While the Kansas City Chiefs front office has apologized to fans following the extreme parking delays at the team's home opener Sept. 11, many season ticket holders are still considering turning in their seats for good.
"To arrive at 9:50 for a noon game and you still miss kickoff because you haven't even parked? That's pretty hard to swallow," said William Graham, a Chiefs season ticket holder for the last 20 years.
Graham said parking lot traffic was by far the worst he's ever seen for a Chiefs game at Arrowhead.
"You couldn't see the stadium."
He was one of thousands of fans who arrived hours early, yet still missed kickoff.
"I have five kids, so tailgating from 6, 7 o’clock in the morning is not an option for me," he said.
Posts on social media show lines stretching for blocks. Countless fans were stuck in line for hours.
@Chiefs purchased parking in advance. 9:50 arrival, still in line hoping not to miss kickoff. Stadium not in sight pic.twitter.com/S7564xBrXn
— William Graham (@Will1of7) September 11, 2016
@Chiefs its officially faster to walk to arrowhead. #chiefsparking pic.twitter.com/Rymxwz9NdF
— jbuck10 (@jbuck10) September 11, 2016
John Paul Armilio, another Chiefs season ticket holder, called parking at Arrowhead a "fiasco."
Armilio arrived at the stadium four and a half hours early and was told there was open parking. He still had issues after parking in Lot B, where he has parked for three years.
"Security tried to kick us out and then left us there," he said.
One big change to parking this year involved "red reserve parking." In the past it had been a luxury paid for and given only to season ticket holders. However, this season the Chiefs expanded the red reserve availability and opened it to any fans.
"That made us very angry. It basically was a bait and switch. We paid up front and then the verbiage of what we paid for was changed," said Armilio.
The Chiefs declined 41 Action News' request for an interview, only sending a short statement that read:
"Gate 5 saw more traffic usage than any other game day in the last few years. So we encourage fans not to go out of their way to access Gate 5."
The team said Gate 5 had a "huge spike" that jumped a "double digit percentage."
The Chiefs also sent 41 Action News the letter team president Mark Donovan recently sent out to season ticket holders apologizing for the parking delays. It reads in part, "what many of our fans experienced on Sunday is unacceptable,” and, "the experience will improve for the next home game."
For fans like Graham, that's not good enough.
"I don't wanna be here three hours early before an event. If that's the case, it might be time for me to look at changing my season ticket holder status to not being one anymore," he said. "It shouldn't require that much effort on my part to make up for mistakes the organization has presented with the parking problem. I don't wanna do that. That's not my burden to bear as a season ticket holder. You're reducing the value of what I paid for as a result."
Kickoff for Sunday’s game against the Jets is at 3:25 p.m. Gates open at 11 a.m.
The Chiefs encourage fans to prepay, arrive early and visit Chiefs.com/Parking to get your game plan. According to the Chiefs, passes are accepted at all gates, not just Gate 5. Gate 5 will remain a no cash gate.
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com
