POINT OF ORDER – Will the fans still come to Arrowhead?
Feb 21, 2008, 5:47:52 AM by Eileen Weir

In recent years we have seen, regretfully, that on critical issues
involving the Chiefs there is too little real debate, often simply
bumper sticker clichés reflecting common assertions that get passed around.

The Kansas City Chiefs have been one of the most popular franchises in
the NFL for the past 20 years. Playing in a small market they have
managed to attract nearly 80,000 fans per game and have had over 70,000
season ticket holders, something only three of the largest market teams
in the league can match. They’ve done that without ever winning a Super
Bowl. But now can support for Chiefs football be on the wane? Has the
air gone out of the Chiefs balloon that helped propel the team to one of
the best home records in the league these past two decades?

This is the fifth in a series of free flowing conversations among our
columnists where this time they will take a look at the future of Chiefs
fan support.

JONATHAN RAND: “There are a couple of ironclad rules when it comes to
fan support. Everybody loves a winner. You don’t build a fan base
overnight. And you don’t lose a fan base overnight.

“Fans buy tickets based on last year’s results more than next year’s
expectations. Virtually any team in pro sports will experience record
season ticket sales the year after winning a championship. And that
success will carry a team for years but not indefinitely. The post-1985
Royals can attest to that.

“The Chiefs haven’t seen peak enthusiasm from fans slip in one season.
And they won’t get it back in one season.”

EILEEN WEIR: “The threat is always out there that ticket holders will
abandon ship if the team fails to succeed, but the truth of the matter
is that a loyal fan base will remain through some pretty tough times. A
look at perennially underperforming teams shows that fans will fill
stadiums on a consistent basis out of love for their team and a desire
to attend a professional sporting event. The Chicago Cubs, Green Bay
Packers, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Phillies and others have at
times in their history made losing something to rally around. Their fans
proudly supported a cellar-dweller and wore their steadfastness as a
badge of honor.”

BOB GRETZ: “Given the 4-12 season and the inability or unwillingness of
the franchise to publicly admit that it was in a rebuilding mode, it’s
not unexpected or outrageous to think there are some negative thoughts
floating around.

“This reaction stands out because of the remarkable job the franchise
has done since 1989. Nowhere in a market the size of Kansas City and its
environs will you find an NFL team that has been supported as much, for
as long and did not win a championship. Look at the cities with similar
populations: Buffalo, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, New
Orleans, Nashville and Charlotte. Since 1989, among those cities there
are Super Bowl appearances in Buffalo, Indianapolis, Nashville and
Charlotte. There’s a Super Bowl victory in Indianapolis.

“None of those cities had the sustained fan attention and attendance
that Kansas City and the Chiefs had from 1990 through the 2006 season.
Buffalo went to a number of Super Bowl games, not winning any of them,
and they have so many problems selling out their stadium that they are
now going to play at least one game a year in Toronto. Cincinnati has
problems filling its new stadium these days with the bad football they
are seeing. Indianapolis had trouble selling all their tickets to the
Chiefs-Colts playoff game in ‘06 because fans had grown disenchanted
with the team and its inability to win it all. Jacksonville is covering
up seats in its stadium because it can’t sellout. New Orleans is a
different case due to the tragedy of Katrina. But before the hurricane,
the Saints were having trouble selling tickets. Nashville and Charlotte
always are struggling to sell all their seats because their teams have
played well, but have not delivered.”

RAND: “Most fans understand the Chiefs are rebuilding. But they don’t
want to hear about the labor pains. They want to see the baby before
they start looking for remaining spaces in the stadium and on the
bandwagon.”

RUFUS DAWES: “First and foremost, fans are defined as much by their
arguments as by their agreements, so even when things are going right
there is a part of the fan base that is unhappy or unsatisfied over
something or more likely somebody associated with the team. Over the
selection of a head coach, general manager, draft pick, player use, play
calling, whatever comments of any kind emanating from a team and its
members, fans are divided on. Look, people argue more from instinct than
information and they don’t see that many of a team’s problems are
universal, not just Kansas City-based.”

GRETZ: “What the Chiefs were able to do with the Kansas City community
over the last 15-years plus, was pretty remarkable. Arrowhead became a
feared place to play, not because of the stadium itself, the turf or the
weather. It was the combination of the teams that were put on the field
and the fans that filled the stands and made noise.

“For any of us who were in Arrowhead in the 1970s and 1980s, we know
there is nothing magical about the stadium itself. There was never any
home field advantage then because of crowd noise.”

DAWES: “The great baseball columnist for the Washington Post, Thomas
Boswell wrote that ‘you measure failure not in seasons, but in buildings
crumbled under the weight of defeat, parks that lasted longer than the
lives of men and now are gone.’

“For a large part of its history, nothing of real significance happened
at Arrowhead Stadium. The exploits of the great Chiefs teams that became
the success story of the fledgling American Football League were
conducted in Municipal Stadium, which when torn down and really built to
be a baseball stadium had become the heart and soul of the town’s love
of its professional sports franchise. Success in Arrowhead has really
only come in the past 19 years and not really much of it in the
post-season. So, don’t look at Arrowhead Stadium as the reason for all
the support, but to the fans who have peopled it all these years,
starting with those 26,000 or so who came over from Municipal and stuck
it out through the down years before Peterson and Schottenheimer revived
the franchise.”

GRETZ: “The crowds came again when the franchise showed it could compete
at the highest levels of the NFL. They’ve stayed through the last 17
years because the team continued to show it could compete at the highest
levels, or was not that far away. That changed in 2007 because it became
obvious at mid-season that the Chiefs were not going to be a real
contender. They weren’t even good enough to be a pretender.

“Things are different now. That’s OK. It won’t be like it was before, in
the 1990s. For many fans that was like a ‘first love.’ Everybody
remembers the passion that goes with the first time they fell head over
heals.

“But there’s no question that once the Chiefs show again that they can
compete for a title, the fans interest will return. They may be a bit
reticent at first, and it very definitely will be a Missouri ‘Show Me’
reaction, which is understandable.’

RAND: “Season ticket sales are based largely on supply and demand. If
season tickets are completely sold out and there’s a waiting list, many
fans won’t bail out even after a horrible season because they don’t want
to lose their seats. If season tickets are available, however, people
are less inclined to feel pressured to renew or buy new ones. And some
season ticket holders just sell their tickets each year until they
believe the team is ready to win again.”

WEIR: “Both the Chiefs and the Royals may likely feel the impact of new
entertainment options coming on board in Kansas City. Not long ago,
professional football and baseball were literally the only games in
town. With the addition of the Kansas Speedway, minor league baseball, a
new downtown events arena, the recent success of University of Kansas
and University of Missouri football, and enhanced urban and suburban
shopping and dining destinations, suddenly Kansas Citians have a surplus
of options tugging at them. There was a time when you wouldn’t dream of
doing anything else on a Sunday afternoon but watch or go to the Chiefs
game, partially influenced by the fact that there wasn’t much else to
do. The development of the city scene has changed that.”

RAND: “In an era of steep ticket prices, fans in all pro sports expect
more from their teams than they once did before they make a financial
commitment. It’s easier to say no when folks in the office, at the youth
baseball field or at the neighborhood barbecue aren’t as impressed as
they once were when you regale them about the previous Sunday’s victory
at Arrowhead and about what good seats you have.”

GRETZ: “Sports fans of the Midwest are supportive, but they talk with
their wallets. They want their teams to do well. They will support them
totally if they feel they have a chance to win. But they will not spend
money if they don’t feel like they are going to be entertained or have a
chance to win.”

RAND: “In an era of steep ticket prices, fans in any sport expect – no
they DEMAND – a first-class facility, a winning team and at least a few
all-stars. Lose any of these elements and fan support will suffer. The
Chiefs will have the first-class facility as soon as Arrowhead
renovations are finished and they have such stars as tight end Tony
Gonzalez, defensive end Jared Allen, running back Larry Johnson and
guard Brian Waters. But they have lost the winning shine and that
obviously is costly.

“Having said all this, Chiefs’ support at a low point still beats the
heck out of what most pro sports franchises enjoy at their highest level
of support. The Chiefs still sold all their tickets last season…”

DAWES: “History tells us that the environment has changed. A long time
ago, owners of professional teams, particularly baseball, argued that
the game relieved the monotony and tedium of employment in an industrial
society and made for worthwhile use of leisure time, away from bars and
street corners. The sports teams and leagues were as much an invention
of industrial American as they were an antidote to it.

“In time, the games – first baseball and then football – became
culturally significant. They assisted in creating something akin to mass
democracy, eventually bringing social classes together and popularized
some working-class characteristics like teamwork and toughness. .The
creation of a suite culture has tempered that some, but not to the
extent that’s been reported. Sport brings people together, not tears
them apart.

“But the days of teams drawing most of the money directly from a
committed group of patrons have vanished. Thanks to television, the
games can now be displayed to enormous audiences. Most of these people
are not fans in the old sense but instead value sport as an occasional
diversion and only indirectly pay for the costs of individual teams.”

WEIR: “Other professional sports towns suffer from this reality. People
who live in Southern California have better things to do on Sundays than
sit in a stadium to watch a football game, even a great football game.
The Super Bowl celebration at Giants Stadium drew only 20,000 people,
only about 25% of the facility’s capacity. The multitude of
entertainment options that exist in these areas draws away from
attendance. It is a lot easier to sell out a game in Green Bay. What
else is there to do?”

RAND: “Having seen the ups and downs of teams over the years, I’m seldom
surprised by the ebb and flow of fan support. The only thing that
startles me is to see thousands of season tickets unused, especially on
a fairly warm and sunny December afternoon. Call me old fashioned, but I
could never see myself burning about $200 I’ve already invested in two
season tickets plus parking.”

GRETZ: “Essentially it comes down to this: the Chiefs are the only hope
the sports fan of the Kansas City area has of winning a championship in
professional sports. The economic platform of major league baseball
right now does not allow the Royals to be a championship contender.”

DAWES: “What we must recognize is that in today’s media marketplace,
it’s like historian Victor Davis Hanson has said, ‘it is defeat that has
a thousand fathers, while the notion of victory is an orphan.’ Today’s
media make situations worse, which I know opens me up to criticism of
the don’t-blame-the-messenger type. But the fact remains that media see
the world as one big polarized place. What the press doesn’t realize is
that the public unhappiness or anger that they are constantly
referencing doesn’t really extend down very far into the fan base. It
fades pretty quickly as you get away from the media. A lot of what they
characterize as substantial unrest or as upheaval turns out to be little
more than a storm in a teacup that in time passes.

“Team success goes in cycles and the Chiefs are in one right now that is
not agreeable to anyone. But, as we have seen here and elsewhere, that
can change.”

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of
the Kansas City Chiefs.

A native of Binghamton, NY, with a B.A. in English Literature, Eileen
Weir once served as manager of public information and media services for
the Chiefs from 1992-2000. She currently is a society columnist for The
Examiner.

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"We've got to score touchdowns. Period." - Herm Edwards

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