Thanks to Mahomes and Kelce, KC Chiefs are ‘America’s team’ for divided country | Opinion
Less than 12 hours after his presidential debate with Kamala Harris last month, Donald Trump kicked the most literal version of a political football. He’d called into the “Fox & Friends” TV program and was asked about Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. “Well, I actually like Mrs.
Mahomes much better, if you want to know the truth,” Trump responded. Then he said that Mrs. Mahomes — Brittany Mahomes, wife of reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes — was a “big MAGA fan.” The Kansas City Chiefs were in the political news cycle again. A few weeks ago, Brittany Mahomes “liked” an Instagram post outlining 2024 Republican policies, leading to Trump praising her and her husband on Truth Social about a week later (“What a great couple — See you both at the Super Bowl”).
Then, responding to the “Fox & Friends” comments, Patrick Mahomes said endorsing a candidate wasn’t his “place,” and that he just wants to encourage voting. From Trump’s criticisms of the NFL’s protest culture and its new kickoff rules to former high school defensive coordinator Tim Walz’s fourth-quarter drive metaphors at the Democratic National Convention, politicians have been using America’s modern pastime in their politics more than ever.
But the Chiefs, while winning the last two Super Bowls, are the first team to be so thoroughly pulled into America’s great political divides. In May, kicker Harrison Butker drew ire from liberals and kudos from conservatives for a commencement speech in which he said most of the graduating women at Kansas’ Benedictine College were likely “most excited” about marriage and children, not their careers.
Before that, a mass shooting that killed Lisa Lopez-Galvan and injured more than 20 others occurred at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade. And then there’s Swift, who has made the Chiefs the default favorite for legions of Swifties because of her relationship with boyfriend (and Pfizer and Bud Light pitchman) Travis Kelce — but has also irritated right-wing football fans who’ve called her a “psyop.”
The Chiefs are a vessel for arguments over women’s rights, traditional family values, gun control, vaccines, religion, celebrity obsession and this year’s presidential race. (And of course, the name “Chiefs” has drawn protests from indigenous activists for years.) They are America’s Team for a divided America. The nickname “America’s Team” was originally bestowed by an NFL marketing employee on the late 1970s Dallas Cowboys, who appeared on TV more than any other franchise and still retain the America’s Team title today.
“America’s team” is now sometimes applied to underdogs in big games and dynastical teams that gain large followings. Those dynasties, however, mostly make news in the sports world. The voting preferences of Emmitt Smith, star running back of the Super Bowl-winning Cowboys in the 1990s, weren’t front-page news. In 2001, the New York Yankees became a symbol of post-9/11 healing as President George W.
Bush threw out the first pitch of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, and seventh-inning stretch renditions of “God Bless America” inspired TV audiences. But their moment transcending sports was fleeting. TAYLOR SWIFT, BRITTANY MAHOMES STILL FRIENDS The Chiefs’ ubiquity in popular culture, and the culture wars, has only intensified since Swift pounded the luxury suite glass at her first game last September.
She became fast friends with Brittany Mahomes and irked a few “dads, Brads and Chads,” as she put it, who believed her presence distracted from football. As the 2024 Super Bowl neared, the storyline wasn’t just whether the Chiefs would repeat. Right-wing conspiracy theorists claimed that the Swift-Kelce relationship and Kansas City’s Super Bowl berth had been rigged as a means of getting President Joe Biden reelected.
It was definitely not America’s proudest era. Fortunately, the Chiefs may provide an example for how to rise above our division. Although Americans have grown intolerant of others’ political views — more than 60% of members of each political party considered the other party’s members immoral in 2022 — the Chiefs have, at least publicly, tolerated their differences.
In May, Patrick Mahomes and Kelce stood up for Butker while admitting they didn’t have the same views. “I can’t say I agree with the majority of it or just about any of it outside of just him loving his family and his kids,” Kelce said. “And I don’t think I should judge him by his views.” When Patrick Mahomes was asked about Trump’s recent comments and him and Brittany spending time at the U.S.
Open with Swift and Kelce, he said he doesn’t think about the political leanings of the people he hangs out with, and that the best thing about a football locker room is that “people can come together.” “I think if we can do that as a nation,” Mahomes said, “I think we can get the best out of each other.”
NFL LOCKER ROOMS DIVERSE Mahomes and Kelce weren’t just calling for unity because it sounds good. They were doing their jobs. They don’t have any choice but to accept their teammates. NFL locker rooms are unlike any other American workplace. In 2023, about 54% of the league’s players were Black; 24% were white and 11% were multiracial, according to The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. Virtually all those players have attended college, but some graduated with honors while others left before finishing their degree. Some grew up in affluent suburbs and others made it out of poverty.
For Mahomes and Kelce, getting along with diverse teammates — some of whom they may not like or share anything in common with — is a requirement for success, and for them to maintain their status as well-paid superstars. Outside GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Mahomes and Kelce represent a purple metropolitan area situated at the crossroads of two red states. Their political comments have been rare and middle-of-the-road. They’ve been more public about sharing their work in the community.
Since the early days of his career, Kelce has helped Operation Breakthrough, a Kansas City charity that provides educational opportunities to poor and working-class kids. When Mahomes donated money to revitalize Martin Luther King, Jr. Park on the East Side in 2020, Kansas Citians told me they were proud he had promoted change in a low-key, moderate way. Such a goal may come across as clichéd or even phony in a deeply divided country.
But seeking consensus and unity, realizing that you must get along, works for the Chiefs. They might even make history this year as the first team to win the Super Bowl three years in a row. It’s good to know that a divided America’s team can still be a great one. Mark Dent is the co-author of “Kingdom Quarterback,” a book that tells the story of the historic struggles of Kansas City and the rise of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. He grew up in Overland Park and lives in Dallas.
