The Kingdom

ABOUT THIS ENTRY

The two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs seek to become the first NFL team to win three consecutive Super Bowls. This six-part series chronicles the Chiefs’ dramatic three-peat pursuit, the legacy and impact of the franchise, and the unforgettable characters who built the dynasty. 

How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?

The collaboration across ESPN social media accounts and partner accounts will serve as a model for future executions in series promotion.NFL, ESPN, ESPNW, SportsCenter, SportsCenter Next, and ESPN Originals accounts all posted content from The Kingdom, showing a unified effort to maximize visibility and engagement. Externally, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs accounts collaborated on all selected posts. 5 TikTok Boosts provided an extra 100 million views for over 200 million views. These collaborations have set a new precedent for successful internal and external partnerships that should serve as the benchmark of successfully generating fan engagement for future projects.

Objective

The Kingdom is the definitive six-part documentary series chronicling the Chiefs’ past and present, and the stores of the characters creating a dynasty. With unprecedented access to the franchise’s key figures and an all-access look across the organization, this project is telling the complete story of the Chiefs, their 2024 season, and the untold personal stories that shaped this kingdom. As cameras captured every moment of the Chiefs’ campaign, the narrative was crafted in an original and inventive way. Grounding each episode in a lead character’s narrative, as well as a theme, showcasing the constant pursuit of greatness and peeling back layers in protagonists’ stories. It’s an approach rooted in the human aspect of the game, making the series all the more appealing to the Chiefs’ all-encompassing fanbase. The project uses twin timelines, the historic 2024 Chiefs season and the making of a dynasty, to reveal how America’s most popular sports franchise, after hitting rock bottom, rebuilt itself through second chances, bold decisions, and a deep belief in its people.

Strategy & Execution

The Chiefs aren’t just the most popular team in the NFL, they’re the best story in all of sports. From their founding to their rise, fall, and rise again across generations of fabled chapters, the Chiefs pursuit to become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls is the stuff of legend. In pursuit of the three-peat, the Chiefs are perhaps the most compelling, most culturally relevant franchise sports has to offer. The Chiefs are at once an underdog comeback tale and a powerful colossus. They have a coach whose career took decades to transform into an icon, a quarterback who has entered the conversation of greatest of all time, and a record breaking tight end who's become as famous off the field as he is on it. The team is composed of a roster mixed with incredible talent and cast-offs who've found in Kansas City not just a second chance, but a family. As the team pursued NFL greatness never before reached, cameras were granted an all-access pass to history. With complete access to the team, its players, coaches, executives, and ownership, this project captured all-time NFL greats in their prime, cementing their legacy in real time.

Organizations

• ESPN

• Words + Pictures
• Skydance Sports
• NFL Films
• 2PM Productions

Featured

• Patrick Mahomes

• Travis Kelce
• Chris Jones
• Andy Reid
• Isaiah Pacheco
• Kareem Hunt
• Deandre Hopkins
• George Karlaftis
• Trent McDuffie
• Leo Chenal
• Brittany Mahomes
• Clark Hunt
• Steve Spagnuolo
• Mark Donovan
• Brett Veach
• Tammy Reid

Credits

Kristen Lappas
Director
Words + Pictures

Connor Schell
Executive Producer
Words + Pictures

Jason Hehir
Executive Producer
Words + Pictures

Libby Geist
Executive Producer
Words + Pictures

Aaron Cohen
Executive Producer
Words + Pictures

Alexa Conway
Executive Producer
Words + Pictures

Matt Maxson
Supervising Producer
Words + Pictures

Matt Maxson
Supervising Producer
Words + Pictures

Jasper Cicero
Producer
Words + Pictures

Nicholas Manning
Producer
Words + Pictures

Burke Magnus
Executive Producer
ESPN

Brian Lockhart
Executive Producer
ESPN

Marsha Cooke
Executive Producer
ESPN

Lindsay Rovegno
Executive Producer
ESPN

Heather Anderson
Executive Producer
ESPN

Torey Champagne
Supervising Producer
ESPN

Ashley Bembry-Kaintuck
Producer
ESPN

Kyle Van Dam
Producer
ESPN

Jesse Sisgold
Executive Producer
Skydance Media

Jason T. Reed
Executive Producer
Skydance Media

Jon Weinbach
Executive Producer
Skydance Media

Patrick Mahomes
Executive Producer
2PM Productions

Jacquelyn Dahl
Executive Producer
2PM Productions

Ross Ketover
Executive Producer
NFL Films

Keith Crossrow
Executive Producer
NFL Films

Ken Rodgers
Executive Producer
NFL Films

Jessica Boddy
Executive Producer
NFL Films

Mark Donovan
Executive Producer
Kansas City Chiefs

Lara Krug
Executive Producer
Kansas City Chiefs

Gelsomina Picariello
Co-Executive Producer
Kansas City Chiefs