There are seven stadiums in the NFL that cost over a billion dollars to build. The league is rich with shiny new arenas, rising ticket prices, outlandish parking costs and more and more emphasis on corporate experiences. "Pricing out the common fan" is a phrase regularly heard in sports in 2022 and the NFL is no exception.
However there are still some places that scream authenticity, heritage, one prominent colour worn in the stands and most of all, atomosphere. Arrowhead Stadium (disappointingly recently renamed thanks to a sponsor - to GEHA Field) is one of those places. It's been on my bucket list for a while. Whenever you watch a Chiefs game on TV it's a sea of red and it's incredibly loud. They actually hold the Guinness World Record for the loudest stadia at 142 decibels.
As a Chargers fan, the Chiefs are a huge rival. A fellow member of the AFC West and in recent years, a dominant one, winning the division six years in a row and reaching two of the last three Super Bowls, winning one for the first time in 50 years in 2020.
For me though, and I think most Chargers fans would agree with this, they are our least hated of our three divisional rivals. The Raiders easily top that list, followed by the Broncos. It turns out after talking to a lot of Chiefs fans this week, they feel exactly the same!
Last season, I commented in my season review of SoFi stadium that the Chiefs fans were by far the most gracious, respectful and most well behaved of the traveling fan bases we hosted. For European soccer fans reading this, the NFL is not like our football when it comes to away fans. There is no designated area to hold them, no set amount of tickets available, it's every man for themselves and fans of both teams mix happily, yet sometimes aggressively and often full of beer. This simply wouldn't work in Europe but this isn't Europe so set aside your cultural biases for a few minutes and keep reading.
I recently decided in my profession that I needed some more face to face time with certain clients that I had never personally met, some of which live out of State. One of those clients moved from San Diego to Topeka, Kansas last year and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to mix some business with the mighty Chargers and some iconic stadia. I found a cheap flight, a nice central hotel for two nights and I was on my merry way.
This game was a Thursday night and after arriving the night before I had plenty of time to explore before the big game. My day started with possibly the best breakfast sandwich I've ever had in my life at PT's Coffee. Simply outstanding.
One of the nice things about Kansas City is public transport is completely free. I believe they started this due to COVID and have carried it on for the time being. I took advantage of this multiple times during my visit, including a streetcar/tram type thing from my hotel down to the National World War One museum. I had no idea why there was a WW1 museum in KC and America in general isn't the first place that comes to my mind when I think of "The Great War" but apparently it's where the first US troops congregated and left from in 1917. It seemed like one of the main highlights of downtown KC so I thought why not? I'm partial to a bit of history.
This whole experience blew me away and was a lot more moving and thought provoking than I anticipated. First of all the grounds of the memorial tower and museum are spectacular as well as the view back towards downtown and the more rural view south of the city.
The people working there were extremely friendly and as I was wearing a Chargers T-shirt, thrilled to engage in some good natured banter. I had already experienced the famous mid western vibe of warm and friendliness on my journey down from the hotel, being engaged by a doorman at another hotel and a number of people on the tram. They tend to ask questions first, which is something I appreciate, "where are you from?" "are you going to the game tonight?" rather than other cities in America that I can think of where you'd be greeted with a screaming of the home teams name in your face before any questions were even considered.
The museum was beautifully put together with a comprehensive time line, hundreds of artifacts, uniforms, weapons and transportation. It also included a 12 minute video of where and why it all began. I probably learnt this in school and maybe I either forgot it or wasn't paying attention but what struck me the most was the things that people fought for, fought over and felt passionately about 100 years ago haven't really changed. I found the similarities between the reasons for war then and the social and global problems we experience today, eerily similar and frankly quite chilling.
After taking in an additional exhibition on "Black Citizenship in the age of Jim Crow" I left with a similar feeling to the one when I left the Civil Rights museum in Atlanta and it wasn't a good one.
I then took a short walk to the Federal Reserve museum which would have been more interesting if I had more time but I had taken longer than I expected learning about WW1. It did include a fun viewing room where you could watch people printing money. Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take pictures. Maybe the makers of Monoply didn't want their secrets revealed.
Time for a bit of late lunch, a bit of remote work back at the hotel and it was game time.
I took a free bus which took an excruciating amount of time but hey it was free and included some colorful characters discussing the nights game.
Arrowhead stadium sits next to the impressive home of the Kansas City Royals baseball team, Kauffman Stadium and the parking lots are a sea of red clad tailgaters. They fire a cannon an hour before game time to warn people to make their way into the stadium, which I wish I had known prior to the fact as it may have saved me from jumping out of my skin.
The Chiefs and the Chargers are two of the favourites for this seasons Super Bowl. They both have Quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert that demand your attention and guarantee an entertaining back and forth game. This night would be no exception, one of the marquee matchups in the league, under the lights with 76,000 racaous locals.
One of the most obvious things about Arrowhead is the amount of red. The downtown area and airport reminded me of Seattle where it seemed almost everyone had Chiefs stuff on at any time of day and it wasn't just for the game, this is what they do every day. I love cities in America where the whole place loves one team and passionately follows them through thick and thin. It's a world away from Southern California which houses fans of almost every sports team you can mention. A "transient city" they call LA - somewhere people come and go. You only have to look at SoFi stadium on any given Sunday to see the sheer numbers of visiting fans, often wrongly lauded for how far they've travelled - more accurately most of them live locally.
My seats were located in the top (third) tier but four rows from the front of said tier, behind one of the endzones. This was a special night for the Chiefs, celebrating 50 years at Arrowhead with throwback center field logo, endzone design, half time marching band and more fireworks then usual.
I was shocked at how clean and comfortable the stadium and its amenities were. I didn't know they refurbished it a few years ago. It might be the most spacious seating I've come across, which makes the 76,000 capacity even more impressive. Comically I just read that it's the 27th largest stadium in America. Ridiculous. Look at the place! There's 26 bigger places?!
The atmosphere did not disappoint. It was LOUD. Even in a first half that saw the Chargers somewhat dominate and take a 10-7 lead at the break.
There seemed to be a good number of Chargers fans in attendance when I was walking around pre game but they definitely got lost in the sea of red.
As had been my experience since I landed, everyone was extremely warm and welcoming. The fella next to me offered to buy me a beer very shortly after sitting down. Nobody was falling over drunk and making an arse of themselves as you often see at SoFi. They're a lovable bunch Chiefs fans and they have a team on the field worthy of their passionate support.
Early in the third quarter, Mike Williams caught a one handed touchdown from the brilliant Justin Herbert and the Chargers took a ten point lead. This was a little too good to be true, I was taking in this iconic stadium and my team was winning? This Chargers team is different gravy though so it wasn't too much of a surprise. Shortly afterwards though, Mahomes threw a bomb to Justin Watson and as the teams switched ends at the beginning of the fourth quarter, they added a field goal and we were all square at 17-17.
I started to make my way down to the lower tier so I could make a quick sprint to the free bus. The people were louder and more drunk down here and the anticipation of a game coming down to the wire with two future hall of fame quarterbacks hung in the air.
Unfortunately as the Chargers started to march down the field to my right, I moved with them and had a perfect view of Herbert being intercepted on virtually the goal line as the rookie Jaylen Watson, a recent seventh round draft pick returned it 99 yards for a Chiefs touchdown. Arrowhead stadium erupted.
They added a field goal to extend the lead before Herbert, limping around with what was reported at the time as fractured ribs after a big hit, somehow continued the game and threw a dart to Joshua Palmer for a touchdown with a minute to go. The boy is super human but it wasn't enough this time. The Chiefs ran out 27-24 winners and lead the highly competitive (we think) AFC West at 2-0.
I had mentally prepared myself for defeat so that I could truly enjoy the experience, so I wasn't too disappointed but only the Chargers can find a way to lose like that. Maybe I was premature with my different gravy comment.
I waited an absolute age for a free bus back to the hotel but the excessive ride share lines were just as unappealing.
The following day I rented a car and drove an hour and half to Topeka, over state lines from Missouri in Kansas to meet my client. Before that I took an Uber to the car rental and had a great chat with my driver Lamar.
Lamar perfectly typified the Chiefs fan base. Friendly and knowledgeable, we discussed the merits of both teams and the action from the night before. I liked him so much I tipped him more
excessively than usual and demanded a picture.
After a productive meeting and an outstanding Kansas City strip steak for lunch, I took in the State Capitol building which was eerily quiet and very similar to the other State Capitols I have been inside. In fact the whole of Topeka was strangely quiet and run down for a capital.
The drive was nice though, through the rural countryside that reminded me of home in Cheshire, England. One thing I couldn't help noticing was the lack of political car stickers, flags or road signs. It made me realize how toxic California is at the moment. I can't move five minutes from my house without being confronted by someone's policial allegiance. Perhaps the minority just shout the loudest I don't know but the reason I included the words "surprisingly welcome slice of Americana" in the title is perhaps I needed this. It's easy to get bogged down in the negative aspects of life in America at this divided time. It's far from perfect, in fact it's a fucking mess politically but my short time in Kansas City and the surrounding area restored some faith in mankind. Beneath all of our fractured opinions and media driven divisions, there are good people. People who care about their community, their local team and most impressively, respectful and welcoming to outsiders. It somewhat changed my perspective and preconceptions of the American heartland, which as a foreigner myself maybe I had wrong from the start.
Much love and respect KC, I'll be back.