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I visited Arrowhead Stadium to see the AFC Divisional Playoff game, Houston Texans (4) @  Kansas City Chiefs (2) on the 12th Jan 2020. Chiefs winning 51-31, after being 0-24 down 5 mins into the 2nd Qtr.

I was in Atlanta for business during the week, so I decided to include the weekend before and after in my trip and hope that there were some games I could get to that were within a couple of hours flying from Atlanta.

The other possible match up that weekend that i could get to was the Tennessee Titans (6) @ Baltimore Ravens (1), so I decided to go to Kansas City on the first weekend and if the games went to plan, go to Baltimore the following weekend!! Shows how much I know!! Titans won 28-12, so the AFC Championship Game ended up being back at Arrowhead, so sports bar in Atlanta for me.

I had flown into Atlanta on the Friday, where I was staying in an AirbnB not far from the MARTA Peachtree Station, and it was up early on Saturday with an overnight bag and hopped on to MARTA for the 20 min train journey to  Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to catch a plane to Kansas City International Airport (MCI). I flew with Delta on a direct flight that takes just over 2 hours.

The MARTA train station exit is at the entrance of the airports domestic terminal, so it didn’t take long till I was going through security. As I invested in a Global Entry Visa, I get TSA PreCheck, which means I can use the TSA PreCheck security check fast lanes at US Airports.

A couple of hours later, I had landed in Kansas City, and the weather had changed a bit!! Snow all around, this was going to be a cold weekend!!

Once I had exited the airport, I headed for the RideKC Bus stop which has a Blue RideKC sign with the route number 229 displayed.

A smooth enough 45 minute journey on the snow cleared roads, doing my usual following on google maps so  I get off the nearest stop at my hotel in downtown Kansas.

I stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Kansas City Downtown Crossroads for its location as well as being available to use some of my Reward Nights I had accrued through Hotels.com.

Its within walking distance of many bars and restaurants in downtown Kansas City and there’s a streetcar stop right outside, and they serve a free hot breakfast and free WiFi.

Once settled, I took a walk to where a few bars and restaurants were located a few blocks away. The locals had cleared a path on the sidewalk due to the amount of snowfall and there were not many people about outside.

I headed to a bar called the Yard House, they boast that they have the World’s Largest Selection of Draft Beer, judging by the amount of beer pumps on show, I wouldn’t argue with that statement.

I finally bought my ticket the day before, I didn’t see the prices changing much on the various ticket resale site’s and it was obvious it was going to be cold one, so the price stabilized at a reasonable cost for a playoff game.

The game at Arrowhead Stadium was set to kick off at 2.05pm local time.

The parking lot gates typically open 4.5 hours prior to kick off, with stadium entry gates opening 2 hours prior to the start of the game, watching the local news in the morning, you could see fans that had queued throughout the night to get their prime tailgating spot.

Tailgating at Arrowhead Stadium is a sight to be seen, especially due to the size and layout of the parking area.

I do most of my travel to stadia using Public Transport (Mass Transit) where possible and there is route to get from Downtown to Arrowhead Stadium using RideKC. I used Route #47 It took just over 45 mins, but you cant miss the stadium stop, mainly due to the exodus of fans. and at present, its free to ride on the busses. A Taxi journey typically costs $28-$35.

The bus stop is a 10-15 minute walk from the Stadium, and so gives you an opportunity to take a Panoramic photo.

It’s definitely worth walking through the tailgate area to see all the different set ups that Fans have for gameday. On this occasion, I was not planning to use my British accent to join a tailgate so I headed to the Stadium to have a look around. Did I mention that it was really cold!!

The 1st thing I wanted to check out was the location of the Rideshare Lot, as I was looking at using this option to return to Downtown Kansas City. I could see on the Stadium Map that is was located on Blue Ridge Cutoff and could see it was accessible via the Car Parks, so all good.

The other thing of note is that Kansas City Chiefs Team Pro Shop (4,000 square feet) is located on the north side of GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, at Founder’s Plaza Gate. It has the largest selection of Chiefs merchandise in the Kansas City area including one- of-a-kind souvenirs. There were plenty of smaller shops inside the stadium.

As with all US Stadia, there is a strict Clear Bag Policy, please check on the Chiefs Website for the most up to date information. At the time of my visit, there were no 3rd party Bag Drop companies operating outside of the stadium. One suggested option I have heard is that hotels close to the stadium will look after your bag for a fee, but I’ve not tried that.

There are 8 gates for entry into the stadium, your ticket will tell you which gate to use.

On entering the stadium, you do have the airport style security checks and the ticket check. As I had an upper bowl ticket, after entry, it was the trudge up one of the four walkway’s to get to my lofty seat.

The stadium is a classic bowl design, and although I was high up, it was a good view. Did I mention it was really cold, well the 1st 15 minutes in my seat were spent scraping ice off my seat with a $1 coin, no really.

As with most sports venues, its cashless, so you will need your credit/debit card or phone wallet with you. The prices. Not including Tax, on the gameday I went were:

  • Hot Dog $5.50
  • Domestic Beer $9.00

In line with mobile ticketing and cashless concession stands, there are charging stations located around the stadium mostly around the Fans First Booths.

One thing GHEA Field at Arrowhead Stadium prides itself on is being the loudest stadium in the US, Chiefs fans registered a record 142.2 decibels on Sep 29th 2014, when the team played the Patriots in a Monday Night Game, and whilst the record wasn’t broken during the game I went to, it was pretty loud when the Chiefs came back from 24 points down to take the lead.

On leaving the stadium after the game, I was heading to the Rideshare Lot, but came across a canopy advertising the zTRIP Rideshare service to downtown on Red Coat Drive, immediately outside the stadium, I joined the queue and jumped in the 1st available mini bus that transported 10 fans to Downtown Kansas City for $10 each.

It got me back in time to watch the 2nd game of the day in McFadden’s Sports Saloon, which turned out to be good for a chat with locals, probably because they won, during the game.

I had booked a midday flight back to Atlanta, took the 229 bus back to the airport and arrived in plenty of time to catch the flight.

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