KC Reporter

The Kansas City Chiefs played their first regular season game in Kansas City on October 6, 1963, after relocating from Dallas. Prior to this, the team had participated in two pre-season games at Municipal Stadium, followed by three regular season road games that resulted in a 1-1-1 record.

The delay in hosting a home regular season game was due to the Kansas City Athletics baseball team holding contractual priority for use of Municipal Stadium. The stadium, adapted for football and located at 22nd and Brooklyn, welcomed a crowd of 27,801 for the Chiefs' inaugural home game.

Franchise founder Lamar Hunt noted that the team sold over 15,000 season tickets that year, setting an American Football League record. On an unusually warm October day, Hunt attended the game with his family and sat in temporary bleachers positioned where left field would normally be.

The Chiefs secured a 28-7 win against the Houston Oilers, who were then two-time AFL champions. Hunt described his reaction to attendance at an earlier pre-season game: "It was a sobering moment," Hunt recalled years later, "only to have so few people in the stands." That pre-season matchup against the Buffalo Bills drew just 5,721 ticket holders.

Later that season, attendance increased when 30,107 fans watched San Diego defeat Kansas City. Municipal Stadium had a football capacity of 49,002 seats. By the end of their first year in Kansas City, total home attendance reached 150,567.

SOURCES:"Kansas City Chiefs 1999 Chromo File, July-August, Cabinet 17, Drawer C. "Lamar Hunt looks back at 40 years of Chiefs football," Chiefs Report, September 2000.