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Anthony Oropeza still remembers the day Travis Kelce walked into his studio at the Interurban Arthouse outside Kansas City. There, his acrylic and mixed media works were hung on the walls.
Kelsey was helping fund grants for community arts hubs, but the first work that caught his attention included a Hall of Fame Negro League pitcher who played in Cleveland, near where the future Chiefs tight end grew up. Satchel Paige was featured.
Kelce then saw Oropeza's painting titled “:13 Seconds,” depicting the dramatic end of the 2022 Chiefs-Buffalo game. Kelce made a key catch that moved Kansas City within range of a tying field goal in a divisional playoff game. He then caught a touchdown pass in overtime to bring the Chiefs back to the AFC Championship Game.
“Something there looks familiar,” Kelce told Oropeza.
Oropeza's work has attracted more attention than Kelce in recent years. He has also worked on the wives of Kansas City Royals' Jarrod Dyson and former St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols. However, the majority of his work is focused on the Chiefs, which helps him supplement his 9-to-5 job working for the local parks and recreation department.
“The success of the Chiefs and more specifically the success and greatness of Patrick Mahomes has definitely helped my career,” he said. “It helped me pay for my child's education. I met some of the best Chiefs fans.”
In fact, the sustained excellence of the Chiefs, who next Sunday will play their fourth Super Bowl in five years against the San Francisco 49ers, has led to dozens, if not hundreds, of companies like Oropeza's art studio. was critical to the company's small business profits.
In December, Ecosalt Solutions estimated the Chiefs' total annual economic impact on the team and operations of Arrowhead Stadium, as well as ancillary expenditures for non-local attendees of games and events, at just under $1 billion.
“We are extremely proud of our connection to the Kansas City area for more than 60 years,” Chiefs Chairman Mark Donovan said in a statement. “We know that franchises and stadiums are important economic drivers.”
Not just big companies, but small t-shirt companies, bakeries, and even local artists.
Take RAYGUN, an irreverent clothing company with locations across the Midwest, which features cheeky quotes like “I rooted for Kansas City before it was cool” and “Go Taylor Swift's boyfriend.” We manufacture T-shirts. Of course, his relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift has proven to be highly beneficial as well.
Another local clothing company, Charlie Hussle, pays tribute to her with hoodies and shirts that read “In My Red Era.”
Dolce Bakery, located outside of Prairie Village, Kansas, carries the entire Swifty Collection of heart-shaped cakes, as well as an expanded menu of Chiefs-related cookies and treats. The cake is decorated to resemble Mahomes, with his signature curly hair, and coach Andy Reid, whose mustache and glasses are very prominently featured.
“January and February have historically been quiet months for us,” said Erin Brown, founder of Dolce Bakery, “but this Super Bowl year has led our creative team to “We were able to mass-produce a freshly baked Chiefs design that is loved by the community.”
The nature of small and medium-sized businesses also allows for rapid pivot changes. So when the Chiefs defeated the Ravens to earn a spot in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, Dolce prepared a cake that read “Welcome to the Kingdom,” but also “Welcome to the Wonderful Las Vegas” that greeted the visitors. It was the style of the signboard. We've been on the Strip for over 60 years.
“As avid fans ourselves, this gave us the opportunity to connect with our regular customers and reach new ones through our shared passion and support for the Chiefs,” Brown explained.
After the Chiefs defeated the Bills in the district round, Kelce's younger brother, Jason Kelce, famously took off his shirt and stormed out of his suite to celebrate, a baker at Eileen's Colossal Cookies in Liberty, Missouri. We paid attention. They decorated a cookie cake with an image of the Eagles Center, and the photo went viral as soon as it was posted on social media.
Another bakery, McClain's, noticed that Reid's bushy mustache froze during the Chiefs' wild-card win over Miami, the fourth-coldest game in NFL history.
So they started offering a slightly tweaked version of their Reid-inspired cake called the “Andy Reidsicle Cake,” which features Reid's mustache in the shape of an icicle.
These are just some of the small businesses that have benefited from the strengthened Chiefs industry.
“It also allowed me to help my community,” added Oropeza, an artist whose studio Kelce visited that day. In addition to his original work, he also does live paintings for charity fundraisers, and some of his Chiefs-related pieces sell for thousands of dollars.
“The biggest highlight of the day was when my daughter met Travis surrounded by all my paintings,” Oropeza admitted. When she met him, she had the biggest smile I've ever seen on her face. And as a father, seeing his child smile so widely makes all the late nights, and all the other sacrifices she made over the past 10 years, even though she got four hours of sleep, worth it. There it was. ”
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