The Kansas City Chiefs have funding for a new stadium in place, and plans beyond that are progressing quickly.
The Kansas City Chiefs have big plans for the team they’re going to put on the field this year, and those plans are being mirrored by the Chiefs efforts to get a new stadium. Those plans are progressing quickly, and according to owner Clark Hunt the Chiefs will unveil renderings of their new $3 billion domed stadium this summer.
Clark’s comments emerged in a report by Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk, via the Associated Press. The stadium will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line, Williams added, and it’s scheduled to be completed in time for the 2031 season.
The fast movement is based in part on the fact that Kansas lawmakers have voted to allow the state to issue more than $2.4 million in bonds to cover about 60 percent of the cost of the build, which will also include a new training facility as well as retail and entertainment space.
“We’re making progress,” Hunt said, via the Associated Press. “We have a design competition that’s ongoing between MANICA and Populous, and I would hope in the next several months that we’d be able to make a decision on the lead architect.”
According to Williams, MANICA designed the new Nissan Stadium in Nashville, and the firm also worked on Allegiant Field in Las Vegas. Populous, meanwhile, is finishing up the new Highmark Stadium in Buffalo.
Stadium machinations aside, the big news in all this is that the stadium will put the Chiefs in play to bid on big events that have nothing to do with football.
“We plan on bidding for Final Fours, College Football Playoff Games, bowl games and, of course, the Super Bowl,” Hunt said. “It will coincide with the construction of several other NFL buildings, so we will have competition, but I will make sure that Kansas City and the Chiefs put their best foot forward in that process.”
The Chiefs are already involved in this kind of venture to some extent. Arrowhead Stadium has undergone some minor renovations to host six World Cup games this summer, Williams added, so that the 53-year old facility could handle the size of the field used for one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
Having a ready-made facility would certainly make that easier, and the dome would make the stadium more attractive for multiple events, not to mention viable for other events that weren't in play before.