The Kansas City Chiefs have given football fans their first glimpse of a massive new home — a $3 billion, fully enclosed domed stadium expected to open in time for the 2031 NFL season. While the specific location in Kansas has yet to be locked in, the team released the initial design renderings on Wednesday.
The new facility draws inspiration from Arrowhead Stadium, which has been the Chiefs’ home since 1972. Designers incorporated a symmetrical curved exterior and a scalloped upper deck in both end zones. The roof will feature translucent ethylene tetrafluoroethylene panels, and the surrounding area will include 20,000 parking spaces.
The dome will hold 70,000 fans and is being designed with crowd noise amplification in mind — something many season-ticket holders had specifically requested. Arrowhead previously earned the Guinness World Record for the loudest stadium in 2014, registering 142.2 decibels.
Team owner Clark Hunt addressed the project in an official statement, saying, “From the beginning, our goal has been to build something that improves the gameday experience for every single fan. This new stadium will do just that. It’s spectacular. It honors the rich legacy of this franchise while setting a bold course for the future of Chiefs Kingdom.”
Hunt also announced that he and his family plan to invest an additional $1 billion toward the stadium and a surrounding mixed-use development, which will include the team’s new training facility. Kansas lawmakers gave the project a significant boost in late December, voting unanimously to allow sales tax and revenue bonds — known as STAR bonds — to fund up to 70% of the total project cost.
Speaking in late March, Hunt expressed his enthusiasm: “I’ve been thrilled with what I’ve seen. It’s very, very exciting. Our fanbase is going to get an incredible stadium, something that’ll be iconic and serve the community well for a minimum of 30 years — and hopefully closer to 60.”
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has indicated the stadium will be located in Wyandotte County. The Chiefs have expressed interest in a site near the Kansas City Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas — an area that also sits close to The Legends, a retail and entertainment district, as well as Children’s Mercy Park, home to MLS club Sporting Kansas City.
Once the new dome is up and running, the Chiefs intend to pursue bids for major events, including the Super Bowl, the FIFA World Cup, and College Football Playoff games.
Hunt spoke to those ambitions during the NFL Draft: “When the World Cup comes back to America in 25 or 30 years, the field will be designed so that we don’t have to do the work that we had to do to expand the field’s width on Arrowhead in order to host the World Cup. We’ll plan on bidding on Final Fours, College Football Playoff games, bowl games and, of course, a Super Bowl. The construction of the stadium is going to coincide with the construction of several other new NFL buildings, so we are going to have some competition.”
He added, “I’ll make sure that the Chiefs and Kansas City put their best foot forward in that process.”
