Chiefs won’t hold public rally if they win Super Bowl LIX

Kansas City Chiefs fans have celebrated Super Bowl victories two years in a row at the Chiefs Rally near Union Station, but this year celebrations will look different if the team wins Super Bowl LIX.

After a mass shooting during the previous year's Super Bowl LVIII championship rally, the Chiefs and stakeholders decided to not host a public rally after the victory parade.

Instead, celebrations will begin with an exclusive gathering at Arrowhead Stadium for players, families, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe. The celebration will be broadcast to screens along the parade route.

Following the exclusive celebration, players will join the parade at Crown Center and follow the parade route beginning at Pershing St. and Main St., then to Grand Blvd. up to Sixth St.

Andruw Hamilton, a Missouri Western State University student, attended the Super Bowl LVIII rally and agreed that there should be no public rally after the mass shooting.

"I don't blame them," Hamilton said. "We don't want to have another tragedy happen again...I also think that it is safer for, not only the players, but also the players' families as well."

Hamilton had a personal connection to one of the victims of the mass shooting, Lisa Lopez-Galvan and her family. Hamilton went to school and played soccer with Lopez-Galvan's children at Saint Agnes Catholic School.

"(Lopez-Galvan) was actually one of my mom's friends who she grew up with," he said. "I was a little bit sick. Not only for the family, but I was also sick for the city because of the gun violence that's happening in Kansas City."

Despite his experience during the Super Bowl LVIII rally, Hamilton said he would still consider going to future public celebrations and parades.

"We don't know when's the next time that they might win a Super Bowl," Hamilton said. "It might be another 50 years for us, so I cherish every parade as much as I can."