Kansas City businesses see big wins despite Chiefs Super Bowl loss

SHAWNEE, Kan. (KCTV) - Although the Chiefs lost the Super Bowl, Kansas City’s businesses still had wins. Local businesses boomed from sales as people looked for places to watch the game and stocked for watch parties.

Workers for Shawnee’s Bates City BBQ are seeing calm after the chaos with a line that went through the door Sunday.

“Just because we lost doesn’t mean us as a business lost,” said The Combine KC operator Alan Kneeland.

The day after the Super Bowl, Kansas City businesses like The Combine on 30th and Troost are experiencing their own victory. The Combine became a sea of red and yellow on Sunday with nearly 200 hungry fans.

“Throughout January and February, those are the slower months but the Chiefs have kept us rocking and kept us going so it’s a win-lose in a certain type of way,” said Kneeland.

The tiny but mighty restaurant is known among Chiefs fans for its watch parties and Super Bowl weekend is one of their busiest. Lines went out the door on Sunday and they served up hundreds of chicken wings and pizza. Five cases of chicken wings were sold with roughly 200 wings per case.

“The team lost, Kansas City won though as a whole. You know, small businesses are owned by your neighbors, friends,” said Shawnee Bates City BBQ general manager David Roberts.

Bates City BBQ sold a record 424 slabs of ribs to-go on Super Bowl Sunday with fans already vowing to come back next year. They beat last year’s record of 377 ribs and plan to raise the bar even higher next year.

“That makes it all worth it. You know, outside of the fact that your business is doing a good job but on a personal level you’re appreciated and that is very important,” said Roberts.

The business has been open for 24 years and over the past few years, they’ve been able to lean on that success over the past few years. As the Chiefs Kingdom celebrates its wins, they also find lessons in the losses.

“It’s kind of been building the last few years. It kind of felt like the grand finale for the Super Bowl this time so it’s one of those things and we have a lot of customers who were like hey we won last year, so I’ll bring back a friend just so we can get some more good luck,” said Roberts.

The Combine is already anticipating another Super Bowl watch party next year.

Copyright 2025 KCTV. All rights reserved.