The Missouri Governor's Cup (also known as the ChiefsâÂÂRams rivalry, or CardinalsâÂÂChiefs rivalry) was a trophy awarded to the winner of the football game between Missouri's two National Football League (NFL) teams. The local press occasionally referred to the game as The Battle of Missouri, The Show-Me State Showdown, or the I-70 Series. Originally played for between the Kansas City Chiefs and the St. Louis Cardinals, the series went into recess after 1987 following the Cardinals' relocation to Phoenix, Arizona at the end of the season, leaving the Chiefs as the only NFL team in Missouri. In 1996, the year after the St. Louis Rams relocated from Los Angeles, the Governor's Cup series returned and was played until 2015 in the preseason and the interconference regular season matchups between the Chiefs and Rams. The series ended once again after the Rams returned to Los Angeles in 2016, leaving the Chiefs as the only NFL team in Missouri for a second time.
The contest began in 1968 when St. Louis was home of the St. Louis football Cardinals until the Cardinals' relocation in 1988. The Governor's Cup game was resumed in the 1996 season between the Chiefs and the Rams until the Rams' relocation in 2016.
The Chiefs posted a 16âÂÂ7âÂÂ2 mark in its Governor's Cup series against the Cardinals from 1968 to 1987, going 3âÂÂ1âÂÂ1 in the regular season record and 13âÂÂ6âÂÂ1 in preseason play.
When the Los Angeles Rams relocated to St. Louis, the rivalry among Missourians re-emerged. Both the Rams and the Chiefs possessed the two most productive offenses in the NFL in the early 2000s, and the meetings often resulted in shootouts. Former Rams coach Dick Vermeil was hired by the Chiefs in 2001 after he had won Super Bowl XXXIV with the Rams with one of the NFL's most powerful offensive squads in history. Once the Chiefs created their own high-powered offense with the arrival of Vermeil, the rivalry became even more exciting. In often meaningless preseason games, the Chiefs and Rams gave all their energy to secure the Governor's Cup, their spot as the best offense in the league, and bragging rights for their respective city in Missouri. Dick Vermeil faced off against his old coaching staff with the Rams â including his offensive coordinator of "The Greatest Show on Turf", Mike Martz, who succeeded Vermeil for the Rams head coaching job.
Chiefs owner Clark Hunt helped engineer the Rams' return to Los Angeles, their home from 1946âÂÂ94, in January 2016, when he was the sole dissenting vote for a proposal which would have allowed the Raiders and Chargers to move to a new stadium in Carson. Hunt and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones then brokered a deal to allow the Rams to move back to California, where owner Stan Kroenke would construct a new stadium in Inglewood. The substitute proposal was approved 30âÂÂ2, with the Raiders and Chargers voting no. The Chargers moved to Los Angeles in 2017, then became tenants of the Rams' stadium in 2020.
|- | | Tie <br> 6âÂÂ6 | Municipal Stadium | Tie <br> 0âÂÂ0âÂÂ1 |First regular season meeting. |- | | style="| Chiefs <br> 10âÂÂ0 | Busch Memorial Stadium | style="|Chiefs <br> 1âÂÂ0âÂÂ1 |
|- | | style="| Chiefs <br> 21âÂÂ13 | Busch Memorial Stadium | style="|Chiefs <br> 2âÂÂ0âÂÂ1 | |- | | style="| Chiefs <br> 38âÂÂ14 | Arrowhead Stadium | style="|Chiefs <br>3âÂÂ0âÂÂ1 | |- | | style="| Cardinals <br> 23âÂÂ14 | Busch Memorial Stadium | style="|Chiefs <br> 3âÂÂ1âÂÂ1 |Last regular season Chiefs-Cardinals all-Missouri meeting.
|- | Regular season | style="| Chiefs 3âÂÂ1âÂÂ1 | style="| Chiefs 1âÂÂ0âÂÂ1 | style="| Chiefs 2âÂÂ1 | |-
|- | | style="| Chiefs <br> 28âÂÂ20 | Trans World Dome | style="|Chiefs <br> 1âÂÂ0 |First regular season Chiefs-Rams all-Missouri meeting.
|- | | style="| Chiefs <br> 54âÂÂ34 | Arrowhead Stadium | style="|Chiefs <br> 2âÂÂ0 | |- | | style="| Chiefs <br> 49âÂÂ10 | Arrowhead Stadium | style="|Chiefs <br>3âÂÂ0 | |- | | style="| Chiefs <br> 31âÂÂ17 | Edward Jones Dome | style="|Chiefs <br> 4âÂÂ0 |
|- | | style="| Chiefs <br> 27âÂÂ13 | Edward Jones Dome | style="|Chiefs <br> 5âÂÂ0 | |- | | style="| Chiefs <br> 34âÂÂ7 | Arrowhead Stadium | style="|Chiefs <br> 6âÂÂ0 |Last regular season Chiefs-Rams all-Missouri meeting.
|- | Regular season | style="| Chiefs 6âÂÂ0 | style="| Chiefs 3âÂÂ0 | style="| Chiefs 3âÂÂ0 | |-