NBC is inviting Chiefs fans to pregame set at Arrowhead Stadium before Sunday’s game

Kickoff for the Chiefs-Colts game Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium is at 7:20, but NBC’s pregame show will start at 6 p.m. and Kansas City fans are invited.

The network will have a pregame set in the parking lot at the Truman Sports Complex, and game analyst Cris Collinsworth and host Liam McHugh will be on hand to talk with Chiefs fans.

“Cris and I come out at least 10 minutes early and we both talk with the crowd to try to get their feelings about the game, how they feel about their team,” McHugh said. “We want to get that on set. There’s a reason why we’re there. We want to embrace that scene. And I think the big thing is this isn’t just background for us.

“We’ve done segments where Cris and I have gone out there with an idea that we’re going to talk about certain things. And then we’ve seen what’s going on behind us and decided we’re not talking about it, we’re just going to talk about the crowd.”

The pregame show will include a local fan or celebrity. At Cleveland, it was a fan; and Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson was at the set in New Orleans.

McHugh said fans have congregated to the set at each stadium this season.

“Right off the bat, we had a great turnout in New England (for the opener),” McHugh said. “Everyone wants to come out, hear what Collinsworth has to say and if it was positive, they’d be fine with us. And if it wasn’t, they’d happily boo Collinsworth right there. And after that, they stayed around.”

NBC said it will have some games near the set for fans to play before the pregame show starts.

It seems likely many of the Chiefs fans on hand will be wearing Patrick Mahomes jerseys. These days any talk about the Chiefs eventually turns to Mahomes, and McHugh had high praise for the quarterback.

McHugh was particularly impressed with last week’s comeback victory at Detroit and put Mahomes up with the world’s best athletes.

“I look at Patrick Mahomes, and I look at what he did against the Lions and so many people will look at the numbers, look at the performance and say that that was a below-average game for Patrick Mahomes even though he led them on a game winning touchdown drive,” McHugh said. “You know, that is the game of most players’ lives. If you’re an average quarterback, that’s what you dream of. And Patrick Mahomes, who, at age 24, people are saying that is a below-average game.

“That’s what makes him so amazing. You expect to be wowed. You expect to see something you’ve never seen before. And often he doesn’t let you down. So to me, he is the ultimate athlete right now. It used to be I think, LeBron (James), I think in soccer, you probably could have said (Lionel) Messi. I think (Mahomes) is the athlete right now that you absolutely positively cannot take your eyes off because you know that if you do you might miss something fantastic.”

This story was originally published October 4, 2019 at 11:10 AM.