Super Bowl’s spotlight has found Kansas City ... and it will only grow if Chiefs win
Framed front pages of some of the city’s and nation’s most newsworthy events — the kind with big headlines splashed across the top — hang in the lobby of The Kansas City Star.
Among these first drafts of history are stories and photos chronicling milestone accomplishments of the Chiefs, Royals and area colleges, a sign that even important sports contests hold deep meaning in this community.
On Sunday, the Chiefs return to the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years. And the massive interest in this annual game — some 100 million of 330 million U.S. residents will tune in to watch — offers pause.
When has Kansas City ever received more national attention for a singular event?
We have played host to three national political conventions, the latest in 1976. Weather disasters and recoveries have made national headlines. Four World Series have been played here, along with 11 NCAA men’s and women’s basketball championships. The tragedy at the Hyatt hotel in 1981 was one of our saddest moments.
Today, Kansas City’s reputation is built on barbecue, jazz, fountains and boulevards. Each of these elements will be amplified nationally this week simply because of a football game as the Chiefs meet the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LIV in Miami.
“There are enormous benefits for the city,” Gary Heise, CEO of Overland Park-based Premier Sports Management said of the Super Bowl. “The Super Bowl helps with destination branding for a city, the attention to your city for being one of participants.
“Certainly, if people didn’t know Kansas City is the barbecue capital of the world, they will by the time of the Super Bowl.”
Kansas City Sports Commission president Kathy Nelson has noticed that every time she turns on a news channel right now, Kansas City is being mentioned.
“’Good Morning America,’ they were talking about the Chiefs,” Nelson said. “Every news show, all talking about who is playing in the Super Bowl, about Patrick Mahomes.
“We can’t tell our story enough, and they’re telling it for us.”
Power of #ChiefsKingdom
Kansas City delivers one of the NFL’s most loyal football audiences. Even without the Chiefs’ participation, Kansas City annually ranks among the highest-rated TV markets for the Super Bowl.
The KC metropolitan area is small by NFL standards. Kansas City’s population ranks ahead of only six other cities with teams. But the Chiefs’ average attendance for regular-season games at Arrowhead Stadium hasn’t fallen below 73,000 or ranked outside of the league’s top 10 since Andy Reid became the coach of the franchise in 2013.
“I think people have been preparing for this moment for years,” Heise said.
What’s about to happen with Kansas City’s direct involvement is an event that’s been likened to an American holiday. It’s easily one of the nation’s most festive occasions.
In Miami, a three-day music festival begins Thursday, headlined by DJ Khaled. Evenings with Guns N’ Roses and Maroon 5 follow.
On game day, the pre-game national anthem will be sung by Demi Lovato. The halftime show will be co-headlined by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, and don’t be surprised if other stars pop in for guest appearances.
And oh, the home parties … Super Bowl weekend is the nation’s second-biggest grilling occasion of the year, topped only by the Fourth of July. It’s the second-largest food consumption day, trailing only Thanksgiving.
Americans will eat 1.25 billion chicken wings and 11.2 million pounds of potato chips leading up to and during the game. Some 1.5 million will call in sick to work the next day.
Care to make a bet? Some $6 billion was wagered on last year’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, according to the American Gaming Association.
Truly global event
Back to the TV numbers. Super Bowls are the top eight and 19 of the top 20 most-watched broadcasts in U.S. television history in terms of viewers. In 2019 alone, seven NFL games were among the nation’s top 10 shows watched. Second was the Chiefs-Patriots AFC Championship Game last January, with 53.9 million viewers.
Into this celebration of Americana steps reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Mahomes, the Chiefs and Kansas City.
Mayor Quinton Lucas said his city is ready.
“I think this creates an amazing opportunity for us, an amazing window for us to have people looking at us and say, ‘Well, gosh, what are they doing in Kansas City?’” said Lucas, a lifelong Chiefs fan.
The build-up for the game is one layer of attention. The nation will learn more about Kansas City, perhaps even get a better understanding of the state-line dynamics between Missouri and Kansas that vex many outsiders. But another measure of what the Super Bowl means to Kansas City would be revealed in the days after the game … if the Chiefs win.
Downtown parades have become fixtures for championship teams, and if the Royals’ 2015 celebration that ended at Union Station is any indication, the Chiefs’ championship party would be a doozy, bringing together a city in a joyous way that doesn’t often occur otherwise.
The Royals’ parade was the first in KC for a baseball or football championship in three decades, and the estimated crowds along the route and at Union Station surpassed anything Kansas City had ever seen.
“If we were to win the Super Bowl and see another crowd like (that one), it would be a moment of national recognition for an admirable team,” said Crosby Kemper III, who just completed a tenure as executive director of the Kansas City Public Library and is now director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency.
Winning opens doors to such moments.
“It was great that we were in Super Bowl I,” Kemper said. “But does anyone remember that as a high point?”
Kemper described two other moments that brought together KC citizens and reflected the city’s spirit. In 1900, a fire destroyed Convention Hall and a gigantic reconstruction was accomplished in 90 days in time to play host to the Democratic National Convention.
In 1887, the entire city seemingly turned out to welcome the first visit by a U.S. president, Grover Cleveland.
The crowds that gathered on the bluffs for the completion of the Hannibal Bridge in 1869 that established us as a major city; the opening of the library in 1897, when some 20,000 visitors in the first two days passed through its doors; and the 1921 World War I Memorial’s ground-breaking ceremony before 200,000 also stand among the biggest celebrations in the city’s history.
These days, sports championships often provide those weighty moments, the kind that are splashed across the newspaper’s front page and framed for posterity.
The next momentous opportunity awaits, pending a Chiefs Super Bowl victory. Until then, Kansas City at least basks in some national attention.
This story was originally published January 27, 2020 at 5:00 AM.