The Chiefs’ new stadium will feature a fixed, translucent roof.
Chiefs and MANICA
It would seem like best of both worlds for the Kansas City Chiefs’ new home.
With a retractable roof, the Chiefs would get a dome, allowing them to host Final Fours and Super Bowls — but with an open-air option so that fans could enjoy crisp, autumn weather.
There, however, are several reasons why the Chiefs intentionally went in a different direction.
“Pretty early in the decision process,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said, “we decided to go with a fixed roof.”
They made that decision after investigating it thoroughly. They spoke with the Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans and Atlanta Falcons — all teams who have retractable roofs.
“I don’t want to put words in their mouth,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan said. “But it was pretty clear it’s not worth it.”
Those teams did not retract their roofs that frequently.
Having opened in 2017, the Falcons’ Mercedes-Benz Stadium is the newest of those retractable-roof facilities and considered a world-class venue.
The Falcons keep the roof close when it’s cold, the temperature is above 80 degrees or there are high winds. As a result it has been open about 30% of the time.
Snow And Expenses
Retractable roofs have completely different designs, enabling them to move, and that creates some logistical issues.
“There are problems with retractable roofs.” Marc Ganis, president of Sportscorp Ltd, said. “If you’re going to do it, you’re going to do it for aesthetics more than anything else.”
Across the entirety of a structural translucent cover like the Chiefs are going with, the cable and truss support is fixed, but retractable roofs typically have structure over the sides and ends with the opening in the center.
Because of that different way a retractable roof is structured and supported, snow becomes a unique challenge.
A retractable roof would not only have to bear the weight of the snow, but there also would have to a mechanism to remove it or melt it. That’s one reason why NFL teams that use retractable roofs reside in temperate climates.
Another issue is the cost.
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen looked into a removable roof for Citi Field but said it would cost $800 million.
Since Citi Field was already built, the retractable roof would have had to be retrofitted, making it more expensive than building it from the ground up like the Chiefs could have done.
But creating a retractable roof still would have added hundreds of millions to the cost of the Chiefs’ new stadium — whether it slid open (like the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium) or was more of an aperture (like the Falcons’ Mercedes-Benz Stadium).
“They’re quite expensive to build and maintain,” Ganis said.
Translucent Roof
Instead of a retractable roof, the Chiefs are opting for an enclosed one with 400,000 square feet of translucent Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE). The Minnesota Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium also features that fluorine-based, clear plastic as a way to let in natural light from the outside.
In addition to letting light in, the Chiefs wanted a translucent roof so they could continue their pregame tradition of local Whiteman Air Force Base jets cruising over the stadium for the national anthem. The new stadium is even incorporating glass in both end zones so fans can see the approach.
“We want it to be as transparent as it possibly can be,” Donovan said, “because flyovers are so important to our gameday experience.”
Although that should preserve a cool experience, a segment of Chiefs fans certainly will miss a glorious fall day sitting outside — or even the camaraderie that comes with bundling up amidst friends and family during a wintry game.
The Chiefs memorably pummeled the Miami Dolphins, 26-7, in the fourth-coldest game in NFL history, as temperatures reached minus-4 degrees Fahrenheit with a windchill of minus-27. The warm-weather Dolphins seemed ill-equipped to handle the adverse conditions of that wild-card game in 2024.
It might have been frigid, but it gave the Chiefs a huge home-field advantage — and fans a story to tell their grandkids — en route to winning a second straight Super Bowl.
“As romantic as that is,” Ganis said, “we’re at a different stage in the industry.”
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