As the Kansas City Chiefs organization faces the possibility of a blackout for the first time since December 16th, 1990, I am thinking of comments made by Clark Hunt back in October.
"The ones that have been a challenge for us in recent years have been the December games,’’ he said then.
The Kansas City Star spoke with Mr. Hunt before the Chargers game on October 25th, a sellout.
"Denver is traditionally one of our most popular games. Since (Buffalo and Cleveland) are not division rivals or nationally prominent teams, they would logically be the ones we struggle with."
And they are the ones we're struggling with.
Like COO Mark Donovan said in a release yesterday, the reasons behind this are the economy and the Chiefs record. Add to that we're playing a team an east coast team with a small midwest fanbase (Thanks, Steelers) as well as a team that has just one more win than the Chiefs.
Ultimately, I think the Chiefs will sellout this weekend's game. The actual attendance, like it has been all season, won't be pretty but I think Hunt's October comments were enough of a forewarning for all parties involved that this game would be tough.
The TV folks are well aware of how much Kansas Citians love watching their Chiefs, even if it is a miserable season. When 1/3rd of all TVs in Kansas City are tuned to the Chiefs, I think someone has to step up before Friday.
Now, the Browns game the following week? Well, that's a different story.