KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.
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Chiefs fan Jim Waechter isn't opposed to the team moving to Kansas. After all, his first Chiefs game wasn't at Arrowhead, it was at Municipal Stadium after his father purchased season tickets in 1967.
“It took me a little bit as a young guy to warm up to it because I really enjoyed the feel of the old stadium, but it didn’t take that long and then Arrowhead became, you know, that’s the home of the Chiefs," Waechter said.
Proof of the Waechter's long-standing season ticket holding lies right outside GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium next to the Lamar Hunt statue.
“If they move the stadium, is the brick going to move?” Waechter said Monday morning before the Chiefs officially announced the team will be moving to Kansas.
Waechter, a Johnson County resident, says a Kansas stadium would mean a shorter commute for him, and he said the spirit of the Chiefs Kingdom would continue at a new stadium.
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"Look at what Arrowhead developed into," he said.
Waechter's memories span from "things you could never get away with now," like fights among players and smoking cigarettes within the stadium to the coldest game in Arrowhead history.
“The longest game in the NFL history was the Dolphins and the Chiefs, but that was the old stadium, Municipal," Waechters said. "I was there. I was probably 10, 12 years old."
Now, Waechter has to secure a way to catch a game in the third home of the Chiefs.
“I like to think that the Hunts would like to keep people like me engaged with the franchise so that there will be a path forward for us to be able to maintain good seats in a newer stadium, but I don’t know how that’s all going to come out and get ironed out," Waechter said.
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