{"id":225328,"date":"2025-10-15T01:07:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T01:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/225328\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T01:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T01:07:09","slug":"study-does-deep-dive-on-if-refs-are-favoring-chiefs-in-biggest-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/225328\/","title":{"rendered":"Study does deep dive on if refs are favoring Chiefs in biggest games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are all the memes of Patrick Mahomes and the referees<\/a> based on reality?<\/p>\n

Research conducted recently<\/a> by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), a public research university, suggests that what we are seeing on screen isn\u2019t an anomaly or your imagination: The Chiefs are indeed receiving favorable whistles in their biggest games.<\/p>\n

In a dataset spanning more than 13,000 penalty calls from 2015 through 2023, researchers found that \u201cpostseason officiating has disproportionately favored the Mahomes-era Kansas City Chiefs, coinciding with their rise as one of the NFL\u2019s most marketable franchises.\u201d<\/p>\n

The theory, developed by the lead author of the study, assistant professor of finance at UTEP Spencer Barnes, Ph.D., considers essential moments such as playoffs and nationally televised games.<\/p>\n

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) looks in as the referees discuss a pass interference call on 4th and 16 late in the fourth quarter of an NFL game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs on September 15, 2024 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The study states that when \u201cthe league\u2019s financial health is at stake, rule enforcement may subtly shift to protect market appeal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The study likely only covers a small portion of Travis Kelce\u2019s relationship with music mogul Taylor Swift, as the couple first started dating in the summer of 2023.<\/p>\n

When Swift was present for a Sept. 24, 2023, game, it drew 24.3 million viewers on Fox<\/a>, up from the average viewership of 15 million.<\/p>\n

Fans on social media have been quick to point to Swift \u2014 and her massive popularity \u2014 as the reason why the league would be quick to favor the Chiefs.<\/p>\n

Chiefs fans and \u201cSwifties\u201d are now one unit. TNS<\/p>\n

However, the findings of the actual study are a bit muddled.<\/p>\n

In playoff games<\/a>, penalties against Kansas City opponents were 2.36 more yards than average. Flags were also 23 percent more likely to result in a first down in favor of the Chiefs.<\/p>\n

The study adds that subjective calls, such as roughing the passer and pass interference, occurred 28 percent more frequently.<\/p>\n

Sports Illustrated previously reported<\/a> that Mahomes gets .412 roughing the passer penalties per postseason game, up significantly from the .12 league average.<\/p>\n

During the regular season, the pattern is reversed. According to the study, the Chiefs get less than average yardage on penalties and are less likely to produce first downs compared to league norms. <\/p>\n

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are major draws for the NFL these days. Sports Illustrated via Getty Ima<\/p>\n

According to UTEP, the Chiefs have an advantage in the high-leverage moments during the playoffs, but other dynasties (Patriots) did not show a similar advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that postseason penalties consistently favored one franchise, while similar dynasties showed no such pattern, points to the powerful role of financial incentives in shaping supposedly neutral decisions,\u201d Barnes said.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs are undoubtedly among the league\u2019s best teams as they again find themselves among the Super Bowl favorites ahead of Week 7.<\/p>\n

There was a questionable call that hit league circles on \u201cSunday Night Football\u201d during the Chiefs\u2019 eventual 30-17 win<\/a>, which would not have shown up in this study.<\/p>\n

Kelce caught a critical pass on third down that appeared to be moving<\/a> and potentially would have been ruled incomplete upon further review.<\/p>\n

Patrick Mahomes speaks to referee Danny Short. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Chiefs wisely rushed to the line of scrimmage and ran a play before the replay assistant could make a different ruling.<\/p>\n

The 3-3 Chiefs face the Raiders on Sunday as they prepare for a more demanding schedule in the weeks following against the Commanders, Bills and Broncos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Are all the memes of Patrick Mahomes and the referees based on reality? Research conducted recently by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[1236,349,57566,99,4915],"class_list":["post-225328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-nfl","tag-referees","tag-sports","tag-taylor-swift"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}