KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Hundreds of cars lined up at the gates to the Truman Sports Complex early Monday afternoon, nearly seven hours before the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs were to play the New Orleans Saints at Arrowhead Stadium.
Many of those cars will probably be back Wednesday, when the Royals play the Yankees in their AL Division Series.
In the meantime, thousands of Chiefs fans dressed in red who showed up early to tailgate also had blue on their minds with both of their major pro sports teams in action. The Royals, who lost Game 1 to the Yankees on Saturday night, were trying to even the series in New York with the first pitch scheduled for about an hour before the Chiefs played the Saints.
“I wish the best to the Chiefs tonight that they can win the game,” Royals catcher Salvador Perez said before first pitch in the Bronx. “For us, too. I think it’s a city of champions; that’s how they call Kansas City.”
It turned out to be a winning night all around. The Royals beat the Yankees 4-2 shortly before the Chiefs polished off a 26-13 victory over the Saints, moving them to 5-0 heading into their bye week.
“My hat goes off to Matt and the job he did with that crew getting a playoff win against a pretty good Yankees team,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, a huge baseball fan who sold peanuts at Dodger Stadium in his younger days. “Impressive.”
Kansas City’s sports fans have been living a charmed life for the better part of the last decade.
Sporting Kansas City won the MLS Cup in 2013 to begin the title tide, but it really picked up pace when the long-suffering Royals — who play about 200 yards away from Arrowhead Stadium at neighboring Kauffman Stadium — won back-to-back AL pennants in 2014 and ’15, and captured their first World Series title in 30 years by beating the New York Mets.
Then came the Chiefs, who had not hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in five decades before Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes led them past the 49ers in 2020. Now, the latest NFL dynasty has won two straight championships and three of the past five, and have a chance to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls this season.
“I can say from my perspective, once we moved to Kansas City, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Royals manager Matt Quatraro, who took over last season after coaching the Rays. “The support for the Chiefs last year — phenomenal. You’re in your neighborhood and they score a touchdown, you hear cannons going off. Parties every weekend when they’re playing.”
When you combine the Royals and Chiefs, the city has won four championships in the four major sports in the last decade. By comparison, New York has not won any between the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Rangers, Islanders, Knicks and Nets.
In fact, New York hasn’t won a title across the major sports leagues since 2011, when the Giants won the Super Bowl.
You can bet Kansas City fans are reveling in the success, too. They regularly turn out hours before kickoff for Chiefs games for arguably the best tailgating scene in the NFL, while the jerseys of Perez and Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. have started to fly off shelves as the club went from a 106-loss laughingstock a year ago to a playoff team this season.
“What a great job they’ve done to this point, and I know they’re fired up to keep on going,” Reid said. “I know we’re all glad to have them coming back here and having another chance to see them play.”
The success has made the Truman Sports Complex, just east of downtown Kansas City along Interstate 70 in an area that hardly could be considered bustling, the place to be whenever either of the teams is playing at home.
“I think the setup we have there is very unique with both stadiums side-by-side,” Quatraro said. “I’m excited for (the Chiefs). It’s a great time to be there, and the community supports both teams. You can feel it just walking down the street, you can see more Royals fans out in front of people’s houses. It’s a lot of fun.”
For many years, the two franchises seemed to want little to do with each other. But as both rose to prominence, Royals players became frequent visitors to Arrowhead Stadium and vice versa.
The bond was strengthened when Mahomes — whose father was a big league ballplayer — bought a share of the Royals.
He’s been keeping close tabs on the team, by the way, building a tight relationship with Witt over the past couple of years. And regardless of what happens Monday night, Mahomes sounds as if he’s planning to be there for Game 3 on Wednesday — maybe even Game 4 on Thursday, if the series comes to that — despite the Chiefs having next week off.
“I’ve heard all the stories of how awesome the environment was the last time they were in the playoffs, and they’re going up against a great baseball team in the Yankees,” Mahomes said. “They’re hungry and playing great baseball right now, and then to be at the K — a sold-out crowd hopefully, and I get to see that October baseball there, it’s going to be special.”
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AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed.
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