Patrick Mahomes helped pay $100,000 cost to open Arrowhead Stadium as polling place on Election Day
Arrowhead Stadium opened up as a polling place in Kansas City on Tuesday, thanks largely to Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes.
Mahomes and his foundation split the $100,000 bill needed to open up the stadium to voters — something he didn’t think twice about.
KC QB Patrick Mahomes split the cost of opening Arrowhead Stadium as a polling place today. Here's why he did it. #HuddleAndFlow pic.twitter.com/IFE12UQkU1
— Jim Trotter (@JimTrotter_NFL) November 3, 2020
"I thought it was very important, not only just to get as many people out to vote as possible, but also to use a place [such] as Arrowhead where we have a lot of fun, show a lot of love and unity with people are coming together, and use it as a place where we can come together to vote and use our voice," Mahomes told the NFL Network’s Jim Trotter on Tuesday.
“I thought Arrowhead was the perfect place for it, and the Chiefs were all aboard with it and some other guys on the team, we all just made our efforts strong and really got it to be a central point for everybody to go vote.”
#ElectionDay Arrowhead Stadium will be available to Kansas City residents who live in Jackson County as a polling location. #VOTE
For more info, visit: https://t.co/t7YdE5qFLM
The time is now. ⏰ @15andMahomies pic.twitter.com/QzjeaY3Qys— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) November 3, 2020
The $100,000 cost, according to Fox 4, was split evenly between the Chiefs and Mahomes’ foundation, “15 and the Mahomies.” Arrowhead was one of several arenas and venues across the country to be converted into a voting site this year — along with the Staples Center, Madison Square Garden, SoFi Stadium, the Amway Center and the Toyota Center, to name a few.
Chiefs players, KC Mayor vote at Arrowhead Stadium
Plenty of Chiefs players actually cast their ballots at the stadium on Tuesday, and Chiefs coach Andy Reid had sent his through by 6:30 a.m.
Andy Reid and Mark Donovan cast their ballots this morning at Arrowhead Stadium! #ElectionDay pic.twitter.com/OT98OZEtjV
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 3, 2020
Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas even stopped by to vote there, too.
It's Election Day in Kansas City! Mayor Lucas just cast his vote at Arrowhead Stadium—it took less then 15 minutes. Have you?
If not, here's a thread of helpful information for today: pic.twitter.com/l4wsXDqQFM— Mayor Quinton Lucas (@MayorLucasKC) November 3, 2020
The stadium was available for Kansas City residents living in Jackson County, Missouri, only.
While everything appeared to move smoothly — people were spaced out, lines moved quickly and fans were able to take photos with cheerleaders throughout the process — Chiefs president Mark Donovan wished more people had come out.
Given the success he found on Election Day, however, Dovonan doesn’t see why they won’t be using the stadium as a polling place again in the future.
“The overwhelming response has been we’ve got to vote here more often,” he said, via the Kansas City Star. “This is a great setup. We wish more people knew about it today … We’ve had a great turnout. We’ve had people pretty steady through here, but we got a lot more capacity.”
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