What Arrowhead’s rules mean for Swifties planning to ‘Taylor-gate’ at Kansas City shows

At every concert during Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, thousands of fans who weren’t lucky enough to get the highly-coveted tickets have gone to the stadiums’ parking lots to listen to the concerts from the outside.

It happened at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida, Nissan Stadium in Nashville and Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

And it’s safe to say that plenty of Kansas City Swifties are planning to do the same thing at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in July.

These “Taylor-gates” only cost the price of a parking pass or can be completely free for fans that walk to the stadium. Fans share friendship bracelets, dance along to their favorite songs and dress up in their favorite “era” of the superstar singer’s career.

But while Kansas City fans may be planning for their Taylor-gates, Arrowhead Stadium rules say they’re not allowed.

On the Chiefs’ websites for Night 1 and Night 2 of the concerts, the rules say, “Please note tailgating is for ticketed guests only and the club reserves the right to confirm that guests have tickets prior to allowing them into the parking lots.”

Officials with the Chiefs and Arrowhead Stadium confirmed that the policy will be in place for Swift’s concerts. That means fans who don’t have a ticket to the show won’t be allowed inside the parking lot.

Arrowhead officials did not say how they plan to enforce this policy.

Kansas City Police Department officials also said they will have crossing guards set up to help with pedestrian traffic and will have motorcycle officers around to ensure traffic keeps moving and that no one parks on Blue Ridge Cutoff.

WHY CAN’T SWIFTIES TAILGATE DURING THE CONCERT?

The rule isn’t new at Arrowhead Stadium, and the Chiefs didn’t implement this before the concert to spite Swift’s biggest fans. The change came before the 2018 football season.

In addition to needing a ticket to be in the parking lot, Arrowhead also has a rule that fans can’t be in the parking lot during a game or event — only before. The rule states that tailgating at the stadium ends at kickoff. That means when a Chiefs game begins, tailgaters have two places to go: into the stadium or home. The same thing applies to concerts and other events at the stadium.

Chiefs president Mark Donovan said in 2018 that they’re following a safety and security best practice recommendation from the NFL.

An incident that happened 10 years ago spurred the change — after a fan was killed in the parking lot during a Chiefs game.

In 2016, the fan’s wife filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Chiefs, which was settled out of court in 2018.

After that, the stadium started getting stricter about people being in the parking lot.

IS THIS JUST AN ARROWHEAD THING?

No. Many other stadiums across the country have a similar rule, including many of other venues that hosted Eras Tour concerts. But that hasn’t stopped fans from showing up.

MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey and Soldier Field in Chicago asked fans not to show up without a ticket to the concert unless they want to be kicked out and possibly banned from future stadium events, but many showed up anyway. Some fans told the Chicago Sun-Times that no one asked them to leave while they were listening to the concert from the outside.