Chiefs’ banner night scheduling issue has been resolved

UPDATE: March 4, 4:53 p.m. Arrowhead Time

The Kansas City Royals have acted swiftly on the matter.

Per their official Twitter account, Tuesday, September 8 will now be a split doubleheader with the Oakland Athletics, opening up the Truman Sports Complex parking lot for a Thursday night game.

In their press release, the Royals specifically state this move will “accommodate the Kansas City Chiefs potentially opening at home at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday, September 10.”

With the Royals rescheduling, I would say the odds are the season now opens at Arrowhead Stadium on that date.

Peter King suggests Chiefs’ banner night scheduling issue

(Original article posted Mar 2, 2020, 1:05 p.m. Arrowhead Time)

NBC Sports writer Peter King published his usual “Football Morning in America” column Monday, and it contained an interesting note regarding a potential Super Bowl LIV banner night at Arrowhead Stadium coming up in 2020.

22. My best guess at the early slate. The NFL’s five-year streak of the Super Bowl champ opening the season with a Thursday night home game got broken last year when, as an homage to pro football’s 100th season, ancient rivals Green Bay and Chicago opened the year; Super Bowl champ New England played on Sunday night. This year, there’s a bit of an issue with the Chiefs opening the season at home at 7:20 p.m. CT on Thursday, Sept. 10: The cross-parking-lot Royals are slated to play that afternoon at 12:35. Maybe the game could be moved up 90 minutes, or maybe it could be part of a doubleheader on any of the three previous days of the series, and then the Chiefs could host the opener against, say, the Raiders or Texans.

And King’s right, of course. The Royals are scheduled to play the Oakland Athletics in what would be the fourth and final game of their series. During Super Bowl week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell “left the door open” as to how the league would begin its 101st season, so there is no guarantee the Royals simply move their game and the Chiefs get Thursday night.

For what it’s worth, the Chiefs would run into the same problem on Sunday night, with the Royals hosting the Chicago White Sox earlier that day. Given the league could open up Thursday night and Sunday night with new stadiums in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, could we be looking at a Monday night banner night?

It was also interesting that King — who is always on the pulse of the schedule — specifically noted the Raiders or the Texans as potential opponents. There was no mention of the New England Patriots, who the Chiefs will finally host in 2020.