Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs is another professional franchise from Missouri. It appeared in 1959 and debuted in football in the next season. KSC was one of the migrants from AFL in 1970 after the merger with the NFL. Thus, they compete in the AFC West Division.

This is the team of champions. I came to such a conclusion when I investigated their title history. They won AFL in 1962, 1966 and 1969 before the merger. Then Their fate was reduced despite their regular qualification to the playoff. But the team won two Super Bowls in 2019 and 2022.

The team has used several training facilities in various states. These university facilities were tightly connected with the owners until they stopped at the University of Kansas. For example, when Lamar Hunt owned the KCS, they had their camp at Southern Methodist University, which was his alma mater.

The latest arena for the Chiefs is the Arrowhead Stadium. This facility opened in 192 and had a couple of renovations and reconstructions, which helped to reach the fifth capacity in the NFL – 76716 visitors. The average ticket price in the inaugural season was $81. The team had 155 consecutive sellout games from 1991 to 2009 season. The experts considered it one of the finest stadiums in the USA.

The team has strong rivalries with the divisional competitors from Denver, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The Chiefs didn’t establish strong intra/interconference rivalries. Unfortunately, the Governor’s Cup is currently suspended, as Missouri has no professional teams except the Chiefs. It involved the battle of Kansas Chiefs with St Louis teams Cardinals before they relocated to Phoenix and the Rams on their way to Los Angeles. Patrick Mahomes developed a strong rivalry with his Bills colleague Josh Allen and Bengals’ quarterback Joe Burrow.

KCS had several mascots. The first was the bareback horse Warpaint, introduced in 1963 to 1968, despite the animal dying in 1992. The horse performed the circle around the stadium at the start of each home game of the Chiefs. After each touchdown, it circled some victory laps. It returned in 2009 but retired in 2021 due to changes in the Native American imagery rules.

K.C. Wolf has been the reserve mascot since the 1980s. Today it’s the primary team’s symbol. The cheerleading group is their assistant during the game. This group also participates in branded events and contests.

The list of retired numbers includes ten positions. Some players spent their entire careers in Kansas Chiefs, like Emmit and Derrick Thomas. Numbers 16 and 28 were the property of the single players – Len Dawson and Aber Haynes. More players became part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but their numbers are in the circuit. These are quarterback Warren Moon, safety Johnny Robinson and others.

Lamar Hunt joined the Hall of Fame as the coach and franchise founder, like many other founders. Other coaches on this list are Marv Devy, Dirk Vermeit and others.

Some of these coaches are part of the club’s Hall of Fame. Chiefs have the annual tradition to honour the famous players who contributed much to the team’s future. The performer must play for four seasons in the team’s roster and then be out of the NFL for four years. Some players like Joe Delaney and Derrick Thomas were exceptions because of their early deaths.