The Chiefs and the Univ. of Kansas Hospital on Thursday announced a 10-year partnership making the hospital the Official Healthcare Provider of the Chiefs, and bringing a comprehensive healthcare program to the team, encompassing its players, staff and fans. The Chiefs Training Facility will be renamed The University of Kansas Hospital Training Complex, and the hospital will open a sports medicine clinic within the complex to provide on-site medical personnel and equipment to Chiefs players. The sports medicine clinic will be open to the public. It is expected to open in summer '13 (Chiefs). In K.C., Diane Stafford notes "no price tag was revealed" for the deal, and the "exact opening date, hours, staff sizes, services and costs are yet to be announced." The clinic, which "will be in the current site of the Chiefs' administrative offices and the team's indoor and outdoor practice fields, is part of a multifaceted partnership forged between the club and the hospital." Chiefs Chair & CEO Clark Hunt said that the partnership "calls for KU Hospital to provide care" Chiefs players and staff, and fans at Arrowhead Stadium events. He said that the agreement is "thought to be the most wide-ranging and comprehensive between any professional sports team and health care provider." Hospital personnel also will "staff the first aid stations for fans at Arrowhead, as they did" in '11 (K.C. STAR, 8/10).
INTERIOR DECORATING: In K.C., Alice Thorson notes Chiefs Owner the Hunt family’s latest idea is for "a 'world class' collection of art to be installed" at Arrowhead Stadium. Letters went out last month "to several local gallery owners, inviting participation in the Kansas City Chiefs Art Program." Top execs of the Nelson-Atkins Museum, the Kemper Museum and the K.C. Art Institute "are on board." Chiefs Founder Lamar Hunt's daughter, Sharron Hunt Munson, "is directing the program with input from" her brothers. She "envisions artwork at Arrowhead that 'celebrates Midwestern culture.'" Munson in an email said that the idea for an art collection "was inspired in part by the many new public spaces created by recent renovations to Arrowhead Stadium." Leopold Gallery Owner and art dealer Paul Dorrell was "engaged by the Hunts to organize the collection." Installation will "begin in late spring 2013" (K.C. STAR, 8/9).
