Limited fans won’t be a problem for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020
The Kansas City Chiefs are limiting the attendance at Arrowhead Stadium to 22% of capacity this season, but this won’t affect the product on the field.
*THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN WITH THE HELP OF A SCREEN READER*
Welcome to sports in the year 2020.
Major League Baseball didn’t commence with its 60 game season until the end of July, the NBA and NHL are finishing off their seasons in environment bubbles that make me think of futuristic bubbles in fallout movies, and the NFL is charging full steam ahead at this moment.
As of right now, it appears that the 2020 NFL season will start on time with one teeny tiny little detail. Due to the ongoing threat of COVID-19, there will be no fans, or limited fans, in the stadiums.
Now, allow me to clarify, the NFL has yet to make a league mandate that no fans are allowed to attend games such as the MLB did, and it does not appear as though such a mandate is forth coming.
Rather they have left it to the discretion of the teams and the cities/states the teams reside in to make those decisions on whether or not fans will be allowed, and if so, exactly how many seats will be filled? The looming question is how much will not having any fans affect teams and the outcomes of games?
For the Kansas City Chiefs, the worst case scenario is that it will not affect them at all, and the best case scenario is that it might even aid them.
The last time we saw Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, Tyreek Hill ,and the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs on a football field, they were celebrating a Super Bowl win in the middle of a sold out Hard Rock Stadium. When we see them next, they will be watching as the Super Bowl banner is raised and shortly after, playing in front of a mere 16,000 fans, as opposed to the roughly 76,000 they are accustomed to.
Unlike other teams in the league, the Chiefs front office has stated that only 20% of fans will be allowed at Chiefs home games, amounting to roughly between 15,000 and 16,000 fans a game. Is it disappointing that more fans won’t be allowed during the Chiefs’ Super Bowl defending season? Absolutely, but will it negatively affect the team? Not at all.
Listen, any Kansas City Chiefs fan worth their barbecue sauce can tell you that Arrowhead is renowned throughout the league for being the loudest stadium in the National Football League, and it goes without saying. It clearly won’t be that this season, providing a slight advantage to Chiefs opponents when they come to town, but only slight.
I think we all agree, that when it comes to Super Bowls, this is not a one and done team, but rather they are built to last. Do the Chiefs get revved up from their screaming fans? Of course they do, but having only 20% of those fans will not changed the fact that this team is hyper focused and is built to last.
The Chiefs will come out guns blazing like they always do, and it will be because of the brilliant head coaching of Andy Reid, the strong loud voices in the locker room such as Chris Jones, Frank Clark and Tyrann Mathieu, and the constant encouragement and even a competitive challenge from their unquestioned leader Patrick Mahomes.
If there was ever a season that Kansas City and beyond needs football and needs their team to play their hearts out, it is this season, and the defending Super Bowl champs are well aware of that.
When the Chiefs take the field, I fully expect them to be playing even harder then they have before, not only to prove that the Chiefs will experience no Super Bowl hangover, but to play hard for their millions of fans watching at home and listening to voice of the Chiefs Mitch Holthus. Not to mention the 16,000 fans that will be in the stands.
Let’s talk more about how there will be less fans in the stands this season.
I might have failed high school Algebra, but I am pretty sure that 16,000 is about 60,000 shy of full capacity for Arrowhead stadium, so it will be on those fans to make sure they make that stadium sound like it is full. It is safe to say that every fan who walks through the turnstiles of Arrowhead Stadium this year will know how lucky they are to be there when so many others can’t be, and how we are lucky to have a football season at all.
Because of this, you can bet that those fans will be prouder and louder then they have ever been before, especially coming off the franchise’s first Super Bowl victory in 50 years. Chiefs Kingdom is well aware of the reputation it has for being the loudest fan base in the league, and those fans that will be in the stands will be doing everything in their power to make sure that reputation is maintained. There may not be 76,000 in the stands, but it is up to those that are there to make it feel and sound like every seat is full, and I expect those privileged Chiefs fans to bring the noise.
As I have stated above, I don’t find a 20% Arrowhead to be a problem at least when it comes to home field advantage. The Chiefs are unique in the fact that they are allowing any fans in the stands at all, for as things stand right now, they are the only team in the AFC West to do so.
I really do understand the disappointment of all the fans that some NFL games will be sparsely attended, and some not attended at all, truly I do, but I promise you that this will not affect our Chiefs. The important thing is that the organization can figure out a way to allow fans to safely attend games, as that’s the most important thing right now.
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The Chiefs love their fans, and nothing is better then a loud ruckus Arrowhead, but behind the brilliant mind and leadership of Andy Reid, the hyper competitiveness of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the 20% of Chiefs fans making their presence known and riding the momentum of a huge Super Bowl win the year before, this will not serve to even slightly derail the Chiefs’ season, for fans or no fans in the stands, the Kansas City Chiefs are getting ready to run it back.