Hang Up and Listen - Kansas Bends the Knee for the NFL
Hang Up and Listen
Joel Meyer
4.6 • 986 Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2026
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hosts Alex Kirshner, Lindsay Gibbs, and Ben Lindbergh are joined J.C. Bradbury, professor and author of the forthcoming book This One Will Be Different: False Promises and Fiscal Realities of Publicly Funded Stadiums, for a frank discussion of Kansas’ plan to spend nearly $2 billion on a new Chiefs stadium, and how taxpayers are often left footing the bill for largely private gain.
The hosts also fire up the MLB hot stove and examine the NFL playoff picture.
On the bonus episode available exclusively for Slate Plus members, the panel discusses the embarrassing revival of the battle of the sexes, which occurred in Dubai in December.
The Chiefs’ New Stadium (6:35): KC says no prob to 2 billion
MLB Hot Stove (28:39): Where will Kyle Tucker land?
NFL playoffs (42:17): The missed field goal heard round the world!
(Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad-free.)
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You can email us at hangup@slate.com.
Podcast production and editing by Kevin Bendis, with production assistance from Patrick Fort.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is brought to you by Shopify. With Shopify, 2026 is the year you make it happen. It gives you the tools to build your dream store, online and in person. Plus with marketing built in, it'll help you reach exactly who you need to. Join the millions who've already made the leap, like Jim Shark and all birds, and ring in the new year with Shopify. |
| 0:23.4 | Sign up for your £1 per month trial at Shopify.com.uk slash Spotify. |
| 0:32.3 | It is Monday, January 5th, 2006. |
| 0:39.3 | Welcome back for another year of Hangup and Listen, the sports podcast here at Slate. |
| 0:44.1 | Back with you again this year, I'm Alex Kirchner. |
| 0:46.3 | I'm a contributing writer for Slate, and I co-host Split Zone Duo. |
| 0:49.9 | That is a national college football podcast. |
| 0:52.5 | For our first show of the year, |
| 0:54.8 | got a lot on tap. |
| 0:55.9 | While we were away, |
| 0:56.8 | the Kansas City Chiefs made a deal with the state of Kansas |
| 0:59.6 | to move across the metro area from Missouri |
| 1:02.0 | and into a gleaming new stadium. |
| 1:04.4 | Sounds good, right? |
| 1:05.4 | Well, unless you are a Kansas taxpayer |
| 1:07.6 | or someone who relies on government services |
| 1:10.2 | rendered by the state of Kansas, |
| 1:11.9 | we're going to talk with a professor of economics and an author who closely studies stadium |
| 1:16.7 | deals about why this particular arrangement smells really bad from a public interest perspective. |
| 1:22.5 | We're going to put our hand on the Major League Baseball Hot Stove and see exactly how hot it is |
| 1:26.8 | in the middle of this |
| 1:28.3 | off season. And we're going to look ahead to the NFL playoffs a little bit later. Speaking of |
... |
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