Buffalo mayor makes good on Chiefs vs. Bills playoff bet, pays Kansas City in wings
Mayor Quinton Lucas treated employees at Swope Health Services to 1,500 Buffalo wings Wednesday, thanks to the Kansas City Chiefs’ win over the Bills in the AFC Champion Game.
Lucas and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown wagered — barbecue vs. wings — on the game last month. But rather than pledging food to each other’s offices, the two said the losing city would feed the winning city’s front line health care workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because the Chiefs bested the Buffalo Bills 38-24 last month, two Buffalo restaurants — Manna @ Northland and Doc Sullivan’s — overnighted chicken wings and sauce to be cooked, tossed in sauce and delivered in Kansas City.
This year’s bet, Lucas said, was about more than just feeding one mayor or the other.
“Because I can’t eat this many wings,” Lucas said. “But instead thanking so many of our health care workers in Kansas City, and particularly our health care workers that work at community-based organizations, like one that has been near and dear to my heart for my entire life, Swope Health Services.”
Swope CEO Jeron Ravin thanked Lucas for recognizing the organization’s hard work — and the Chiefs for giving the city a bright spot in a dark time.
“More than anything, I want to thank my staff, those heroes that never said no, that worked late, that have tested and will soon vaccinate thousands of people to save this community,” Ravin said.
If the Chiefs had lost, Lucas would have had to send food from Gates Bar-B-Q to Western New York. He also pledged snacks from Made in KC, Charlie Hustle KC gear, and Monarchs baseball memorabilia from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
The Chiefs’ victory last month propelled quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the team to their second Super Bowl in two years.
Given the pandemic, officials in Kansas City are already urging residents to get takeout and watch Sunday’s game at home rather than crowd into bars the way thousands did last year. If the Chiefs win, there won’t be a parade like last year’s.
To cook and assemble the wings, the city asked Taps on Main, a bar and grill in the Crossroads Arts District. Owner Grant Tower, who helped deliver the wings, said though he was a lifelong Kansas City resident, his dad was from a suburb of Buffalo. He admitted to being a Bills fan.
Swope workers were treated to three wing flavors: a “Smitty” sauce, similar to a traditional Buffalo sauce; “beef on weck” sauce, named for an iconic Buffalo sandwich with horseradish on a kimmelweck roll; and a mango wing sauce.
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 2:30 PM.
