Rouse: New Arrowhead rocks!
MAKEOVER AT ARROWHEAD RENDERS STORIED CHIEFS HOME BRAND NEW, by Charles Rouse
KANSAS CITY – Wait till you get a good look at the New Arrowhead Stadium, especially the exciting new fan-centered features inside, around and rising up above the classic sports edifice that has served as the home of the Kansas City Chiefs for nearly four decades. It is truly a sight to behold. It’s taken over four years to realize the dream that the Chiefs’ late owner and founder Lamar Hunt had for his beloved Arrowhead Stadium. But when Chiefs fans, and everyone else who passes through the portals of the New Arrowhead this season, get the opportunity to see the fruits of the 1.9 million mans hours and 1,147 days of construction that went into the project, they’ll surely agree it was well worth the wait.
The Chiefs provided a preview of the many upgrades and newly added features in the $375 million renovation of Arrowhead to members of the Kansas City area media late last week in advance of the exhibition soccer match between the Kansas Wizards and world soccer powerhouse Manchester United. The tour for the media was led by Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt, who said, “Our vision for the New Arrowhead was ‘New body, same soul,” in keeping with the Chiefs’ promotional tagline for the coming season. “We wanted to give our fans all of the amenities of a brand new, first-class venue while preserving the iconic elements of Arrowhead.”
Hunt said the completed renovation has exceeded his loftiest expectations. “Every area of the stadium is among the best in the National Football League,” he said, “and that includes the new Dallas stadium and the new stadium in New York.” Although changes are highly noticeable throughout the stadium, most of the upgrades and additions are to the exterior of the complex and in the fan areas just inside the stadium. One of the first things fans will notice in approaching the New Arrowhead from one of the adjacent parking lots that surround the stadium is the new shaped glass and metal skin that forms the new body that wraps around the modernized facility, supported by 1,570 tons of steel.
Once inside the stadium, digital media enhancements are strategically placed throughout to add to fan enjoyment and the desire to keep up with the live action on the field. The concourses have been widened to 40 feet, a 60 percent increase from before. The number of concession stands has been increased by 35 percent (from 47 to 63). Plus there are numerous portable concession locations, giving the fans a total of 445 different concession points throughout the newly remodeled Arrowhead.
One of the major concerns expressed by fans about the old stadium was the long lines created by inadequate restroom facilities. This problem has been addressed in the New Arrowhead with the addition of 530 new toilet fixtures, nearly doubling the capacity in both the men’s and women’s restroom areas. The Club level has been refurbished and expanded to 231,000 square feet and now features a complement of spacious, specially designed and themed bar, lounge and reception/banquet areas. As a point of reference, the floor space on the Club level is now equivalent to the size of Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum.
The new facilities on the Club level include the Founder’s Club, located on the Club level on the north side of the stadium, which, as it name implies, serves a tribute to the Chiefs’ founder, Lamar Hunt. Designed with a 50-foot double-sided bar and double-sided fireplace, the Founder’s Club is where the Chiefs Ambassadors will gather on game days, allowing fans to mingle with some of the Chiefs’ greats from years past.
Other special bar and lounge areas available to Club-level patrons are Club IV, which celebrates the Chiefs victory in Super Bowl IV and features images and memories from the special occasion in Chiefs history. In the east end zone of the Club Level is a new themed area called The Foolish Club, named after and commemorating the eight original owners and teams of the American Football League, which of course was founded 50 years ago by Lamar Hunt.
The new Arrowhead Stadium promises to provide a nice home field advantage for the boys in red.
One of the truly special additions to the New Arrowhead is the Founder’s Plaza, which honors Lamar Hunts’ legacy and offers a dramatic entrance to the north side of the stadium. This eye-catching new outside tribute to the Chiefs’ founder will evoke fond memories of the team’s origin and history. Fans will be greeted by a nine-foot sculpture of Lamar Hunt as they enter the Plaza area. A few feet away is a large AFL logo built into decorative pavement and flanked by eight fountains that symbolize the league’s original eight franchises
The Founder’s Plaza also features a three-dimensional diagram of the Chiefs most famous play: “65 Toss Power Trap. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will join the Hunt family and members of the Chiefs organization at a special dedication ceremony for the Founders Plaza this Friday.
Other special bar and lounge areas available to Club-level patrons are Club IV, which celebrates the Chiefs victory in Super Bowl IV and features images and memories from the special occasion in Chiefs history. In the east end zone of the Club Level is a new themed area called The Foolish Club, named after and commemorating the eight original owners and teams of the American Football League, which of course was founded 50 years ago by Lamar Hunt.
One of the truly special additions to the New Arrowhead is the Founder’s Plaza, which honors Lamar Hunts’ legacy and offers a dramatic entrance to the north side of the stadium. This eye-catching new outside tribute to the Chiefs’ founder will evoke fond memories of the team’s origin and history.
There are so many new design features and additions to enhance the fan experience at a Chiefs game, it is difficult to cite and describe them all in a single article. But one new feature that should not be overlooked is the Chiefs Sports Lab and Theater – a first of its kind in NFL stadiums. This unique, interactive area is designed as a learning center for school-aged children to teach them the importance of sound nutrition and physical fitness, using football as a general framework.
Immediately adjacent to the Sports Lab, which will have its grand opening on Aug. 30, is a new, greatly expanded team store that is now eight times larger than its predecessor. Another area surely to be a huge fan attraction as a result of the stadium renovation is the new interactive museum and Chiefs Hall of Honor. Rather than create a separate building with its own entrance, which is what a number of baseball and football franchises have done, Chiefs’ management decided to locate the Hall of Honor inside the stadium in a 28,000-square-foot space on the lower-level concourse of the stadium, easily accessible to the fans. The grand opening of the new Hall of Honor is scheduled for Aug. 25.
The Hall will highlight the great teams and players in pro football history and showcase exhibits and artifacts from the Chiefs’ illustrious history, including a virtual locker room honoring Chiefs Hall of Famers. There were no major changes made to the seating bowl itself. However, the actual seating capacity was reduced by approximately 2,500 seats to a new capacity of 76,000, while the overall size of the stadium was increased by 450,000 square feet.
New LED ribbon boards, totaling more than 2,000 linear feet, circle the club seating bowl and frame the sidelines of the upper bowl. Another major structural change at New Arrowhead is the addition of a new media deck above the south stands and immediately above the all-new Horizon level. The Horizon level, with additional restrooms and concessions, was created at the back of the seating bowl on the south side to open up additional seating for fans with physical disabilities and needing assistance. This represents a 300 percent increase in what Arrowhead could accommodate previously for American Disabilities Act patrons.
The two large HD video boards located at both ends of the field are the equivalent of 2,149 32-inch television screens. With the relocation of the media deck and the new Horizon level atop the south stands, new field lighting was added above the press level. Fans will also notice that the color of the wall surrounding the playing field is now Chiefs red, replacing the gray surface that was there before. The Jackson County voters approved $250 million in funding for the Arrowhead stadium project, which was designed by the Kansas City-based sports architectural firm Populous. The Hunt family committed an additional $125 toward the project.
The Chiefs players will get to experience the New Arrowhead for the first time on Aug. 27 when they play a preseason game with the Philadelphia Eagles. The grand opening will take place on Sept. 13 when the Chiefs host the San Diego Chargers on ESPN Monday Night Football.
During the tour for the media, Clark Hunt related a conversation he and former Chiefs chairman and general manager Jack Steadman had with his father when he was very ill and at the end of his life. “He told both of us, ‘Make sure we get the New Arrowhead right.’” It was so important to him, Clark said, and he knew it would be important to the fans. “I think if he could see it, he would say, ‘Well done!’” I don’t think there’s any question.
Charles (Chip) F. Rouse III, the Kansas City Sports Examiner, has spent over 40 years working in and with the news media. Rouse, a journalist by training and a graduate of the University of Kansas, has served in the role of newspaper reporter; in addition to radio and television. To view Chip’s sports articles, including this one, on Examiner.com, please click here. He welcomes your comments at crouse@massappealnews.com.