The peril and promise of moving the Chiefs indoors to a Kansas dome
A red-clad crowd packs Arrowhead Stadium to watch the Kansas City Chiefs play. (Eric Thomas)
Most coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs’ new stadium on the Kansas side of the state line has sensibly focused on either the competition between Kansas and Missouri or the related financing of the stadium with public funds. Those concerns matter most politically and fiscally.
The transition from an outdoor venue at Arrowhead Stadium to a domed stadium has attracted less attention. When people have written about the dome of it all, they have spotlighted the likelihood that a Super Bowl might come to Kansas City.
After all, cold-weather cities risk brutal game conditions during February for the NFL’s marquee game. Recent Super Bowl host cities illustrate the point: New Orleans, Las Vegas, Arizona, Los Angeles, Tampa, Miami and Atlanta. The most recent cold-weather city? Minneapolis with its U.S. Bank Stadium hosted in 2018.
But the Super Bowl is just one game. How will a domed stadium change games at the most vital stadium in our state and region?
Let’s stick with the weather for a moment. The NFL preseason begins in early August, meaning that players and fans can swelter, with temperatures routinely reaching the mid-90s. Expect that to only get worse with climate change. A dome would help (if only through air conditioning that further imperils the environment).
Hermetically, sealed stadiums offer more certainty of a pleasant game. But that doesn’t mean that they deliver dramatic contests.
Consider the Chiefs’ frigid playoff win against the Miami Dolphins in 2024. Temperatures dipped so low that quarterback Patrick Mahomes shattered his helmet on a run near the goal line, producing an iconic photo and a memorable game.
The cost of gathering people on such a tundra became clear in the following weeks, when local hospitals reported that they performed several amputation surgeries on frostbitten fans. You could use that example to argue for a domed stadium, but the game could have been postponed or relocated.
The Chiefs’ new stadium, scheduled to open in 2031, will certainly be the most important in the heartland. The next closest major domed stadium is in St. Louis: The Dome at America’s Center. Ask St. Louis locals, and they will tell you how the dome has descended into disrepair and languor since the Rams left for California. The venue’s schedule of upcoming events is cautionary and lackluster indeed: a Monster Jam truck show this month followed by truck, RV and auto shows.
The next closest domed stadiums are hefty drives: the retractable-roof stadium of the Dallas Cowboys, plus domes in Indianapolis and Minneapolis. With each of those locations seven hours away by car, the new Chiefs stadium should become a destination for mega-concerts and more.
Let’s hope that the best parts of Arrowhead Stadium aren’t lost with the move to a dome. Many of my best Chiefs memories come from the tailgate culture of the parking lot — a mix of smoked meats, light beers and elaborately retrofitted school buses. I never thought I would ask for a new sprawling parking lot, especially one that cozies up to the stadium. But the concrete savannah of Arrowhead makes games more fun.
Following the announcement of the Chiefs’ move to Kansas, I photographed the team’s loss to the Denver Broncos at field level for Getty Images. Even with a crowd diminished by the team’s losing record, the stadium was still loud. That volume is another Arrowhead signature.
If you are wondering about Kansas City’s status as the loudest place to play, a dome might tilt things a bit. Perhaps the building plans will call for noise reduction to ensure that trapped crowd sound in the dome doesn’t become uncomfortable. Or perhaps the new dome will be even louder than the Chiefs’ record for an outdoor stadium: 142.2 decibels, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
As Kansans, our central worry in building should be longevity — because few stadiums are as gray and miserable as old domes. If you visited the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis before it was pushed aside for the Colts’ new home, you know what I mean. The echo of the music and announcements could make you queasy, not to mention the intense air pressure that would essentially suck you into the revolving doors.
An aging dome is the worst kind — it sends a team looking for a new stadium in a new city.
Can the Chiefs build a dome that lasts as long as Arrowhead? The Caesars Superdome in New Orleans suggests so. Built in 1975, the stadium hosted the most recent Super Bowl. (Although, as someone who attended the game, I can testify that the Superdome shows its age, especially in bathroom concourse areas.)
If you are already nostalgic for Arrowhead, there’s good news. The move won’t come for a handful of seasons, so plan your trip to Missouri.
And be sure to pack the right wardrobe for both the tailgate and the game.
Eric Thomas teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.