How the West Was Won: An interview with ChiefsLA

Mind you, I live in the mecca of Chiefs Kingdom— in Kansas City— and have watched dozens of games in local bars. However, nothing compares to the experience we had that day in the City of Angels. The two of us were in the midst of a group of the most engaging, warm and kind Chiefs fans we’d ever encountered inside or outside of the city limits. ChiefsLA turned out in spectacular fashion that day. A good three-quarters of the room donned a wide range of home Chiefs jerseys. The rest were decked out in Chiefs tees, Zubaz, hats and virtually everything else you could imagine embroidered with team insignia.

The volume inside of that mid-size bar reached deafening levels on various occasions throughout the game. When safety Eric Berry picked off a Matt Ryan pass he later returned for a Pick-Two, you couldn’t have heard police sirens in that room. The most striking part of that day was the hospitality of Dillon and the other ChiefsLA members who welcomed us with open arms. That day will go down as one of my fondest Chiefs memories of all-time.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Dillon to chat about his prized fan group.

When was ChiefsLA founded? 

We officially started ChiefsLA in 2012. It was the first and last year of head coach Romeo Crennel’s tenure and ended up being one of the most difficult seasons ever for our beloved Chiefs (both on and off the field). We would get a total of four to six fans per week at the bar (which is owned by a Missouri native). It was tough, but since that first season, it has only gotten bigger and bigger, becoming the largest Chiefs watch party on the West Coast.