Kansas City isn’t used to having banner years in sports.
The city has four professional sports teams and until the past decade neither the Chiefs nor the Royals were known for their success.
Now Kansas City is experiencing an unprecedented wave both in the win column and its pockets.
The Chiefs’ 32–29 win on Sunday over the Bills clinched the franchise’s third straight AFC championship and Super Bowl berth, where the team will have a chance to win its third straight championship.
The run comes after the Royals made the MLB playoffs in the fall for the first time since 2015. These two feats mark just the second time both of the city’s major franchises have made the playoffs in the same season.
And this time, they had more company.
This fall also saw the Kansas City Current, the city’s NWSL team, make the postseason, for the second time in its four-year history. The Current play in CPKC Stadium, the nation’s first privately financed stadium built solely for a women’s professional soccer team. All of the team’s 2024 home matches were sellouts.
The results have led to a massive boost for the local economy, according to Visit KC, the city’s tourism arm.
Each of the Chiefs’ two home playoff games brings $16 million to the city, according to Visit KC, while the Royals’ two playoff games against the Yankees in the American League Division Series brought in $8 million each, plus $500,000 per game in local city taxes.
The Current brought in $1.4 million for their NWSL quarterfinal match against the North Carolina Courage and were knocked out in the semifinals by the Orlando Pride. CPKC Stadium hosted the NWSL final between the Pride and Washington Spirit, which earned $2.3 million for the city, according to Visit KC. In total, the city has made $52.7 million in postseason matches over the past four months.
The economic impact is seen through hotel bookings, game attendance, shopping, dining, and ride shares, among other factors.
All three teams have another commonality: Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs’ star quarterback is a minority owner in both the Current and Royals, and he is exploring a WNBA expansion bid. Mahomes’s wife, Brittany, a former soccer player, is a co-owner of the Current.
Since Mahomes became the Chiefs starter in 2018, the direct economic impact of Chiefs playoff games has gradually increased. In 2018 and 2019, Mahomes’s first two seasons as the team’s starting quarterback, the city brought in about $13 million per home playoff game, a Visit KC spokesperson told Front Office Sports.
The Chiefs had only one home playoff game a year ago due to an 11–6 regular season. That brought in $14 million, which is $2 million shy of this current season’s figure.
