KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As Kansas City Chiefs fans count down the hours to the season opener kickoff, years-long season ticket holders are preparing for the return of tailgating.
"Our Mahomes and Kelce cutouts are ready to go," said Chris White, a member of Wolfpack Tailgating, who tailgates in Lot J at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. "I’ve been a Chiefs fan my entire life, and it’s hard to believe we are here."
Across multiple states, some die-hard Chiefs fans who organize Lot J’s large tailgate talked with KSHB 41's Megan Abundis.
"The hype is real," said Nate Morrow, who also tailgates at Lot J. "It’s prep time, let's go."
They’ll reunite after six months off.
"It’s the biggest and baddest tailgate at Arrowhead," White said. "It’s time to set the new record with three-peat."
Joshua Wahba, another Lot J tailgater, believes this year's team can accomplish something no other team has done.
“We’re ready to run this season back on that three-peat mission," he said.
The three-peat mission also has fellow tailgater Jeff Loecker on alert.
"No one has ever done it; we will see what happens," he said.
Before the show on the field, there’s tailgate prep to do by the Lot J tailgaters, and a lot of it.
"If you take a peek inside, we are hard at work rebuilding the cabinets, doing the coolers, and we roll out in the morning," White said.
“We have three 70-inch TVs, multiple satellites — so we can have different feeds on it — an Xbox hookup, and the secret, which I’m about to blow, is that we have two bathrooms,” said Josh Schmutz, another Lot J tailgater.
Larry Fennell has been a season ticket holder for the past 30 years and has tailgated ever since, catering the food at Lot J tailgate on Thursday.
“Lot J tailgate crew — we are out here ready for a round three win getting these pork butts ready for the game," Fennell said.
Loecker’s tradition is to make 700 handmade jalapeno poppers each home game.
“It's become a thing. They've got their own name, the famous 'Lot J Poppers,' he said. "Some have even added the secret recipe is Raiders' tears. There may be some 49ers tears too, we will see. The most we did was for a playoff game — we made 1,400."
These Lot J tailgaters say they do it to share their traditions with other fans.
"In life, you always look to be something bigger than you, and this is definitely that; it’s contagious," Loecker said. "Just come and just have fun with other people."
—
KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, Missouri, including neighborhoods in the southern part of the city. Share your story idea with Megan.