Patrick Mahomes on Arrowhead Magic, Kansas City Chiefs, & Game-Changing NIL Partnership

Like if you love football, like the history of football, Arrowhead is the place you have to go. This is Vincy Ongumse, Boardroom Talks with Patrick Mahomes. Patrick, thanks for joining us. No, thanks for having me. Just talk about football in general, being in Kansas City one more time again. I mean, I think it's just phenomenal seeing the way that you've embraced the city and the city has embraced you too. Is there anything that you look forward to when you do go to Kansas City? Yeah, no, I've been blessed to be in a lot of great places just in general. I mean, Kansas City, they took me in like I was like a son. And they've shown me that support and they've believed in me since the very beginning. And I've been in a great locker room with a lot of great players, and it's been a heck of a ride. And we're going to try to continue to keep it going. But even more than that, just the people that are in the community, it's been awesome to meet everybody and see everything that Kansas City has because they have that pride in Kansas City, which I truly enjoy. And same as like when I was here at Texas Tech and when I was back home in Tyler, Texas, it's just like you have these hometown feels. And I keep going to bigger and bigger cities. They still just love their football team and they love being able to go out there and support them on and off the field. Like you said, there's no place like home. We both know how exciting Arrowhead is. But for anyone who hasn't been there, what would you say? What's the pitch to bring them there? Yeah, it's just one of a kind. I mean, that's the biggest thing is it's loud. And I think people take the loudness and that's like, oh, it's loud. It's loud. It's like everywhere else. But it's just different. It has the history. You can feel it when you step on the field. You can feel when you step in the stadium of all the great players and all the great games have been played in this stadium. And it's kind of like if you love football, like the history of football, Arrowhead is the place you have to go. If you could describe your offseason in one word, what would you say? Exciting. We went and we traveled a lot. At the same time, we got we kept working and the kids kept it exciting for sure. And now as we talk about back to back to back now, what is the message that you want to send to fans coming into this season? I think is that we're going to give everything we have to go out there and do it. I mean, it's going to be a long process. This league isn't this league's hard. I mean, it's hard to win Super Bowls. And I know we've we've won a lot of these last year. So it feels like we can just go out there and do it. We're going to put in that work and we've done it so far. We've put in the work, but we're going to go out there and battle every single week. And hopefully we can bring that back to back to back championship back. Oh, we know we can. This is remarkable. This is a historic moment for Texas Tech. And just talk to me about the thought process behind selecting these athletes to join your inaugural program. First, it was just finding the right athletes. I mean, obviously you want to you want to choose everybody. But I'm finding people that are not only great at whatever they're on the field, softball field, the soccer field or the football field, whatever it is, but also people that are just great people and are leaders, hopefully in the community. And so that was the kind of how we made the selection process. I mean, Adidas helped me with bringing me a lot of different information on all the people that we chose. But I'm excited with the group of six that we got. You obviously didn't benefit from the NIL program, but you see how it works in favor of the students now. When you think about just how it's impacted college students, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? Yeah, exciting. I mean, just because being able to make money that that can help your parents out or help your families out and be able to live out your dream is really cool. And so I'm excited for the start of this NIL program and just in general and how it's going to continue to benefit college athletics and college sports. And so I'm I'm excited for the future of it. This is just a start. It's going to continue to get bigger and bigger, and it's going to make the sports world even better. And when you come back to Lubbock now, what's the feeling that you have when you walk through? And what was the biggest lesson that you learned at the college level that you take to your professional career? They got some great facilities now. You know, no, but really, it really is. It's it's cool to see how they at Texas Tech has continued to push forward facilities, not only in football, but in every sport. Kirby Holcutt does a great job of continue to push every sport even further and further forward. And the university is even blown up more. And that just speaks to the people that are in Lubbock. And I think the lesson that I learned is just to continue to push to follow your dream. I mean, when I was at Texas Tech, I mean, there was hard times. There was good times. At the end of the day, people continue to support me. That support has not stopped yet. And so I continue to strive to be the best that I can be to show that their support is warranted because I'm going to go out there and be the best at this university. Absolutely. And then a little birdie birdie told me that here in Lubbock, you like spankies. Spankies is good. Spankies is still here. I don't even know. I mean, look around. Might have to slide by before I head out. No, it's they have these like fried mozzarella sticks. They're like the best. But I mean, Coach Reason watching my weight. Going to make sure maybe just grab a couple on the way out. You have to. It's rare that you're in Lubbock. Yeah, for sure. Patrick, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.