I just can't imagine Gordon ever making that list.

Brett and Dawson are safe until the end of time. Mahomes can/will knock Watson off that list at some point if he wins as much as a single SB. If Gordon displaces anybody there is has to be DT and I'm just not seein' it.

Frankly, Lamar Hunt belongs over Watson right this very minute (and there's an argument for displacing Thomas with Watson). So at some point you're gonna end up with 3 Chiefs up there with Brett, Dawson, Mahomes and Hunt.
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What makes you pick Hunt and not Kauffman. I am not saying either belongs, but I always got the feeling Kansas City was more a Kauffman city than a Hunt city.
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It's a close call, admittedly. But I think Hunt's formation of the AFL and his presence across the entire landscape of the modern NFL meant a little more than Kaufmann and his influence on MLB.

If both the Chiefs and Royals are good, I think this is still a football town. I grew up in KC from the early 80s to 2000 and they were never simultaneously good, so it's a hard argument to get a real answer on. Perhaps I'm colored by my formative years having a shit baseball team in town.

But to my eyes, Hunt has meant more to the NFL than Kaufmann meant to MLB and ultimately the Chiefs mean a little more to the community than the Royals do. As such, I give Hunt a nod over Kaufmann. Though you could make an argument for both over just about anyone.
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Hunt has definitely meant more to the NFL than Kauffman did to MLB, but the Kauffman's have had a FAR bigger impact on Kansas City specifically than the Hunt family ever has.

And I still believe Kansas City, at its core, is more a baseball town than a football town. :-)
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Yeah, this is how I have seen it too. However, I can at least see the argument from the other side.
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Yeah, I'm just thinking in a strictly sports context.

Kaufmann's meant so much to KC because of Kaufmann pharmaceuticals was printing money for a long time. It's predominantly other business interests that have given him the impact on the community he had.

Hunt, OTOH, is a sports figure and little else. I know its parsing it thin and perhaps its an impossible distinction to draw, but I think that if you're talking about a KC Sports Rushmore, it's difficult to give Kauffman 'full credit' for all the things he has done in town when it was primarily interests outside of sports that allowed for them.
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I'm going to the game tonight with around 30 of my friends. Watch the outfield ribbon boards between the end of 2nd and top of 3rd inning!
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How many people showed up to the parade when the Royals won the series in 15? I know it was a lot but I can't remember exactly what was estimated. When the Chiefs win the Super Bowl this season or next, at least double that number will show up to that parade.
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How many fucking kids in KC play hundreds of God damn games year round for baseball and how many kids play football. There is your answer right there.
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How many kids play soccer?
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not many 2 maybe?
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While this is obviously true, Kauffman spent a lot of his own personal wealth to keep the Royals competitive with the likes of the Yankees and other 'big market' teams (granted this was before the era of huge television deals and baseball contracts taking off to unholy amounts). He 'lost' several million dollars spending on his own players and free agents, sometimes ill-advised (Davis brothers, anyone), to try and keep the Royals at or near the top for as long as possible, especially towards the end of his life . . . . .

The Royals were ultimately a victim of the systematic reconfiguration of baseball, while the Chiefs got popular at a time when revenue sharing and a salary cap were beginning to have such a large impact on the sport.

I believe if you put the Chiefs and Royals under the same systems (either baseball's or footballs), the majority of KC fans would flock to the Royals, assuming an equal playing field for all the competitors. That's just my personal belief, though, but it is shared among many Kansas City sports fans that I associate with.

Baseball has a LOT of history and ties to KC, all the way back to the post-depression era. Long before Hunt ever moved his team here.
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Negro League museum has something like more people go through that place than other places combined
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It was around 800,000 I believe.

Look, no one is arguing that the NFL isn't more popular than MLB, it obviously is. I just think, if they were given a level playing field, baseball would win out over football in Kansas City. Especially when you consider all the history with baseball here.

But that will never happen and MLB will probably never be more popular than the NFL again, so it is what it is.
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I think it's tough to argue whether a town is a "football" or "baseball" town in an era where football is vastly more popular. There are exceptions (STL, of course). But I think MLB's strike was a terrible turning point for the sport, and it's never really been the same since (even in Kansas City - which was helped by the fact that the Royals were a black hole immediately after). If baseball has another strike (there are concerning signs), it may kill the sport or put it below MLS if it extends or cancels an entire season.
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