The Chiefs released their first renderings of how the new stadium might look.
Chiefs/MANICA
After a six-month design competition for their new stadium, the Kansas City Chiefs announced that locally-based MANICA will be the lead design architect for the Chiefs new stadium.
“It is the honor of a lifetime to be entrusted with designing the next home of the Kansas City Chiefs in our hometown,” David Manica, president and owner of MANICA said in a press release.
Along with the news of who will design the stadium, the first renderings and details were released for the stadium, which is slated to open for the 2031 NFL season.
Here is a breakdown of the new intel.
Good: Seating Capacity
The Chiefs said that the seating capacity will be “approximately 70,000.” Although that may mean it does not reach the current capacity of GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium’s 73,426, it should be considered good news because there was thought that the capacity would be fewer than 70,000.
The trend of new stadiums has been to reduce overall seating capacity while increasing luxury boxes or premium end-zone areas.
For example, the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium, which opens this season, will have about 10,000 fewer seats than their previous one.
A capacity of 70,000 currently would rank in the top 10 (not including Arrowhead) in the NFL.
Bad: Closed Roof
Since the Chiefs first announced their move to Kansas, it was known that they would play in a dome.
So this is not exactly news, but it does confirm how the roof will look and that it will not be retractable.
By not having an open-air stadium, it robs the Chiefs of a home-field advantage. They memorably pummeled the Miami Dolphins, 26-7, in 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.
“There’s a home-field advantage to playing playoff games in the cold,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan exclusively shared last summer.
Good: Translucent Look
If the Chiefs were going to feature a closed roof, at least the Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) roof offers 400,000 square feet of translucent panels directly above the playing surface, and that should be aesthetically pleasing.
ETFE is a fluorine-based clear plastic and would maximize visibility for military jet flyovers.
The new Chiefs stadium is supposed to have a translucent roof.
Chiefs/MANICA
The look could resemble the Minnesota Vikings’ U.S. Bank Field, which also has a lightweight, ETFE translucent roof to let in natural light from the outside.
Bad: Parking/Tailgating Space
The stadium will have more than 20,000 parking spots. The Truman Sports Complex has about 26,000 now.
Both are large totals, but part of the appeal of the move from Missouri to Kansas was to allow for even more space and even more tailgating for what is a significant part of the gameday experience in an area known for its barbecue.
Thirty-thousand spots would have amplified the tailgating experience.
The new stadium should have more than 20,000 parking spaces.
Chiefs/MANICA
Good: Preserving Traditions
The new stadium will include a Drum Deck for pregame and in-game ceremonies as well as the prominent placement of the Chiefs Ring of Honor above the bowl.
A statue of Lamar Hunt, the founder of the Chiefs who also came up for the name of the Super Bowl, will still graze the modern plaza.
The Chiefs Hall of Honor, which includes everything from visual displays for every player to the notes Hunt wrote out for the initial rules of the AFL to the sport coat Travis Kelce wore on Saturday Night Live, will more than double in size of its current space.
Also getting bigger will the team store, which will expand to four times its current size.
It’s all part of a stadium that is slated to cost $3 billion.
“It’s spectacular,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said in a statement. “It honors the rich legacy of this franchise while setting a bold course for the future of Chiefs Kingdom.”
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