Features

Kansas City Chiefs detail $12m Arrowhead Stadium refurb

The Kansas City Chiefs NFL American football team has revealed details of improvements to Arrowhead Stadium ahead of the 2019 season.

The Chiefs and the Hunt family, which owns the team, have invested $12m (£9.8m/€10.8m) into the stadium over the summer, with the majority of this figure having been spent on new concrete and seats.

The Chiefs have fitted a new state-of-the-art scoreboard courtesy of Daktronics, while new seats in the upper deck have been equipped with cupholders and the GEHA Drum Deck has been installed. The projects have been designed and implemented with the intention of enhancing the fan experience on game days.

The team has also re-applied water-proofing measures to the upper deck at Arrowhead Stadium. Concrete has been replaced and reinforced, while a ‘Urethane Membrane’ has been added to the upper bowl to further enhance the deck’s resistance to weather damage.

Brandon Hamilton, vice-president of stadium operations for the Chiefs, said: “The most important renovation that we made from my standpoint was the concrete renovation in the upper bowl. Water is a big problem and will cause things to deteriorate quicker than what we want them to, so it was important to get this done and preserve the stadium.”

Chiefs president Mark Donovan added: “We looked at what was an infrastructure project with the water-proofing and thought if we were going to do that, how can we use this to enhance fan experience and make it better? That really prompted the conversation about the seats.”

The new seats were added following months of research. The seats are wider than before and feature cupholders, while the red colours appear more visually appealing for fans around the stadium.

“It really put a facelift on the building,” said Donovan. “If you just look at the building, it looks newer, and I think that matters.”

The Daktronics scoreboard is the first HDR video display in professional American football and Hamilton said it puts the Chiefs “at the forefront of technology”.

He added: “It has the ability to do what’s called a 9,000-nit rating, which allows us in bright sunlight – such as a noon game – to increase the output on the board to combat the sun and make it really bright. Right now, we’re the only NFL team that has that technology.”

Image: Kansas City Chiefs