Kansas City Chiefs narrow new stadium designer down to two local architectural firms as $3 billion project looms

Designers of three recent NFL stadiums have been named finalists as the Chiefs close in on architect for new stadium in Kansas City, Kansas.

Charles Goldman — NFL Managing Editor
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The Kansas City Chiefs have narrowed their search for an architect for the team’s new stadium in Kansas City, Kansas.

The Chiefs will leave their home of over 50 years, Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, for a brand-new, $3 billion state-of-the-art stadium in 2031. The organization has been on the hunt for an architect for the stadium through a rigorous, competitive design process and has now identified two finalists, both from the Kansas City metro.

“We’re thrilled to take this next step in our new stadium journey and announce the two finalists in our search for lead designer,” Chiefs President Mark Donovan said. “The Kansas City region is the central hub of global sports and entertainment venue architecture and design, so we didn’t need to go far to identify the top options to explore final concepts for the future home of Chiefs Kingdom.”

Chiefs announce MANICA & Populous as finalists in hunt for new stadium architect

The two finalists, MANICA and Populous, are cut from the same cloth as two of the premier sports architecture firms that also call Kansas City home. Chiefs fans might be familiar with MANICA, as the firm that designed concepts for a renovated Arrowhead Stadium. They’ve designed the Tennessee Titans’ new Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. They’ve also designed stadiums for the NBA (Oklahoma City Thunder) and various Soccer clubs around the world.

“Our entire team would be thrilled to partner with the Kansas City Chiefs to help bring their new home to life,” said David Manica, president and owner, MANICA via press release. “The Chiefs are a storied franchise, and we envision a stadium that exemplifies the organization’s championship mentality and the awe-inspiring spirit of our beloved Arrowhead Stadium. Every element will be approached with intention, ensuring a bold and modern design that not only honors the team’s legacy but creates an even better game-day experience for all of Chiefs Kingdom.”

As for Populous, they recently designed the Buffalo Bills’ brand new stadium. Their work also extends to world class Soccer stadiums and mixed-use spaces like the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“For more than 40 years, Populous has proudly called Kansas City home,” Scott Radecic, Co-Founder and Global Director of Populous, said via press release. “From here, we have redefined modern sports venue design, creating iconic places that unite communities and transform how fans connect with their teams and each other. We are honored to collaborate with the Kansas City Chiefs on a project that reflects their legacy, the passion of Chiefs Kingdom, and the promise of what’s next.”

Arrowhead Stadium was designed by Denver architect Charles Deaton in collaboration with the Kansas City architecture firm Kivett & Myers, which was dissolved in 1975. What’s abundantly clear is that Clark Hunt aims to stick with a local firm, as the city remains entrenched in its history as the sports architecture capital of the world.

Chiefs owner Clark Hunt weighs in on the stadium architect finalist announcement

Speaking on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football”, Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt gave an update on the stadium project, also speaking about the announcement that MANICA and Populous were named finalists. He detailed the next steps in the process, whicih will determine who gets to design the new stadium.

“Yeah, we’re very excited about the opportunity to build a state of the art Stadium in Kansas City, Kansas,” Hunt said. “You know, Arrowhead’s a tremendous facility, a place that we’ve loved playing for over 50 years, but the opportunity to build a new dome Stadium in Kansas City will really give the community an opportunity to not only host some more AFC Championship games, which which we’re excited about, hopefully, but also to bring things like the Super Bowl the final four college football playoffs. So it’s a really exciting project. This morning, we’re actually announcing the finalists for our lead architect, and that’s Populous and MANICA Architecture, two Kansas City firms. Kansas City has one of the deepest pools of sports architecture firms anywhere in the country, and we’ve got two great ones that we’re going to continue to work with over the next several months and select one to do the design of our new stadium, which we’re really excited about.”

This announcement marks the first significant update on the new Chiefs stadium in Kansas since Governor Laura Kelly and Hunt held a joint event in late December to announce the move from Missouri. Expect more announcements as the team continues to make progress toward building the new stadium.

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