Is Kansas City a Chiefs town or Royals town?
The answer is simple. BOTH!
Face it, everybody loves a winner and right now clearly the Royals are it. The team is about to win its first division title since 1985. Thirty years a loser until last year. So the fan base here is on fire. WE all know that.
The Chiefs? Eh, not so much.
Like most cities the fan base here is slow to turn out for a loser. However this town bled Chiefs red for a quarter century. However not since Joe Montana and his Chiefs beat the Houston Oilers in the 1993 playoffs, has KC won a post season game. And that team no longer exists.
The Chiefs have stunk it up and underachieved ever since.
Head Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer had some good teams from 91-97 but after that the Chiefs were no longer a force in the NFL. Never again. Truth be told, they have been a total failure. Total.
The Royals had their run with George Brett from 1975-85.
And yes we were a Royals town then because the Chiefs were awful.
The Chiefs were one of the NFL’s worst. Then after 1985 the Royals were the worst.
That’s when beleaguered KC fans had to turn to the Kansas Jayhawks.
Hey, that’s all we had.
Finally now the Royals are an elite team.
But for how long?
In any case, our winner starved town is in love with our boys in blue.
So yes, we’re currently a Royals town.
However if the Chiefs win the division and win a couple playoff games – woosh – they’re back on top. Sold out games, tons of Chiefs gear out there. “The home of the Chiefs” during the national anthem, for sure.
KC is a great sports town as proven by the support this city gave our main two terrible franchises for decades. The fans deserve a winner. Now they have at least one. I’ts the fans who should get paid – they’ve sure earned it!
Final answer:
We are both a Royals city and a Chiefs city.
First and foremost, KC wants to be recognized as special and the people who live here feel it’s mostly through our two pro teams the Chiefs and the Royals. Sadly that’s really all we are known for guys. And NO, the nation doesn’t think KC is a barbecue or a jazz city. They just don’t.
But they’ve surely heard of the Chiefs and the Royals.
P.S. they also never heard of the Plaza. Sorry.
Go Royals! Go Chiefs!
I thought study of THE PLAZA LIGHTS was mandatory in all 50 states in grade school.
whoodathunkit?
When you get down to it, what cities do consistently support losing teams anymore, at least for more than a year or two? Boston with the Red Sox and Chicago with the Cubs perhaps, but much of the attendance at these venues is made up of tourists. St. Louis has shown they won’t support losing football, despite having “the best fans in the world” for baseball.
Chicago has 10 million people within a few miles of that city…
boston has millions within driving distance…with that many people
its not hard to fill up a 40k seat stadium.
outside summer…kc has about a million people…
when Chicago and boston have that many people its not hard to sell
out games…and with the money the residents have its really lunch
money for many of them…especially all the major corpos located in
those cities who buy block of tickets.
kc on the other hand is losing corporate sponsors for lots of events
and hence they need a really good team (wich they have ) to fill up
the k.
Harley — KC, MO has a population of 466,600 (as of the 2013 census). The KC Metropolitan area (a total of 15 counties in both Kansas and Missouri) has around 2.34 million people.
By either count, your “million people” is way off.
Speaking of St. Louis…..The Cardinals just signed a TV deal with Fox worth $1 billion over 15 years.
The overall number looks big, but broken down year by year, it’s only about 66 million. In comparision, the Dodgers are getting about 300 million per year. Of course, those numbers are largely driven by the population in the surrounding area.
$66 million a year would pay for Zack Greinke, Robinson Cano and Tim Lincecum ….Just saying.
new York gets more than anyone for tv rights.
as far as population of kc….check the real numbes…
if you take the realcity and suburb numbers and
look at stats that matter….
when major companies do market research and demo
analysis they do not include 15 counties….they use
really he closest 5….that’s what matters….
to thepeople with money.
to people whot5hink its more..they are going wy
ot of their way to try and make the number bigger.
Harley — Jackson County and Johnson County account for over 1.2 million people — Do you agree that these counties are part of “the closest 5”?
Throw in Clay, Cass, and Wyandotte, and you over 1.7 million already.
You’re numbers are wrong, old man — admit it and move on.
wel glaze…I hate to say this but you’re wrong again.
Kansas city has always been a football town for the chiefs its justtha you
know nothing about anything having to do with sports.
Despite having a tough numberof years the chiefs do well in tv vhiewership
…in fact they more than double the royals. regardless of winning or losing
the chiefs on a sunday…even with terrible seasons draw anywhere from
250,000 to 350,000 viewers. takeinto account a Monday night game or
a Thursday nite game and those numbers go up.
I think its interesting that there’s no research here about whether this I
a football or baseball town. Just another shoot from the hip article you
write that makes no sense.
Stlouis is a baseball town today….drawing over 3 million a year in attendance
but they’re a larger market wth a winning record (one of the best records
in recent history).
to compare the chiefs of today to the royals of today is really not a fair
comparison.
here’s why. Most teams have windowsof opportunity likethe detroittigers
who have a period of time where they dominate their division or league
but its just a window of opportunity before it falls apart. Today…the tigers
announced their firesale of players because theyre basically out of contention
for division or playoff hopes.
Nothing lasts forever!
we love our sports.
Most of us (not you) are longtime fans. You arenot. You jump on the
bandwagon when you see something after it’s happened. Idoubt you’ve
been to a game recently…or even bought a ticket. Your work requires you to
be at your biz on game nights.
But we’ve had tens of thousands of fans who cheer our teams on win or lose.
Even with poor teams the cchiefs do extremely well for a small market and
their tv audience is incredible for the quality of the team.
You’re a fair weather fan….but still know nothing about what’s gong on
in this town or what’s happening with the teams.
Your travels have been limited. the world does not revolve around Hollywood
or your travels there.
Go to areas clse to kc…and even further///and if you meet or see people who
have visited kc….they know and love the plaza. When you see kc mentioned
on tv you usually seeand hear abot our bar b q and see pics of beautiful
buildings like the plaza/the fountains/performing arts center.
You havetried to run down this incredible city waytoo many times.
I just don’t think you get out of the tinsel town attidue much.
It’s an insult to those of us who love this city.
There really is no better place in America to live…point blank.
We’re the best kept secret the nation has….and regardless of your
constantly running this city down…we don’t care. Most of us
love it!
And when the royals win its exciting…when the chiefs win its
exciting….but even with losing seasons…to most of us…there’s
no place like our home.
Harley,
Please cease and desist. Your claims of graduation with respect to this esteemed institution are not only preposterous and unbelievable, they are an insult to any grade school student who has mastered the basics of the American vernacular.
You are the personification of a Dangling Participle. The very first word is contemptible and like all of your screeds, unnecessary.
You never graduated from MU, ever. You never graduated from high school, at least in Kansas. You probably never graduated from the 8th grade.
By the way, your desultory, vapid, inane takes on sports and the city, are, like yourself, tethered to mediocrity on your very best day.
Your insecurities and emotional, bi polar personality are on display far too frequently and are a “cringe worthy” pot hole on the kcconfidential hi way that everyone tries to avoid. The comments are like a Death Star Tractor Beam sucking in thousands and thousands of insults in the minds of readers, never articulated, always ignored in hopes that some day, it will just fu*kin die.
Here at the University Of Missouri School Of Journalism, we are in hopes of finding out your actual identity, so we can initiate litigation.
Is that you, chuck?! 🙂
got 10,000 cash to prove it. Big mouth loser…lets each give
hearne or an arbitrator 10,000 cash and let me prove that
I went to grade school/middle/high in Kansas and graduated
with honors from j school (the best one in the nation) from
mizzou. Sorry big mouth loser…you’re like the rest of the
con men on kcc…lots of talk but no money.
lets do it!!!! put your yearly salary against my 10K…or you’re
nothing like the losers who write on here who are liars
and b.s. experts.
I know you wont…you can’t scratch quarters together so
you write on here.
I’ve offered wislon and the sad crying clown…hearne and anyone who has 10K to lose to Harley this same
proposition.
You have no b*lls…just a lot of vomit coming out of your
mind trying to insult Harley the wizard.
good luck…now see if the sad clown has any holes needing
work on troost.
put up or shut up….or just go sit in your moms basement.
So harlinator is a wizard now? Attend Hogwarts in your spare time between journalism degrees and mail-in law degrees?
I see Harley. So all these sold out Royals games matter not? Frankly I am an NFL fan. I don’t dig the MLB being made up almost comletely now of Latin American players who don’t even speak English. My lord all those interviews today with an interrupoter. It’s a bit disturbing. Its not even a sport repped by Americans anymore. The royals are mainly foriegn as well. I think that hurts baseball here when the boys in Blue are from CUBA for lords sake. Or wherever. A few ok, but the entire team?
So in a way you are right I think deep down we love the Chiefs more, they have just sucked so when that changes the town will change.
again wrong glaze….you don’t like the south of the border players because
they cant speak Spanish.
they said that about many minorities who came here for years.
But that’s the changing demographic I have outlined before. The
look of America is changing…and since you neverbeen to a game
you probably just fund out that manyt mlb players are Spanish speaking
when the facts show its been going on for many many years. Remember
valeenzuela or all the Spanish speaking players that have been in the
mlb. Obviously you’re not a baseball fan or you would have known
this long ago….jut anoter fair weather fan you are.
And what about bball…notice all the non American plyers there…from
Ukraine/Lithuania/Europe….yes first round draft choices!!!!!!!
you maybe need to watch a bball game….
But it get better….because now Cuban players will enter the mlb and if
you know anything (which I sometime wonder) there are so many
Cuban players that eventually they could overtake 60% of the league.
then theres soccer…the greatestplayers are not American…they’re
Spanish speaking from brazil/mexico/…Europeans from spain…Portugal
etc.
glaze don’t act like te old men like chuck and others on here…
the world is changing…spports is no longer American….its spread
throughout the world and now with hundreds of sports stations americans
will soon be the minority of players inmost sports except probably for
hockey.
get your facts….read the numbers…do an analysis…and maybe while
your doing some 25 year old you can read about war/obs stats…that
wouldhelpyour writing!
have a great day….your friend Harley.
“…again wrong glaze….you don’t like the south of the border players because
they cant speak Spanish.”
After extensive “RESEARCH” we here at the University Of Missouri School Of Journalism have determined that in fact, yes, south of the border players actually do speak Spanish.
We will be in touch with you by subpoena.
read it and weep…misspelled a word.
sorry…but get your 10K together and lets
see wwho the real manis.
I’ll even give odds to the fool on the hill.
Also won 2 awards from donrey media group….
bring on the cash pussy dude.
Harley will even show up to collect the 10K.
and if you’re lucky i’ll let you get my pic.
Where’s wislon….hunting big game animals
in Wyandotte county.
Miss the guy. He’s a huge ball of laughs.
glaze…get some stats..even with all these “foreign” plauers you talk
about kc ranks as one of the top baseball cities in the nation…
tv vhiewership of all star game…thru the roof.
viewership of regular games…thru the roof…
we love our baseball nd don’t care who’s wearing the uniform.
you’d make a great speech writer for don trump (lol)
Come on, Glaze — As Will Ferrell said, “There’s nothing more American than grabbing a hotdog, heading to the ballbark, and watching 9 guys from the Dominican Republic make magic on the field…”
I would lay odds that over half of the foreign players in MLB have a better grasp of the English language than you do.
Can we please get CG an interrupoter so the rest of us can understand what the hell he is trying to say?
an I guarantee they are better people than many of those
whoclaim to be great like the writers at kcc.
Uh, let’s see, drunken, druggie, wife/girlfriend-beating, cheating football players vs some Latin Americans. The preference should be easy.
Good Lord this is a tired, lazy and meaningless debate. Baseball town or football town? How can that even be quantified? For the lousy product that has been put on the field for so many years by BOTH organizations, KC has done a remarkable job of supporting its hometown teams. Put a winner on the field and the support increases. This is a mystery to someone? Wow.
In regards to how anyone outside this city looks at KC? Who cares?! Not a BBQ town? Ummmmm, OK. There are a hand-full of cities in the US that are considered BBQ towns. KC is most certainly included in those. #1 or #10? Again, who cares?! We love our BBQ and don’t give damn if anyone else does or not.
Does anyone really spend any time worrying about KC’s image and how it is viewed around the country? Apparently, we all live here for a reason. We like it. Always have. Personally, I could give a rat’s ass what anyone else thinks about it.
Just enjoy the ride we are on with the Royals, CG! These things do NOT last. Just like taking honors on the tee-box. Everyone else gets to look at our asses.
nicd points jim…glad you agree with Harley.
Nothing lasts forever…we better enjoy it while we have it (like tigers)..
because in 3 or 4 years the royals will be all new players…
hosmer/gordo/esky/cueto/davis/Holland/Herrera/perez/etc will
all be gone and hopefully we have the farm system and new players
to keep us competitive.
nice article…and yes…we’re here because we love this city. We don’t
bang on it constantly because our team isn’t in the playoffs every year…
have fun..like your ideas.
well.. KC definitely a sport town — 5 of the 6 “trending” – (most viewed) stories on the KC Star website this morning were about the Royals — usually that way about the Chiefs during football season too..
kinda wish the town would be more interested in the news of the country, and the world — but – at least they’re not reading the horrific uber-lib opinion section op-eds by racists like Lewis Dikweed, Sanchez et el.
Unless KC channels an Austin vibe and tries to kick a little ass on its BBQ joints, KC is always gonna be a Cowtown to me. Just ride a two-seater bike sometime around the west and northern portions of the 435 loop. You’ll see enough of those bovine beasts to make Chick Fil A’s Dan Cathy wanna go to church on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
Love how every sports story about KC has to contain George Brett. Course like Glazer he is the definition of douchebaggery. Anyone that has ever had to deal with King George cringes at the thought of him representing any part of KC.
Maybe he is our most famous guy… he is Mister KC as evidenced by his million shots during the playoffs and world series….alone. Like it or not he is KC. GEORGE BRETT.
P.S. what about Brett is so bad? I know he drinks and sometimes is a bit over the top with that, but what else is so bad? He handles the media well. Clearly loves the Royals and KC.
he’s an arrogant asshole, that’s what’s ‘so wrong.’ big fish, small pond, regardless of his HOF credentials.
Heard enough yet? No? Many years ago, when George was young and single, I had a friend who had firsthand knowledge of what a womanizing a-hole he was (is?). Maybe that’s why you don’t see anything wrong with him, CG.
Brett is and always has been a douche bag. I remember in spring training in Ft. Meyers on Easter Sunday years ago the time that every Royal player that was approached for an autograph on family day gave my two young daughters their signatures but ONE. Yes, it was #1 asshole George. My wishes were answered when I hoped he would not bat 400 in 1980. Stan Musial, Ted Williams and Willie Mays make GB look like the punk he is.
Baseball, football, MLS Cup & US Open Cup winner, NCAA basketball champion, 2 NASCAR races.
KC is neither. It’s a sports town.
Agreed it is.
“Which Is It: A Baseball Town or a Football Town?”
– both had their heyday in the sun, and both have brought up the rear… the distinction being which team was/is winning*. Originally, Kansas City was more of a baseball town than a football, based on each (Athletics/Chiefs) team’s first games played here regular season. (* the national past time debate beside the point.)
1955, the Athletics drew 32,147 their home opener, while 8 years later the defending AFL Champion Texans/Chiefs managed a mere 27,801 fans their initial game… when one considers a football season is far shorter than a baseball team’s number of games, it was a big disappointment for the new team/sport in town, limited exposure/chance to impress theirs.
Winning however, no matter the sport, cures (most) everything, most of the time.
The Chiefs, unsuccessful on the field their first three seasons in KC, began investigating a move elsewhere (to LA) in 1965, after attendance fell by more than 3,000 per game between 1963 and 1964. This interest continued into ’66, when, fortunately, KC finally had a successful season which ended thoughts of moving.
On the other hand, the A’s, unsuccessful forever here, actually had a higher than the AL average attendance in 3 of their first 4 years here, from 1955-1959. Attendance actually increased again in 1963 when Charles Finley arrived, only to drop in 1964 & again in 1965. In 1966 attendance increased – as too did the A’s on field performance – before dipping again slightly at the gate & on-field, in 1967.
Finley, who began looking for a new home for the A’s as early as his first season in KC 1963 (but was rebuffed by the AL each time that he tried), finally managed to get AL approval to move, so to Oakland they went post ’67 and (naturally) shortly thereafter they won 3 consecutive World Championships.
Patience yesteryear for losing teams was not embraced by the locals, whereas today (despite the losers deux be the Royals 30 years & Chiefs 45), support even the also-rans they both be/have been for decades now, continues (tho, as Kerouac referenced at the beginning this missive, football having surpassed baseball as the ‘national past time’ by the 1970’s, according most measures, is an aid to the Chiefs in particular.)
In general, baseball is a poor second to football in America, as it is in Kansas City.