Kansas City needs Chiefs to succeed as Royals struggles continue
With the Kansas City Royals continuing to struggle, sports fans in Kansas City hope the Chiefs can make up for the long summer.
It was November of 2015 when the Kansas City Royals won the World Series. More than 800,000 fans celebrated the moment in downtown Kansas City for the Royals World Series parade.
I still remember working for 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City as a part-time producer in 2014. About five weeks after Game 7 of the 2014 World Series, I produced an evening show. Then-610 host Cody Tapp, now with Sports Radio 810, discussed Kansas City’s three-game losing streak after the Chiefs fell to the Raiders, Broncos and Cardinals.
During that topic, I saw several texts come in with fans requesting the station to discuss Royals offseason news, rather than the Chiefs three-game skid. The Chiefs were still competing for a playoff spot at the time with a 7-6 record, but that was not enough to garner attention for some fans in Kansas City.
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In less than three years, the Royals championship fever has vanished. The Royals have lost 10 straight and have gone 5-29 since June 1, the worst record in baseball since that date. The Baltimore Orioles hold the league’s worst record, with the Royals only better by half of a game.
A lot has happened in the sports scene in Kansas City since November of 2015. Since the Royals’ World Series win, the team has lost many of its popular players who were instrumental in helping the team reach the World Series in back-to-back years. The Chiefs traded up 23 spots to draft Pat Mahomes in 2017, who is heading into the 2018 season as the starting quarterback.
The interest in Royals baseball has dropped drastically. The Royals were 10th in attendance in 2015 after being 25th the season before. But in 2016, the Royals dropped to 12th, then 17th last season. Now, the Royals are 23rd in the league in attendance.
The Kansas City Star, local sports talk radio shows and local television sports reporters will all shift their full attention to the Chiefs very soon when training camp kicks off. The Chiefs first practice in St. Joseph starts on July 26th, the same day when the Royals visit the third best team in the league in the New York Yankees.
The excitement the Royals brought in 2014 and 2015 were great and will never be forgotten. But right now, two years and eight months following a World Series celebration, it is clear that the interest in Royals baseball has declined. The drop in attendance is a big sign of that.
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As the abysmal baseball season continues, sports fans in Kansas City are hoping the Chiefs can make the summer a long-distant memory and give fans an exciting football season to look forward to with a new quarterback under center.