So being a dutiful and prideful KC Chiefs fan, I went the local Buffalo Wild Wings at the mall in Nyack New York while my wife did some Christmas shopping.  I sat down at the bar next to a guy wearing a worn out Tamarick Vanover jersey. 

All around us were Jets fans and the occasional Steelers or Raiders fan but the place was overrun by those J-E-T-S.  While the Jets, Raiders, Steelers, Redskins, Cowboys and even Browns enjoyed nice big TV’s all over the place, Mr. Vanover and I were relegated to our one small TV at the end of the bar near the serving station.  We sat there and cheered while we squinted at the small TV, and other than a decently well-played game, one thing was terribly clear; "Jeez, that’s a LOT of empty yellow seats."

A few Jets fans and even a Raiders fan took notice and asked why we weren’t selling out Arrowhead.  We’re in first place and we have a well-respected fan base in a legendarily loud stadium not to mention all the KC bbq tailgating anyone could ever want.  We had to keep explaining, like dumbasses, that the new stadium ‘enhancements’ allowed the club level wine and cheezers to spend all their time inside and watch the game on TV. 

It looks awful, it reflects poorly on us as fans and, probably most significantly, it lessens the amount of people contributing to the noise and energy that makes our home-field advantage so strong.

What to do?  During the 4th quarter Tamarick and I (I never did get his name) discussed solutions.  We could simply improve the ‘optics’ of the situation by making those seats red so they would blend in with the rest of the fans.  That would be a band-aid and would really address the most critical aspect, which is having butts in the (outdoor) seats.  A solution there would be to sell a type of Standing Room Only tickets that granted access to the indoor areas but didn’t have an assigned outdoor seat.  Alternatively, maybe sell the club level seats to those who just want awesome seats but don’t really much give a rip about all the inside crapola.

What would you do?