Nick’s Picks | Let’s Have a Chiefs Super Bowl Parade We Are the Champions (Again)

Well, this should set the tone for the week. The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl Champions, again! 

Block off Wednesday on your calendar. We’re hosting a Super Bowl victory parade, celebrating Valentine’s Day and marking Ash Wednesday — all on the same day. 

Here’s your look at the week ahead. 

Super Bowl Parade 

It’s official. Kansas City is going to shut down on Wednesday. Many area school districts have already announced they’re closing for the day, and a growing number of local businesses are giving their workers the day off so they can attend what organizers say will be the biggest victory parade in Kansas City history. 

Are you going? 

Here’s what you need to know:  

When? This Wednesday, starting at 11 a.m. 

Where? The two-mile parade begins at 6^th Street and Grand Boulevard, just south of the City Market. 

Like last year, the players, coaches and their families will board open-air buses as they slowly move south to Union Station. 

The parade will wrap up with a victory rally on an outdoor stage in front of Union Station. Just as in past years, the main viewing area will be on the north lawn of the National WWI Museum and Memorial. 

The rally is scheduled to begin at about 12:45 p.m. The Kansas City Sports Commission says it should last about one hour. 

What else do I need to know? Expect far larger crowds than at last year’s parade, thanks to the unseasonably warm weather. The forecast calls for partly sunny skies and a high of 63 degrees.  

Will Taylor Swift be There? While Swift has not announced her plans, it would be fair to assume that she will be in Kansas City, especially after she made such an effort to attend the Super Bowl.  

Swift’s concert schedule is clear until Friday, when she begins the Australian leg of her Eras Tour. But having the global superstar partying on the top of an open-air bus might be viewed as too high a security risk. 

Here are more details on the route and parking.  

Last Week, Reviewed

Super Sick Monday 

Are you going to pull a Ferris Bueller today? 

Businesses in Kansas City and across the United States are bracing for an outbreak of “super flu.”  

The Monday after the Super Bowl has become the number one day for calling in sick, according to a new survey from UKG, one of the nation’s largest human resources consultants. 

More than 16 million of us are expected to be missing from our jobs this morning. That’s 14% of the U.S. workforce.  

Royals Spring Training 

Members of the Kansas City Royals will be missing from this week’s big Super Bowl parade party. 

The team will begin reporting for spring training on Wednesday in Surprise, Arizona. 

The Royals’ first spring training game is next week. 

Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium is a month away, on March 28 against the Minnesota Twins. 

In other sports news, the NBA All-Star game is this Sunday in Indianapolis. The NASCAR season is also set to start with the Daytona 500 on Sunday. 

Stadium Tax Election 

This week, the first ballots will be cast in the stadium tax election.  

Even though the election isn’t until April 2, military voters can start casting their absentee ballots on Tuesday. So can Kansas City residents who are living or working overseas. 

Last week, Royals owner John Sherman announced that the team would reveal its new stadium location “meaningfully ahead” of early voting on the stadium tax. But we’re still waiting for that decision. 

We’re also waiting on the Kansas City Chiefs to reveal more details about how they plan to spend their share of the stadium tax money. They’ve offered vague promises of improving the fan experience. But it’s not clear exactly what that means. But guess what is not on the priority list? A roof or a dome to keep fans toasty during those brutal winter games.  

Chiefs owner Clark Hunt says he’s a big believer in playing football outside, which he thinks gives the team an advantage. 

On the Border 

On a note of personal privilege, my youngest son serves in the Missouri National Guard. Could he be heading to the Mexican border soon?  

Before Missouri Gov. Mike Parson hopped on a plane for the Super Bowl over the weekend, he flew down to the border to join Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in a solidarity mission aimed at fixing what he called an out-of-control migrant crisis.  

This week, Parson will reveal how he plans to help his fellow Republican governor. 

The state of Missouri currently has about 250 National Guard members deployed at the southern border, but Parson wants more boots on the ground.  

The governor says he’s also considering sending Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers and drones to Texas. 

A similar push is now underway in Kansas. Last week, the Kansas House passed a resolution calling on Gov. Laura Kelly to send National Guard units and law enforcement personnel to the southern border. 

The move comes after a Harvard University/Harris poll found that immigration has surged past inflation and the economy as the top issue on voters’ minds. 

In other statehouse news, watch for an important vote in Topeka today. The Kansas House will try to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the flat tax. The effort was halted last week after several Republican lawmakers came down sick.  

Lost in Translation 

More than 50,000 Kansas Citians speak a language other than English in the home. About one in 20 residents say they can’t communicate in English.  

Now City Hall wants to spend nearly $1 million on creating a new department, called the Office of Language Access. It would provide interpreters, translate city documents into other languages and be a bridge for the city’s growing immigrant and refugee populations.  

It’s on Thursday’s agenda for the City Council to approve. 

Blocks, Bumps, Dinks and Dunks 

Once the parade clears out on Wednesday, thousands of the nation’s top club volleyball players will take over downtown. The Triple Crown Volleyball Championship attracts the best teams in the country. The players and their families will also book out most of our hotel rooms. 

While the tournament doesn’t get as much attention as the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship, Visit KC says the three-day volleyball tourney generates demand for 15,500 hotel nights. That is about 50% more than the Big 12 tournament.  

The event starts Friday at the Kansas City Convention Center. 

Music That Can’t Be Silenced 

Last week, the Ukrainian ambassador was in Kansas City on a charm offensive. Now the National Symphony of Ukraine is taking up residence at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. 

The Kyiv-based orchestra is on its first American tour since Russian forces invaded their country. 

They perform at Helzberg Hall on Sunday at 7 p.m. 

Some other events worth considering: 

Don’t forget, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is free through the end of February. The Royals are picking up the tab in honor of Black History Month. 

And the Super Bowl in Las Vegas may have had Usher, Alicia Keys and Ludacris. But we have Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull and Ricky Martin.  

The Latin crossover stars perform together on the same stage at T-Mobile Center on Saturday night. 

Nick Haines tracks the week’s most impactful local news stories on “Kansas City Week in Review,” Friday at 7:30 p.m. on Kansas City PBS.