Chiefs vs. Eagles Preseason: Another Opening For The New Arrowhead

Since Arrowhead Stadium is the home of the Kansas City Chiefs, I don't really count the Kansas City Wizards and Manchester United game last month as the opening of the renovated stadium.

Friday night's preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles was the first football test for Arrowhead's new look.

Here are a few observations about my experience at the stadium on Friday night.

64,809 paid attendance

That's what the Chiefs announced.

The focus there is on paid attendance. The actual attendance could probably be cut in half. My non-expert guess would put the actual attendance between 30-40,000.

I usually leave for the game fairly early so that I can get up to my seat in the press box and get situated. That generally takes longer than I think because of all the fans coming in at the same time, the traffic and things like that.

Not this time around. I zipped right in, parked in my spot and easily walked up to my seat.

Horizon level

If you're a casual Chiefs fan -- maybe someone who is more interested in tailgating than the game (a/k/a most wives and girlfriends) -- then this is the level for you.

It's at the very top and it's an open-air lounge of sorts. There's a bar/concession stand up there and you have a view of the field. I thought this area was pretty cool for the casual fan. The diehards will want to be giving complete attention to the game.

Hall of Honor is a good experience

If you get to the game early enough (a/k/a drop the beer and leave your tailgate), you can check out the Hall of Honor.

The Chiefs actually opened it on Wednesday for the night practice but it got its first run one game day Friday night. I talked to a few fans there who really enjoyed it. One guy talked to my ear off for 15 minutes after seeing Marcus Allen's jersey and helmet from his 100th career touchdown.

What I thought was really cool was that they had the front page of the Kansas City Star for every game in Chiefs history along one wall. That means Jason Whitlock's name will live on forever at Arrowhead Stadium.

View from the press box

The Chiefs moved the press box way, way up to the top of the stadium this year with the renovations. It's still a solid view but i may need to bring binoculars next time.

The new press box is about twice the size as the old one which means your fearless leader can stretch out and watch the game in style.