The unsolved mystery of Chiefs camp
Four decades ago, a 13-year-old boy could stick a quarter in a gumball machine full of those little plastic replica NFL helmets. Turning the handle, this young fan would hope for a good one – maybe the hometown Chiefs, the Creamsicle Bucs or a team that was actually good back then like the 49ers or Cowboys.
Alas, these machines possessed an aggravating tendency to disgorge the no-decal Browns or the helmets that just said “Bengals.” Maybe it was one of those hints about what life had in store for you.
Chiefs camp brings to mind that long-forgotten lesson about deflated expectations. Every July, just like clockwork, the camp brings more than fans, players and excitement about the upcoming season.
It also brings the promise of an economic boost for this community. Surely there is an economic advantage, just as surely as there had to be a Chiefs or a Steelers helmet lurking somewhere inside that old gumball dispenser. But we can’t find it or put our finger on it, no matter how many times we try or how many times we turn the handle.
This year, in one of those dutiful reports on the economic impact of Chiefs camp, one of the examples was actually (drumroll, please): the sale of miniature football helmets. That’s right. These helmets, in this case the slightly larger ones that players can autograph, apparently fly off the shelves when the team is at MoWest.
That’s good news if you’re in the business of selling little helmets or if you’re a 13-year-old boy, but the rest of us might be hoping for more.
For the last 15 years, this community has rolled out the red carpet for the Chiefs. This includes significant investments to provide an NFL-caliber experience, starting with $10 million to build the Griffon Indoor Sports Complex. The Chiefs, by all accounts, have been good partners.
Implicit in all of this is the expectation that fans – 80,000 of them last year – would do more than watch Patrick Mahomes throw passes. Some of those fans were supposed to shop here, eat here or maybe visit a museum before getting on Interstate 29.
It happens, but the evidence is anecdotal. After all these years, after all the taxpayer money directed toward Chiefs camp, it’s surprising that the community is willing to turn the handle and hope for the best when it comes to economic impact.
With another camp already in the books, it’s time for some clarity about whether there’s a real economic benefit or whether all of this is about prestige.
