countless new fans for the Chiefs. Hunt said he has had numerous conversations with fathers who have told him their daughters want to watch Chief games to catch glimpses of Swift. He said he's confident many of those young girls will remain NFL fans and Chief fans for the rest of their lives, he said.
Whether it's the Chiefs or soccer, Hunt described sports as something that brings people together. He said sports will continue to be a force that helps DFW grow and shine on the international stage.
"There is a lot that can divide us today, but for so many of us, sport provides a unifying joy that we all care about," Hunt said.
