Kansas City Chiefs team president Mark Donovan spoke with reporters before the first full team training camp practice at Missouri Western State University. He opened up about the recent design renderings and plans for the new stadium in Kansas.
"Yeah, one of the things we were worried about, you can imagine, you're in a vacuum; there are six or eight of us who are working with two different designers on all the options. One of things we did two really important things on the front end in giving them direction when they put the designs together," said Donovan, "One is we shared the CSL (Conventions, Sports and Leisure International) study that we did with our fans. We want them to have all the detail and all the specific information they gave
to us. I think I've shared with you all before, you know, the three big takeaways from the study; there was a ton in there, but the three takeaways were it needs to be louder, and the tailgating has to be as good or better. And the rest was just that they trusted our ability to give them something they're going to be proud of. So, we gave them that."
The stadium's size, shape, and roof geometry have been studied by audio engineers to maximize crowd noise and help ensure that Chiefs fans can continue to provide an unrivaled homefield advantage. The stadium's seating bowl is reminiscent of Arrowhead Stadium; it 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.
"We went to a pretty broad group of potential designers, and you can imagine the designs we got were all over the board. There were some really futuristic things, and there were really some traditional things," said Donovan. "And one of the things we sort of centered back on was, we have to honor the legacy of Arrowhead, but we have show a bold and innovative look at the future. And that was a challenge for our designers, like, do it, do both of those things. And there were various degrees of that. I'll go back to the vacuum comment: you know, you're sitting in that room for four months, looking at design after design after design after design.
After an extensive lead-through to the inspiring renderings, the Chiefs also announced that the club has selected Kansas City-based MANICA as the lead design architect for the new stadium.
"We kept zeroing in on, like, we got to get the balance right, honoring Arrowhead, but also looking at the future. I thought (MANICA Founder) David Manica and his team did an amazing job of really accepting that challenge and distributing it," said Donovan. "One of the more satisfying parts of the feedback we got after we released the renderings was that it was one of the first comments from most of the fans: it's like, 'wow, I see Arrowhead.' So, we're really excited about what we were able to accomplish and the work we did with MANICA."
The $3 billion state-of-the-art stadium will be fully enclosed with a translucent ETFE roof and is expected to have a total capacity of approximately 70,000. The Chiefs' brand new enclosed stadium is set to open in Kansas City, Kansas, in 2031.
This article originally appeared on Chiefs Wire: Chiefs President Mark Donovan comments on the new stadium design
