Chiefs fans in Florida suffered in solitude. The Super Bowl brought the world to them
For years, being a Kansas City Chiefs fan in Miami was lonely.
The games were hard to find. Many watched alone at home, or sought out a bar and settled for a game on TV without any sound. If they were lucky, one or two other fans would be there with them.
Now a stroke of fate, as some fans see it, has brought Chiefs Kingdom to their doorstep for the biggest game the team has played in 50 years: Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, against the San Francisco 49ers.
It’s a dramatic shift for members of the Miami chapter of Arrowhead South, a Florida-wide fan club boasting 13 chapters and more than 2,600 Facebook members.
Earlier in the season, founders Scott Weidert and Michael Morales would message complete strangers and stop anyone they saw wearing gear, asking them to come to a bar and watch a Chiefs game with them.
Four months later, they’ve recruited a 30-person fan group. They see Chiefs fans everywhere they go, and they’re setting up meetings with reporters at Brus Room, a bar between Fort Lauderdale and Miami where they have convinced the manager to let them turn on the volume on the TV for games.
“You feel stupid when you’re yelling and no one else is yelling,” said Greg Scott, a member of the fan club. “So now we make a spectacle of ourselves here.”
“But it’s a group spectacle,” added fellow fan Brandon Diaz.
Arrowhead South
The Miami chapter of Arrowhead South started gathering in person at the beginning of the 2019 season.
They were brought together by Weidert and Morales, who were among thousands of Chiefs fans in the Arrowhead South Facebook group. That online community was started eight years ago by Doug Morris, a Kansas City area native who moved to Florida after his son graduated high school.
He said he got tired of watching the games alone so he looked for the Chiefs fans he was sure were already in Florida.
“Once you get above your 4 to 5 friends and you’ve got your base — once you get 100, 200 people, 300 in a room and (Patrick) Mahomes excitement there’s just nothing like that,” Morris said. “The couch is not as comfy anymore.”
From there, the fan club has only grown, according to Morris. The majority of the members are originally from the Midwest and have supported the team for years.
Membership to the fan club slowly grew as chapters were added over several years. It “blew up,” Morris said, when Patrick Mahomes was drafted.
“This is the best Chiefs era we have had in 50 years. Go out and enjoy it with your fellow Chiefs fans,” Morris said. “You never know how long it’ll last.”
The rules of the club are simple: Be kind to each other, support the Chiefs and leave discussion of religion and politics at home.
“We’re here for the Chiefs that’s it,” he said.
As more and more people joined the fan club, Morris realized there was an opportunity to do some good. He had no desire to profit from the organization but wanted to use the large number of fans to benefit the wider public.
The answer came in the form of a partnership with the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Kansas City Barbeque Society. For the Chiefs first away game of the year Morris and the crew planned a tailgate fundraiser in Jacksonville.
With 40 volunteers and donated supplies, Arrowhead South raised $15,000 in 48 hours, Morris said.
After the Chiefs won the AFC Championship game, Morris set out to do the same in Miami.
Tailgating was banned at Hard Rock Stadium for the Super Bowl. But the fan group, in partnership with the Kansas City Barbecue Society and a Dave & Buster’s in Hollywood, Florida, is planning a Saturday night fundraiser and a Sunday night watch party for Chiefs fans.
The parties will be complete with a barbecue buffet and signed Chiefs memorabilia for auction.
Stephen Greenblatt, the general manager for the Hollywood Dave & Buster’s, said his goal was to create a home away from home for Chiefs fans in Florida and Kansas Citians making the trip South.
Although the New York native has never been to Kansas City, he said his hope is to extend the same hospitality that he believes he would get if he traveled to the Midwest.
“I think there’s a lot of love coming from Kansas City,” he said. “The party will be awesome. A victory will be epic.”
Staying Loyal
Living away from Kansas City, with few people to watch games with, it would have been easy for fans to pick a new team in the “50 years of pain.”
One thing kept fans dedicated, members of the Miami chapter said: Loyalty.
“Look at Arrowhead, I don’t care how good or bad the Chiefs are doing, that stadium is packed,” said Greg Scott, a fan who grew up in Kansas City during the Len Dawson era but moved to Florida in 1970.
It’s something about Kansas City, they agreed. The fans that suffered through countless bad seasons and watched their football team come painfully close to a Super Bowl in 2018 are the same kinds of fans who diligently supported the Royals between 1985 and 2015, believing things would eventually turn around.
They watched the 2020 AFC Championship game in anticipation, pacing and spewing “joyful profanities,” unable to believe what was happening.
“We have all endured so many carpets being yanked out from under us, we are always the Charlie Brown,” Diaz said.
Now that the team is dominant again these fans are basking in it and thanking Andy Reid for the transformation.
Everywhere they go in their Chiefs gear, they’re getting comments and support, from a stranger in a grocery story to a supervisor during a company meeting.
“I really want to talk to all of them,” Morales said. “I want to say, ‘Hey where are you going, what are you doing?’”
They chalk the support up to two things: Mahomes and the 50-year drought that positions the Chiefs as underdogs.
“And lets face it. It’s over for the Patriots,” Morales said. “Can we be America’s new team?”
As the game approaches, most fan club members have requested time off and are making game day plans.
Diaz made the leap and bought tickets. A few are planning to attend the Arrowhead South fundraiser and watch party, and some others are planning to stick to what works: find a bar or watch from home.
If they win, Morales said, he’d love to make it to Kansas City for a parade.
“But lets not talk about that right now,” he said.
He doesn’t want to jinx it.
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 12:27 PM.
