‘We’ll win baby!’: Chiefs Kingdom in Las Vegas ready for Super Bowl kick-off
Editor’s Note: This is a dispatch from our Red Kingdom Road Trip. We’re connecting with Chiefs fans across the country ahead of the Super Bowl — share your story with us using this form. Read more from our journey to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl here on KansasCity.com, in our newsletters, or on The Star’s Instagram.
Dozens of Kansas City Chiefs fans packed the two floors at Jackpot Bar & Grill, one of the few Chiefs bars in Las Vegas, to watch the Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LVIII.
We caught up with some of them before the big game to learn what brought them here and how far they traveled. This story will continuously update throughout the game.
‘We’ll win baby!’
Coming all the way from Kansas City, Kansas, for the big game, 66-year-old Felicia Nelson has been in Las Vegas since Tuesday, soaking in the festivities surrounding her hometown team.
“The KC fans will follow the Chiefs anywhere,” she said.Alongside friend Dee Potts of Leavenworth, the pair have faith in this Kansas City team.
“We’ll win, baby!” Nelson said. “We’re ready to go back and tease those 49er fans,” Potts added.
Feel the energy
Thai Hoang has been a Chiefs fan for nearly as long as he can remember, but hasn’t lived near Chiefs Kingdom since he moved away from Manhattan, Kansas, when he was 18.
So when Hoang, 55, now living in Los Angeles, knew the Chiefs were going to be in Las Vegas for Super Bowl LVIII, he jumped at the opportunity to watch the big game around other Chiefs fans.
Red Kingdom Road Trip
3 KC Star journalists drove across the country and found Chiefs fans across six states. Here's what they learned:
→ Go inside ‘Arrowhead West,’ a vibrant Chiefs bar in Arizona
→ Love for Patrick Mahomes burns bright in his Texas college town
→In Vegas, we met a former Chiefs dancer who knew Len Dawson
”I just wanted to experience it once, you know, what it’s like to be around Chiefs fans watching the Chiefs and feel that energy I see on TV,” Hoang said.
‘It’s in my blood’
Ann Taylor — or KC Ann as folks around here call her — has been a part of Chiefs Kingdom Las Vegas since she moved to Sin City from Raytown eight years ago.
She and her son, Izaiah Asani, helped organized today’s watch party at Jackpot Bar & Grill, a local Chiefs bar. Lifelong KC fans, the mom-and-son duo said they’ve always connected over their fandom.
“It’s in my blood,” said Asani, who now lives in Hawaii. “I was raised into it. We used to pass by Arrowhead Stadium on a daily basis.”
To them, Chiefs Kingdom is about the camaraderie they’ve found outside their home state.
“It’s regional pride,” Asani gushed. “KC isn’t Vegas. There, your football team is everything. It’s unity. It’s community.”
Chiefs Santa Ma Ho Ho Homes
Chiefs fans took photos with Don Lobmeyer, who is known as “Chiefs Santa Ma Ho Ho Homes,” as he walked through a casino on Saturday in Las Vegas. Lobmeyer, 55, is a retired Army National Guardsman from Wichita, Kansas, who was in town supporting the Kansas City Chiefs before Super Bowl LVIII. He has been doing his Ma Ho Ho Homes gig for the past five years. He also helps to raise money for charities with his character.
