Major trades and Dorsey’s sweatshirts: Inside the Chiefs draft party
By Britt Zank
I’ve been to all but one of the Kansas City Chiefs draft parties, and the 2017 one was the best one yet!
It started with the fact that on a cool, cloudy night, the Chiefs were smart and opened the doors a little early when they saw the line outside. The gates weren’t supposed to open until 6:00 p.m., but they ended up opening them at around 5:45pm. It wasn’t a big deal, but for people standing around in the cold, it was much appreciated.
Once inside we went straight for the food! This year the Chiefs made all the food complimentary, and it was delicious. They had everything from hot dogs and chips, to steak tips and baked beans. This was a generous move by the Chiefs toward their season ticket holders. The Chiefs weren’t scheduled to pick until 27 and that pick didn’t happen until 9:45pm. That means the Chiefs were ready to feed 2,000+ people for four hours. That’s a lot of food to give away. Drink wise the Chiefs didn’t disappoint either; sodas and water were on the house all night. The only thing they made you pay for was alcohol, but even then, they gave you the first one free.
That’s when we heard the magic words. “There has been a trade at number ten, and the Kansas City Chiefs are on the clock.”
Lucky for my Dad and me,, we were able to use our reward points to get seating in the reserved area. For those who haven’t taken advantage of this, you need to mark down to do it next year. We were able to sit at a nice table with room to stretch and leave our things ten feet from the stage. The best part of course is that in that area there are no food lines and the alcohol is free. I was even fortunate enough to sit by a few loyal Arrowhead Addict readers including one Dr. Dan (@DanSchmutz on Twitter). He was there with some friends, and we had some great chats throughout the night about not only the Chiefs picks, but picks in general.
Steven St. John from 810WHB and the voice of the Chiefs Mitch Holthus kicked off the draft with some great emcee work. Those two did fantastic all night giving great insight and analysis to the draft. They had guests on the stage from general manager John Dorsey to Chris Jones. But they didn’t overdue it either as the majority of the party was the coverage from NFL Network playing on all the big screens. It was the perfect combination of local input with national coverage.
My dad and I watched the picks come in and ate our food until pick No. 6 came and went. At that point, the trade talks had calmed down and I wasn’t expecting anything crazy again until the Cleveland Browns picked at No. 12. So we decided to walk around and see what else was going on at the party since we hadn’t left the reserved area since we got there. We made our way to the back of the practice facility, where they had former players signing autographs and a merchandise area.
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The line for autographs was small so we hopped in line and got autographs from players like Bill Mass, Anthony Davis and Danan Hughes. I don’t know about you guys, but getting autographs from guys I grew up watching is still pretty cool. After that we went to the merchandise area to get some new Chiefs gear for the family. They were having a 30% off special so we were looking around and had a few shirts in our hands in no time. That’s when we heard the magic words. “There has been a trade at number ten, and the Kansas City Chiefs are on the clock.”
We immediately threw our shirts back on the rack and hurriedly made our way back to our seats. Everyone else had the same idea as all the booths around the facility emptied out and people clamored back to their places. We made it back as Chris Jones was jumping around on stage getting the crowd hyped, like we needed any help. There had been rumors of the Chiefs trading up for a linebacker so not everyone was sure we were taking a quarterback. St. John actually gave Jones a microphone, and he proceeded to tell the crowd, “Let’s go, guys. We know what we need, and what this pick has to be… DEFENSE”.
Jones then tried to start a “Reuben” chant. I could appreciate his excitement and enthusiasm, but nobody joined his chant because no one in the crowd wanted anything besides quarterback. Holthus announced the terms of the trade before the pick was made and that’s when it became clear that a quarterback was the pick, the only question was whether it be Deshaun Watson or Patrick Mahomes II.
Out came NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell who announced the pick of Patrick Mahomes as the first quarterback taken by the Chiefs in the first round since 1983. The crowd erupted in the biggest cheer I’ve heard at the party since Eric Berry was drafted. People where jumping up and down, high fiving and hugging all over the facility. At our table
The crowd erupted in the biggest cheer I’ve heard at the party since Eric Berry was drafted.
we were high fiving and shaking hands as everyone at our table loved the choice of Mahomes over Watson. Holthus and St. John were like two kids in a candy store on stage as they talked about the guts it took to move up seventeen spots to get him. The place was abuzz and I don’t think anyone inside that building could tell you who the next five picks where at the time. Everyone was talking about the trade and the choice of Mahomes. I did hear a few people wish they took Watson, but nobody I talked to had anything bad to say about the fact the Chiefs traded up to make the selection.
As awesome as the night and that selection was, it wasn’t the best thing that happened to the Zanks. The best thing that happened to us happened when we got to have our meet and greet with Mr. Dorsey. We were escorted to the back by two Chiefs fan experience employees, Carly Brandt and Xochitl Glaser. As we got to the back, Mr. Dorsey was walking to the stage to talk to the crowd, so we had to wait until he was done.
We chatted with the girls about how great the event was and how much it had changed in one year. My dad asked them if they knew where Mr. Dorsey got his sweatshirt, because he’s looked everywhere but can’t find one. The girls laughed and said, “Nobody knows. He won’t tell anyone.” Just about then, he came down from the stage and greeted us with a huge smile almost as if he was there to see us. We complimented him on the great party, and he said the party was all about the employees like Carly and Xochitl who worked so hard all year long. He couldn’t give enough praise to the staff for all the hard work they’d done, and how he viewed that night as the kickoff for the 2017 season.
We then took a picture and he shook our hands and laughed as he said he should probably go do some work. My dad stopped him and said, “I have just one question if I can ask you.” The conversation that happened next was amazing!
My dad’s question was, “You’ve spent all these hours, watching film, interviewing players and breaking down film all in preparation for tonight. So I have just one question, where do you get your sweatshirts?” Mr. Dorsey laughed and said, “You know I get them from a little clothing shop in Wisconsin.” Dad said, “Well I was born in Lacrosse, Wisconsin.” Mr. Dorsey “Really? You know what, what size do you wear?” Dad “A 2X.” Mr. Dorsey “Wait right there. I’ll be right back.”
Mr. Dorsey walks back out and throws a sweatshirt to my dad and said, “From one Wisconsin guy to another.”
He then turned and walked into his office, which was right behind us. We turn and the girls are looking at us like we discovered the secret of life. Mr. Dorsey walks back out and throws a sweatshirt to my dad and said, “From one Wisconsin guy to another.” He shook our hands one last time and said he had to get back to work enjoy the party. My dad smiled the biggest smile I’ve seen on him in years and said, “This made my night, so anything else you do is icing on the cake.”
As he walked away we turned around and there were 10 Chiefs employees staring at us like we were aliens. They all wanted to get a picture of dad in the sweatshirt as they couldn’t believe what they had seen; Mr. Dorsey had given my dad one of his personal Chiefs sweatshirts. After many pictures Carly and Xochitl walked us back out to the public area and again told us how unbelievable that was.
The rest of the night my dad walked around the party like he was king of the world. Multiple people asked where he got the sweatshirt and couldn’t believe the story. I still couldn’t believe how fantastic Mr. Dorsey was. On the busiest night of his year he treated us like we were the celebrities and then gave my dad the sweatshirt off his back simply because he asked about it. He won’t be a perfect GM, but he is one of the best men I’ve ever been around.
The party mirrored him as it exuded class and generosity from start to finish. I don’t know what the draft party will look like next year without a first round pick, but you can bet we’ll be there. The only problem will be how can I top this year for my dad?