As it turns out, the Chiefs didn’t sell enough tickets to lift the local blackout of Sunday’s game against the Titans. But the 1,000 remaining non-premium seats were purchased by the Chiefs and/or one or more of their sponsors, according to Randy Covitz of the Kansas City Star.
The announcement came hours after the deadline for ensuring a blackout, which suggests that the Chiefs spent much of the day figuring out how to come up with the money to buy the remaining tickets, most likely pursuant to the league’s rule that allows extra seats to be purchased at 34 cents on the dollar.
On the surface, it’s surprising that the 9-5 Chiefs couldn’t sell out a key Week 16 game that could go a long way toward helping them nail down an unlikely playoff berth.
“It’s Christmas time, the economy hasn’t been that great,” guard Brian Waters said, per Covitz. “Coming to a Chiefs game or buying your kids Christmas gifts . . . I imagine we’ll probably lose out to a lot of people. But we know how important it is playing at home and how important the fans are to us. If there are some people who happen to have a little extra money or want to give a couple of tickets to the game for Christmas, we hope they come out. I appreciate anybody who is willing to come out there in the cold and be able to spend their dollar.”
Fortunately for the folks who’ll be staying home, the Chiefs exercised their ability to spend their 34 cents.