Ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, Kansas City Chiefs Owner Clark Hunt spoke with CNBC Media & Sports Reporter Alex Sherman from New Orleans for the latest installment of the CNBC Sport videocast. Hunt discusses how Taylor Swift is changing the team’s fanbase, whether he would sell a stake in the Chiefs to private equity, the prospect of expanding the NFL season to 18 games, and more. Watch the full video here or listen via the brand new CNBC Sport podcast, which launched today, by visiting cnbc.com/sportpodcast. Subscribe here to get the CNBC Sport newsletter sent directly to your inbox every Thursday morning.
CLARK HUNT ON TAYLOR SWIFT’S INFLUENCE
SHERMAN: Everyone knows about the Taylor Swift connection to your team. I’m curious, have you seen an effect on the bottom line from that?
HUNT: Well, I think indirectly, the NFL has seen an impact. Certainly, our fan base took a big leap forward last year – particularly with female, specifically young female fans. I think we had something like a 30% growth in our fan base, which is pretty significant even for a team that won the Super Bowl. So you have to definitely give Taylor a little bit of credit for that… We still get a lot of eyeballs – this year, we’ve had several games and broken records, and I think Taylor is a little bit a part of that.
CLARK HUNT ON WHETHER HE WOULD CONSIDER SELLING A STAKE IN THE CHIEFS TO PRIVATE EQUITY
SHERMAN: You’re chair of the Finance Committee for the NFL. Private equity investment was instituted this past season. How is that going? When you talk to your other owners, has it been successful so far?
HUNT: Yeah, so we’re in the very early days of the program. It was approved at the end of last year. We had two transactions that took place before year end that included private equity. I know that there are several other teams out there exploring potentially bringing in a private equity partner. We think it’s a great new source of capital for the league. It will create flexibility for owners who have a need from a liquidity standpoint, or have a need from a capital investment standpoint, like a stadium.
SHERMAN: Would you ever consider selling 10%?
HUNT: I won’t say never. It’s not something our family is focused on right now. But I do think just having more options from a liquidity standpoint is beneficial to everybody, including the Kansas City Chiefs.
CLARK HUNT ON THE NFL POTENTIALLY EXPANDING THE REGULAR SEASON TO 18 GAMES
SHERMAN: What are your thoughts on adding the 18th game? I know a lot of people were talking about that this week. Are you in favor of that?
HUNT: So I’ve been part of the NFL’s Labor Committee for the last 15 or so years, and involved in those discussions when the labor agreements are negotiated. Five years ago, we were able to get this season expanded from 16 to 17 games. I think that’s been very beneficial, particularly because it’s allowed for the expansion of games played internationally, which is a really important initiative for the league in terms of growing our fan base. I certainly am open minded to go into 18 games in the future. I think that could create a path for the league to play maybe as many as 16 games a year internationally, which I think would be very helpful in terms of growing the NFL’s fan base globally.
SHERMAN: Have you started to get inklings of player feedback on that one? Because I can imagine that perhaps not being quite as popular with the players.
HUNT: Yeah, well, it is something that we will do in partnership with the players, just like the move from 16 to 17 games was in partnership. We did reduce a pre-season game when we did that, so still 20 total games but the mix shifted a little bit. Certainly we’ll want their input on it, and it might be important for us to add another bye week to the season if we ultimately go to 18 games.
