City of Champions: KC becomes first city to win the MLS, MLB and NFL championships in history

The city was energized as Damien Williams ran down the sideline, ensuring a Chiefs win with one minute left of the fourth quarter of the biggest game of the year, Super Bowl LIV. Kansas City natives decked in blue chanted “MOOOSEEE!!!” along side streets downtown during the Royals World Series parade in 2015. In the drop-dead cold winter, fans raved in Children’s Mercy Park as hometown heroes of Sporting KC snow-angeled in confetti after their 2013 MLS Championship Cup victory.

A majority of Kansans have heard the “So, do you live on a farm?” question when traveling anywhere else in the country, but us KC natives know we’re sporting more than jean overalls with our accomplished teams and spirited fanbase.

KC is the only city to win the NFL, MLB and MLS championships since the MLS launched in 1996. While the Chiefs don’t have multiple rings like Tom Brady and the Royals are constantly  ‘rebuilding,’ there is uniqueness in the support and pride our teams rally. 

It’s high-fiving the stranger painted in blue next to you in the stands as your city’s soccer team wins their fourth Open Cup in 13 years. It’s staying faithful to your baseball boys in blue 30 years after their last World Series victory, never doubting that they’ll soon win again. It’s the unique relationships and dreams that we build by watching our favorite KC teams make our stereotypically “boring-as-a-cornfield” state proud.

Even non-sports fanatics feel the electricity in the halls on Red Fridays from the die-hard football fans loudly cheering “Chiefs!” or join in on the game highlights conversation in class. KC pride translates from the stay-at-home-mom-filled suburb of Fairway to the rustling crowds near Union Station. The excitement comes with our monumental wins and our fan loyalty even through the gap years of loss.

The city’s accomplishments starts conversation among all hometown hearts. You can’t go through the checkout line at Hen House without hearing the employee say “How ‘bout them Royals?!” Chiefs, Sporting and Royals flags deck the front of every other house during each season.   

Even after 50 years of going Super Bowl less, the Chiefs stadium never showed it because KC fans aren’t bandwagon fans. They don’t linger to other teams when their local stars are experiencing a losing streak. Instead they go to every game whether it’s wrapped in coats during a blizzard-like snow or with their thighs stuck to the stadium seat in KC’s unpredictably hot summers.  

Our teams bring us a sense of home despite our flyover state status to the rest of the country. We wear our hometown pride on our sleeves unlike bigger-city goers.

Even artists Post Malone and Dustin Lynch dressed themselves in Patrick Mahomes jerseys during their concerts in the weeks following the Chiefs’ win. Malone had to pause mid-concert to tomahawk chop with the crowd — the roaring sound of KC’s hometown pride literally drowns out the music. 

The success of our three major teams has created a sense of unity in the community, and further highlights the pride KC natives have. Blue-dyed fountains signal to locals as they pass through the Plaza of a Royals game day. Red Friday deals at local businesses get the city in the mood for fun-filled weekends. I mean, I won’t turn down a free pastry at my favorite local bakery for wearing my Chiefs jersey proudly.

Players like star Sporting KC defender Matt Besler have become role models for young athletes in the city. Playing both locally and nationally with the U.S. Men’s national team, Besler has shown that childhood dreams can become a reality –– even when growing up in Tornado Country.

Season ticket holders build friendships with the regulars in the row in front of them because they know that even though their hometown isn’t on the “25 best US cities to visit”, their team is truly the best — and when the goals are scored, hugging and cheering alongside a perfect stranger isn’t strange, but communal and prideful. 

It doesn’t seem weird to walk up to the family who sits behind mine in Children’s Mercy park from March to Oct. at French Market when I see them enjoying their meal. Awkward small talk isn’t a problem in home stadiums because everyone there is there to talk about the same thing  — our pride in KC.

While the rest of the U.S. thinks we are tending to our wheat fields, KC natives are coming together to celebrate the highs and the lows of our favorite teams. Although KC pride goes beyond just sports, it is undeniable that our three champion teams lift the city to a whole new level.  

At the Super Bowl rally this past month, Chiefs star and tight end Travis Kelce was able to summarize the feeling all KC natives and sports fans possess… “I love this city to death.”