New Chiefs home in Kansas will be comparable to these 4 NFL stadiums

2 hours ago 1

The new domed stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs is required to be comparable to four other NFL stadiums.

The terms of the STAR bond agreement to build a new Chiefs stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, require "that the Stadium will be constructed in a first-class manner, so as to be generally comparable in overall quality and features to other domed NFL stadiums."

The agreement identifies four comparable NFL facilities. They are as follows:

Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
New Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The agreement notes "that nothing herein shall require that the Stadium include any particular features or components that are included in any of the Comparable NFL Facilities unless such features or components are otherwise listed in the Final Project Program Statement."

The STAR bond agreement for a new Kansas City Chiefs domed stadium identifies four other NFL stadiums that it will be comparable to, including U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

New Chiefs stadium may have smaller crowd capacity

The new Chiefs stadium must have "not less than 65,000 seats." That minimum capacity is a drop from Arrowhead Stadium, which is reported to have a capacity of more than 76,000.

A seating capacity of a little more than 65,000 would be in line with the four stadiums identified in the STAR bond agreement.

The four comparable stadiums are newer than the Chiefs' current home at Arrowhead Stadium, which opened in 1972:

State Farm Stadium, which is home to the Arizona Cardinals, opened in 2006 and has a reported capacity of about 63,000.
U.S. Bank Stadium, which is home to the Minnesota Vikings, opened in 2016 and has a reported capacity of about 67,000.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is home to the Atlanta Falcons, opened in 2017 and has a reported capacity of about 71,000.
New Nissan Stadium, which will be home to the Tennessee Titans, is under construction and is expected to open in 2027 with about 60,000 seats.

Chiefs comparable list leaves off other new stadiums

The Chiefs' list of comparable NFL facilities doesn't include other newer stadiums with domes or roofs. That includes the following:

Allegiant Stadium, which opened in 2020 for the Las Vegas Raiders and reportedly has about 65,000 seats.
SoFi Stadium, which opened in 2020 and is where the Las Angeles Rams and Las Angeles Chargers play, and reportedly has about 70,000 seats.
AT&T Stadium, which opened in 2009 for the Dallas Cowboys and reportedly has about 80,000 seats.
Lucas Oil Stadium, which opened in 2008 for the Indianapolis Colts and reportedly has about 67,000 seats.

New Chiefs stadium may have personal seat licenses

The agreement also provides for "the potential sale of personal seat licenses" at the new Chiefs stadium.

Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt told reporters that "every new NFL stadium that's been built in the last 10 or 20 years has included personal seat licenses, but we've not made a decision yet."

What Chiefs CEO said about tailgating and crowd noise

Hunt addressed tailgating and crowd noise by referencing a fan survey where "respondents told us two things that were really important to them if we ended up building a new stadium."

"First of all, it needed to be really loud. And secondly, it needed to have a great tailgate experience. So we'll work really hard on both of those to make sure that we deliver something that's as good or better than they have now."

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas City Chiefs new stadium comparable to these four NFL stadiums

Read Entire Article