Chiefs fans kick Pioli to the curb
Yael T. AbouhalkahYes, in the end, Kansas City’s football fans mattered when it came time to get rid of Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli.
Make no mistake: The Chiefs essentially got rid of Pioli today because the fans had spoken.
They weren’t going to support a team that had a general manager who was as unsuccessful, and as personally charmless, as Pioli.
I know this flies in the face of what owner Clark Hunt and many other NFL officials say: The fans don’t really control what happens in the front office or when it comes to the draft.
But after a 2-14 year - and after four years that yielded only one playoff appearance and a dismal 23-41 overall record - it was time for Pioli to go.
The fans made themselves heard by appearing in black clothing at several games, flying banners demanding that Pioli and coach Romeo Crennel be fired, and simply not showing up at games.
Those empty seats at games probably threw the biggest scare into Hunt: If the Chiefs can’t make money by attracting fans to Arrowhead Stadium, then the club is in serious financial trouble.
Hunt doesn’t want that.
The fans don’t want that, either, of course. After all, who do you think paid for most of those hundreds of millions of dollars worth of improvements at the Truman Sports Complex.
The fans have a lot of money invested in making sure the Chiefs put a good product on the field, and Scott Pioli wasn’t delivering. So it was time for him to go.
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