NFL 2024 Kickoff: Thunderstorm delays Chiefs-Ravens game, forces fans out of stands

Eager NFL fans will have to wait.

Thunderstorms brought rain and lightning to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Thursday night, an hour before the NFL season opener between the Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens was scheduled to kick off, forcing a delay.

The storm hit during pre-game warm-ups as fans began to head to the stands. A message on the stadium’s video screen announced that “all event/game activities will be suspended” and asked fans to exit the stands and head to the stadium concourse.

The NFL later announced that the scheduled 8:20 p.m. kickoff would be delayed to 8:40 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs’ social media found some humor in the dark clouds after promoting “the calm before the storm” earlier on the Arrowhead Stadium account.

The weather forecast didn’t predict the storms would last, but it wasn’t an ideal start to the highly anticipated rematch of last season’s AFC Championship Game.

By the time the NFL made the announcement, the weather had cleared. Fans returned to the stands and players resumed warmups around 8 p.m. ET.

The good news for home fans is that they have had more time to work on their fixture allocation. And what’s an extra 20 minutes when you’ve been waiting since February?