NBC’s broadcast crew is fired up to be at Arrowhead for next week’s NFL Kickoff Game
The Chiefs will be playing host to the NFL’s Kickoff Game for the second time in four years, but this time it’ll be a little different.
When the Chiefs unveiled their Super Bowl LIV championship banner at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, there were 15,895 fans on hand because of COVID restrictions. On Thursday, there should be a full house to see the Chiefs play host to the Detroit Lions and show off a new banner.
Former Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty played in the NFL Kickoff Game twice and said there’s nothing like it.
“It’s probably one of the most electric games you can play in, probably even more electric than the Super Bowl, the last game you play in,” McCourty said. “That’s because the Super Bowl is a mix of different fans. This is going to be at Arrowhead. Every fan that’s been a fan for the last 20, 30 years, they want to be at this game. They want to take their kids to the game, so it’s going to be intense.
“(The Chiefs) are going to be able to run through that whole first half just with the energy from the crowd. They won’t have to bring any of their own energy because the crowd is going to be so juiced up. It is one of the (more fun) games you can play in because it’s what you dream of: playing and winning a Super Bowl and then coming back and giving out appreciation to your fans and them getting to celebrate that new banner being added to the stadium.”
McCourty is a “Football Night in America” analyst for NBC, and he’s not the only one from the network who is fired up about coming to Arrowhead Stadium next week.
The game, which kicks off at 7:20 p.m. and airs on KSHB (Ch. 41), will be called by Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth, with Melissa Stark working as the sideline reporter.
“It’s amazing after all the years that we’ve been doing this, you still feel that buzz at the start of football season,” Collinsworth said on a conference call. “Maybe it’s just me — but I don’t think so. I think that all around the country, with fantasy drafts and now you’ve got the gaming companies involved, there’s just an excitement in America when football season kicks back in again.”
‘Love going to Kansas City’
Collinsworth was in Kansas City in 2020, and he said while there were fewer people at Arrowhead that day, it didn’t take away from the fervor he felt around town.
“Kansas City is one of the great stadiums to come in to do a game anywhere,” he said. “Everybody always talks about you smell the barbecue and you see the people. But there’s just such a passion for what’s happening with the Kansas City Chiefs, and of course it all dates back to my buddy Len Dawson and what he was able to do in that city, as well.
“It’s different. It’s ... a fan base that has really seen the absolute best of football at the highest level. Their level of knowledge in discussions, at the hotel or driving around town and meeting people, is incredibly high.”
Stark said she was at the NFL Draft earlier this year and praised the job Kansas City did in hosting.
“Love going to Kansas City. I think the adrenaline rush, Cris talked about the adrenaline,” she said. “There’s nothing like being there live at the games. We’re so fortunate to have that be part of our jobs.”
‘One of the fun moments of the year’
Stark worked her first NFL Kickoff Game last year and it made a big impression on her.
“There’s nothing like it. It’s the beginning. Everyone has been waiting for however many days,” she said. “The countdown is on, and you’re there. It’s an absolute privilege to be able to be there and cover that game.”
Tirico believes the NFL Kickoff Game has a broad appeal.
“If you think about it, you can’t wait for preseason football to start — until preseason football starts,” Tirico said. “And then you’re like, ‘Come on, let’s get to the regular season.’
“Well, this is it, so when it’s on the tee at 7:15 Central time on Sept. 7, every team in the league and every fan base has some hope: ‘Our rookie quarterback is going to be better than he was in the preseason.’ Or, ‘We’re going to surprise people.’ Or, ‘Our team can get to the Super Bowl.’”
Tirico, who is in his second season as NBC’s lead NFL play-by-play voice, loves the matchup for the first of the 272 regular-season games.
“You think of the two teams there, Chiefs fans: ‘We can go back-to-back and be the first team since the Pats to do that,’” Tirico said. “And for the Lions’ fans all the whole buildup of this whole summer, let’s see if it’s for real.
“There’s a great energy to that opening game, and I think that’s really what’s built up. When you have Arrowhead and the Chiefs fans and the banner and all that stuff on top of it, it is really one of the fun moments of the year.”
