Is Kansas City a baseball or football town?

[Wildcat2005]

Perhaps a bit unfair in the wake of a World Series championship, but does anyone view Kansas City as a baseball city?

They were talking about it this morning on the radio and I heard a guy mention that KC was more into the Royals in the 70s and 80s than ever into the Chiefs.

I can't comment on the accuracy of that statement, but other KC natives might have other insight.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Bowser

The problem is, the Royals were SO bad for SO long that the town just wholeheartedly embraced the Chiefs to escape the suck of the Royals. The fact that the Chiefs were actually really competitive and won a few AFC West titles along the way didn't hurt, either.

Growing up I knew the town as a baseball town, but I think Keg hit it - we just support winners. Look no further than Sporting KC and the mad support they get.

I lived in KC from '81 to 2000, but I was born there so counting the 80s probably isn't all that useful.

So yeah, it may just be because of when I grew up that it's always seemed a football town. But like I said, I think the reaction to the lean years is telling. Chiefs fans flew banners and put 30K guys in the stands wearing black. Fans who were fed up with only about 5 years of abject suck made national headlines in Kansas City.

The was certainly never the case with the Royals. The passion just wasn't there and it was never there in the 90s, even as they were descending from their peaks of the 80s. The fans skipped right over outrage and when to apathy. Hell, it didn't even take that long. By the 90s when I was in school, I can name the 3 big Royals fans in my class of 300 people. Nobody gave a shit just a few years after the Royals were fielding HOFers.

Most towns, when you get down to it, are largely bandwagon towns. But some really do have an identity and to me, KC can make that claim. The 'loudest stadium in the NFL'. The incredible tailgate scene. Red Friday even when they're bad. The fact that the best Royals conversation online is almost certainly on a Chiefs football board - it all points to a conclusion that Kansas City is a football town. Sure, they'll back a winning baseball team, but it's still a football town.

[KCUnited]

I agree that KC is still a football town, but the banner flying days for the Chiefs are likely over. Too much apathy has set in, plus the addition of an alternative option, at least in the short run.

[ChiefsCountry]

In the first 20 years of the franchise history, they never finished lower than 5th in the AL West. 15 of the 20 years either 1st or 2nd in the division. Royals just hit their decline in probably the worst time possible. Brett era had just gotten over, they had a really good team in 1994 but then strike hit. Strike really did paralyze baseball pretty good. NFL took off stronger then (Chiefs were in the last year of Joe Montana era) and Jordan was the NBA. Baseball started to come back with the McGwire and Sosa home run chase and Ripken's streak but the Royals kept fumbling away. Traded away their 3 superstars and got back nothing really. Then the 4 out of 5 100 loss seasons just bottomed out. All of this combined with the Cardinals rise to their winning streak. That just ate away with most of outstate Missouri fan base. Not to mention Iowa, parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas etc. Franchise bottomed out for 17 years from the strike until 2013.

Football is basically king across all of America anyways. Hell even in St. Louis, the Rams still drew decent and get good TV ratings as well. It's just the NFL beast.

[ChiefsCountry]

The banner stuff wasn't just about the play on the field. It was about the Gestapo type organization that Pioli was running. The dick made the entire organization toxic in all phases. Even when the Royals were in 100 loss seasons, the K was still enjoyable to go to even if the product was horrible.

[HonestChieffan]

Its a great baseball city. Royals fans do understand the game and are passionate. The fan base is young old black white male female.

Its a good football city. It does not have any decent competition, MU and KU sort of have their homer types but generally both are uninteresting to the masses. The Chiefs have an amazing stadium and at least Carl knew the tailgating was essential to filling seats. Now its lost the shine it had. Pioli ****ed up the entire parking experience and tailgating. And the product has gone to shit as tickets went up. Stll, its easy to be a Chief fan cause Denver eats shit and the Rams are a joke

[a pp roach]

Despite not having a team, id have to say 🏀

[Raiderhater]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

In the first 20 years of the franchise history, they never finished lower than 5th in the AL West. 15 of the 20 years either 1st or 2nd in the division. Royals just hit their decline in probably the worst time possible. Brett era had just gotten over, they had a really good team in 1994 but then strike hit. Strike really did paralyze baseball pretty good. NFL took off stronger then (Chiefs were in the last year of Joe Montana era) and Jordan was the NBA. Baseball started to come back with the McGwire and Sosa home run chase and Ripken's streak but the Royals kept fumbling away. Traded away their 3 superstars and got back nothing really. Then the 4 out of 5 100 loss seasons just bottomed out. All of this combined with the Cardinals rise to their winning streak. That just ate away with most of outstate Missouri fan base. Not to mention Iowa, parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas etc. Franchise bottomed out for 17 years from the strike until 2013.

Football is basically king across all of America anyways. Hell even in St. Louis, the Rams still drew decent and get good TV ratings as well. It's just the NFL beast.

This cannot not be understated. I know I turned my back on my first sports love. I was finished with MLB. And the Royals becoming a yearly embarrassment made it easy for me to stay mad. It wasn't until about 5-6 years ago when I was tending bar and started watching playoff baseball again that I started realizing how much I missed the game and started the process of forgiving.

I would also add that the resolution that came out of that strike hurt just as much. All of the sudden KC as a small market team could not compete with the Yanks they way they had before. I believe that had as much to do with a lack of a fan revolt as anything: the perception that sure, the club could do more, but they were too disadvantaged to do enough so why bother?

Thankfully, it has been figured out that there are ways to compensate for that disadvantage and we all love baseball again.

[FlaChief58]

If the Chiefs ever decide to get serious about winning, it can be both

[Toby Waller]

its a meat eating town

[TLO]

A soccer town!/ |douche|

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by Li'l Smokey

A soccer town!/ |Zach|

FYP

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

I think you could take yesterday's gather X 2 if the Chiefs won the Super Bowl.

Probably not because the weather most likely wouldnt be nearly as nice in early Feb

[DaveNull]

Seems to me that anymore baseball is much more democratic in general. More games, generally the cost is lower, not much of a chance to have some asshead pour a beer on your kid's head.

Baseball can have greater participation across the city than football can because of the cost of tickets and the much smaller number of games.

This has always been a baseball town, it just took us 15 years to get over the bitterness over the strike and years of non-ownership and then ownership that hadn't quite figured out that fielding a winner could be more profitable than fielding a team that was always just on the cusp of breaking through.

[Bl00dyBizkitz]

Whichever team is winning pretty much. It's honestly just a sports town, both the Chiefs and the Royals get a lot of love.

[Toby Waller]

its a bidet town!