NFL 2024 kickoff: Thunderstorm delays Chiefs-Ravens kickoff, forces fans from stands

Eager NFL fans will have to wait.

Thunderstorms brought rain and lightning to Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium Thursday night in the hour before kickoff of the NFL season opener between the Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens.

The storm hit during pregame warmups as fans had begun to make their way into the stands. A message on the stadium’s video board announced that “all event/game activities will be interrupted” and asked fans to make their way out of the stands an onto the pregame stadium concourse.

The NBC broadcast, meanwhile, projected that the 8:20 p.m. kickoff would be delayed until 8:40.

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

Weather forecasts didn’t project for the storm to linger, but it wasn’t an ideal start to the highly anticipated rematch of last year’s AFC championship.