Fantasy football might help the Kansas City Chiefs marketing problems

The Kansas City Chiefs should enjoy a serious boost of attention in 2018 as their offense is quickly becoming a well-known fantasy football commodity.

The Kansas City Chiefs have a bit of a marketing problem.

That’s not necessarily the fault of any department or person. Kansas City is a smaller market centered in the heartland, and these states are called “flyover” for a reason. Compared to the bright lights of New York, the over-abundance of attention paid to the entire East Coast or the market size of Los Angeles, it’s impossible to compare apples to oranges.

It also hurts the Chiefs that the on-field product hasn’t historically been great. A single Super Bowl from decades ago won’t exactly compel fans outside of the region to buy jerseys or root for the team. Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys remain “America’s Team” due to their many Super Bowl wins and Jerry Jones’s marketing acumen. The Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers also stand out as storied franchises, where a winning culture has built a national fan base as well.

Look at any merch-selling lists and you’ll be hard-pressed to find any Chiefs mentioned. It was a big deal that Travis Kelce made the NFL’s top 50 merch sales list earlier this spring, a sign that his charismatic personality is serving the team very well. It also doesn’t hurt that he had his own reality show. Some fans might cry foul over such extracurricular activities in some “get off my lawn” tirade, but the reality is the team’s bottom line benefits greatly from attention—at least the good kind.

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Enter the 2018 season, a perfect chance to add significant position attention to the team’s brand. The Chiefs are once again in primetime as much as any other franchise in the NFL. Andy Reid’s winning ways have brought the spotlight onto the team, and now there’s a real chance for a leap forward in respect and popularity if they can perform well in these scenarios.

Even more, fantasy football should also be a serious boon for the team’s popularity this year in particular. A great example is found over at Sports Illustrated, specifically on their recent staff mock draft. Twelve players selected their teams via draft and Chiefs players made up 3 of the first 32 overall picks.

Kareem Hunt is always going to be the first Chiefs player taken in fantasy drafts and for good reason. Running backs generate the most points in a typical scoring format, and Hunt is a two-way threat who led the league in rushing in his rookie season. After another year of experience and working out, Hunt should be even better in his sophomore season, assuming good health.

From there, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce are the others to be chosen so early. In the SI draft, they were selected at No. 26 and 32, respectively. Hill was the best deep threat in the NFL last season and Kelce is arguably the best tight end in the NFL at this point (given Rob Gronkowski’s health concerns). Both players should project similar stats to last year, which means over 1,000 yards receiving for both to go with several touchdowns apiece. Hill also adds a return element that makes him even more valuable.

This doesn’t even touch Sammy Watkins, taken in the sixth round in the Sports Illustrated draft, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, taken in the seventh. In short, several Chiefs players should be taken early in fantasy drafts all over the country, which means a lot of football fans watching the Chiefs results very closely along the way.

We typically become fans of a player that we connect with. It wasn’t a logo that sold me on the Chiefs, but it was watching Christian Okoye run with that logo on his uniform that made me a fan. We become enamored with a player as they excel on the field. It’s exciting to watch Kelce create such incredible mismatches over the middle. It’s thrilling to watch Tyreek Hill run right past the fastest defensive backs in the NFL. It’s incredible to see just how many times Kareem Hunt can bounce off of would-be tacklers.

Next: Predicting Madden's rookie ratings for the Chiefs

Chiefs fans are already convinced of these things, but this special offense gives others a chance to be converted, to see these special players up close for the first time. As they begin to pay attention, it’s a good thing for the franchise and should lead to a growing fan base.

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