Kansas City, Mo. ? The tug-of-war between Wisconsin and five area colleges for the right to play host to the Kansas City Chiefs’ training camp has been won by Wisconsin — at least for one more year.

Carl Peterson, president and general manager of the 11-1 Chiefs, said Tuesday he had signed a one-year agreement to return to the campus of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 2004.

There are also four one-year options, meaning that the four Missouri colleges and Pittsburg State in Pittsburg can continue to pursue improvements to their facilities if they wish to stay in the bidding.

The news was especially disappointing to the two Missouri colleges that thought they had the best chance of playing host to the Chiefs — Northwest Missouri State in Maryville and Missouri Western in St. Joseph. The Chiefs also had talked with Central Missouri in Warrensburg and Southwest Missouri State in Springfield.

“I appreciate sincerely all those colleges and universities in Missouri, as well as the one in Kansas, who solicited us to try to have training camp with them in 2004,” Peterson said.

“What this does for those colleges and universities is give them another year to put together their thoughts and meet with us. And we will continue the dialogue with them with the possibility in the not-too-distant future of looking again at the state of Missouri and possibly the state of Kansas.”

In the end, the same factors that caused Peterson to move camp to the little college town in western Wisconsin 13 years ago proved paramount.

“River Falls offers us the two most important things — great weather and competition,” Peterson said.

In addition to the cooler, less humid climate, the Chiefs also have the Minnesota Vikings training nearby and are able to schedule scrimmages.

State money will continue to be a factor. River Falls officials are hopeful of getting a $2.2 million appropriation from the state legislature for improvements the Chiefs have requested, including new dormitories and dining facilities.

The request, which is supported by Gov. Jim Doyle, goes before the board of regents Friday.

“We are optimistic,” said Mark Kinders, director of public affairs for the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

“The Chiefs and their fans bring a lot of money. It’s a benefit to the state of Wisconsin. And the university will have significant improvements, too.”

The Chiefs, in the meantime, are working with their neighbors in the Truman Sports Complex, the Kansas City Royals, to get tax money for improvements to their stadiums. A promise of increased state funding would be considered next time the Chiefs consider moving back to Missouri.

“I’m not a politician,” Peterson said. “But we have talked about trying to get a renovation at Arrowhead Stadium … widening concourses, more bathrooms, fan amenities that need to be done. This stadium is going to be 33 years old.”

Peterson said he had spoken with the presidents and athletic directors at all five area colleges that made bids.

“The Chiefs would like to have involvement with state, city and county legislatures in finding some way to improve the amenities here at Arrowhead,” Peterson said. “But again, right now, the best thing for the Kansas City Chiefs is to continue training camp in River Falls, Wisconsin.”