Philadelphia vs. Kansas City Sports History: A Super Bowl 57 Primer

PHILADELPHIA, PA — While the City of Brotherly Love doesn't regularly dance with the Heart of America in the world of athletics, Super Bowl 57 will not be the first time the two cities have tangoed in a championship.

Kansas City's two professional sports teams, the Chiefs in the NFL and the Royals in the MLB, play in opposite leagues from the Eagles and the Phillies. So regular season matchups are few and far between.

But Kansas City nonetheless has a prominent place in Philadelphia sports lore. The Phillies first ever World Series championship in 1980 came against the Royals, at the time a relatively new expansion franchise and a total unknown on the national sports scene. That was the series of Mike Schmidt and Tug McGraw, Pete Rose and Steve Carlton. All time greats were in Philadelphia in '80, and while Kansas City had the better regular season record, the Phils won a convincing 4-2 series.

The Phillies have gone 8-7 against the Royals in the regular season ever since interleague play was established in 1997.

The Eagles and the Chiefs, meanwhile, have played nine regular season games against each other. The Birds are 4-5 in those matchups.

The Chiefs are 2-0 in the last two matchups, both of them in the era of quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs saw just the fledgling steps of what would become the Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni NFC Championship winning dynamo, as the most recent matchup was played in Oct. 2021.

Perhaps the most notable recent conflict between the two regions, however, was between teams not actually located in the cities proper. In the 2022 NCAA Final Four, the University of Kansas defeated Villanova, 81-65, thwarting the most recent Wildcat run at glory.

Of course, that came after Nova beat Kansas in 2018 in the same Final Four semifinal round en route to the national championship. Nova also beat Kansas in the regional final in 2016.

The University of Missouri, meanwhile, has played Villanova once, on Dec. 6, 2011. Missouri won, 81-71.

Kick off for Super Bowl 57 is 6:30 p.m. Sunday night.