Chiefs will phase in new tailgate policy: Go into stadium or head home after kickoff

Tailgating at Arrowhead Stadium for Chiefs games will have an ending signal this season.

That signal is kickoff.

When a Chiefs game begins, tailgaters will be asked to move toward one of two places: into the stadium if they have tickets or out of the parking lot if they don’t.

Chiefs President Mark Donovan said the team is following a best practice recommendation from the NFL and will phase in this policy throughout the season.

“We’re going to continue celebrating tailgating,” Donovan said. “It’s important to Arrowhead and important to the fan experience. And we’re going to transition into this. This is not going to be a hard stop.”

The Chiefs’ next home game is Thursday against the Green Bay Packers in the preseason finale. The first regular-season home contest is Sept. 23.

Donovan said over the next few home dates tailgaters who remain in the parking lot after the game has started and the toll and ticket booths have been cleared will be approached by team security personnel and informed of the new policy.

“The big reason is safety and security,” Donovan said.

The change comes five years after a fan was killed in the parking lot during a game. The fan, Kyle Van Winkle of Smithville, was in the stadium watching the game but left after the first quarter, went to the parking lot and got into a vehicle that looked like the one driven by someone in his group.

According to court records, the vehicle’s owner and young son returned to the vehicle and found Van Winkle sleeping inside. The owner attempted to wake Van Winkle, whom he believed to be intoxicated, and sent his son for help. Other tailgaters soon arrived at the vehicle.

An argument ensued between Van Winkle and one bystander, who mistook him for a thief.

After Van Winkle got punched and fell to the pavement, the attacker continued to hit him. The attacker left Van Winkle on the pavement. Another bystander propped him up against a bus.

After they noticed Van Winkle had turned blue, bystanders flagged down a security guard and started CPR. Van Winkle died that day.

In 2016, Van Winkle’s wife, Jennifer, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Chiefs. Included in the lawsuit was a list of 60 incidents of violence reported in and around Arrowhead Stadium from 2000-13 and alleged that by encouraging tailgating in parking lots on game days and allowing people to “drink alcohol and party” whether or not they have tickets to the game, the team “fosters an environment in which confrontation, assaults and other related behaviors routinely take place and of which defendant Kansas City Chiefs are aware.”

The lawsuit was settled in June. Terms were not disclosed.

“I’d be naive to say (the incident) has nothing to do with it but I wouldn’t say drove the league-wide policy,” Donovan said.

Across the sports complex, the Royals clear their parking lots by the second inning, when tailgaters are asked to enter Kauffman Stadium, according to a team official.

The Chiefs also are introducing a new tailgating experience. The team has opened the Ford Tailgate District in Lot M between Arrowhead and Kauffman stadiums.

The district is open to all fans but is targeted at those who come to the game without making a production of tailgating, such as fans who arrive via ride share.

“A lot of fans are coming to the game, younger fans, and don’t tailgate in the way our core fans do,” Donovan said. “They’re looking for more ways to interact.

“It gives fans who are coming to games on Uber, Lyft or zTrip with a ticket on their phone a chance to not have to worry about the set-up or clean-up and still interact with fans and have a tailgate.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2018 at 5:24 PM.