How will stadiums and arenas change as they reopen? KC architects are showing the way
Sports teams across the Kansas City region are striking an optimistic tone about returning to their stadiums.
In a recent note to fans, Kansas Jayhawks athletic director Jeff Long said he expects to be working with 50 to 100 percent capacity options for KU football games this fall. Missouri Tigers athletic director Jim Sterk said his school is looking at similar models.
Being able to attend sporting events again in spite of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic would mark a major step forward for Americans eager to return to pre-pandemic life — and for sports leagues and schools to regain some financial footing.
But specific details about how teams and athletic programs like the ones at KU and MU should deal with safety and health concerns as they reopen to the public remain works in progress.
“We’re excited, and our fans are equally frustrated because they don’t have the exact answers,” Sterk said.
Nobody does. But conversations between pro sports teams and colleges and stadium designers and architects — many of whom are based in Kansas City — have accelerated in hopes of finalizing some prudent re-entry strategies.
“From a venue-planning perspective, it’s a different world today,” said Bruce Miller, managing director of KC-based architectural firm Populous. “We’re testing the what-ifs and helping teams and owners look at different scenarios and possibilities.”
The sales of tickets represents an important source of revenue for teams, especially at the college level. In fiscal year 2019, nineteen schools reported football-ticket sales of at least $20 million, according to USA Today.
Eyeing a comeback
Sports are already rebooting across the globe, but mostly without fans. Baseball in Korea and now Japan. Soccer in Germany and now England.
Most of these games have been played in empty stadiums (fans are allowed in the stands for rugby in New Zealand, for example) due to ongoing coronavirus concerns.
In the U.S., sports that have re-started — a handful of NASCAR races have taken place in the Southeast, for instance, and a PGA Tour event took place last week in Fort Worth — haven’t included spectators. The MLS Is Back Tournament begins a 54-game run July 8 in Orlando, but again, no fans will be permitted to attend.
The next U.S. team sport to return could be Major League Baseball. Negotiations toward an agreement that would enable doing so, between club owners and the players’ union, have thus far been rocky at best.
The Royals have worked with Populous, along with MLB, Jackson County and Kansas City officials, on a reopening game-plan, but they’re unlikely to welcome a full house at Kauffman Stadium anytime soon.
“It appears that social distancing will be the deciding factor for determining attendance capacity,” said Kevin Uhlich, the Royals’ senior vice-president for business. “There will be reduced attendance. Areas of the building will be sectioned off to keep the proper balance of fans in respective spaces. Concession stands and restrooms will be reconfigured for proper foot-traffic patterns to try and better control the distancing.”
While baseball continues to try to reach agreement on things like compensation for players and length of a shortened 2020 season, sports architects have been working on restart plans for an array of sports and venues for many weeks. One early complication they’ve encountered: disparate gathering restrictions enacted by various state and local governments.
CDC guidelines recommend a six-foot distance, or two arm-lengths, between people when outside the home, because COVID-19 is believed to spread person-to-person through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said earlier this month that stadiums and arenas in his state could allow up to 50 percent capacity immediately. That would make adhering to the CDC’s social-distancing guideline physically impossible at most if not all venues in the Lone Star State.
“There’s a whole risk-management discussion to be had, making sure everyone is making good decisions,” Don Barnum, who leads the global sports arm of Kansas City-based DLR Group.
Barnum has worked with several teams on enabling fans to start streaming through the turnstiles again. Changes could be in store during the entire fan experience on game day, from how parking is handled to the time they exit. Public safety and health are guiding principles.
“How do we get to bringing people back into buildings safely and confidently?” Barnum said.
Think of what it takes to enter a stadium during normal circumstances, with ticket-scanning, bag checks and metal detectors common at most facilities. Now add the potential for a temperature check.
And for teams that lack ample space to spread out their customers during the simple process of parking, public transportation and its own challenges amid the pandemic becomes a consideration.
Once at the stadium for, say, a football game, will tailgating be an option? The final half-hour before kickoff of a Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium often finds entry points clogged with fans.
Lines for concession stands, souvenir shops and restrooms are typical at stadiums and arenas that are even half-filled.
Stadium-design experts have been rethinking all of this and assuming that a given season would begin with only a percentage of fans allowed to attend.
Bottom line: When sports and games do resume, fans should expect a very different experience than they’re used to.
“Generally, we’ve looked at the macro issues first,” Miller said. “Arrival sequence, how people can be segmented, and that has to start on the outside as you move inside.”
The new game-day drill
If stadium entry requires a temperature check, perhaps that can occur away from the entry gate, with a wristband indicating a person has been checked and cleared.
Most stadiums and arenas allow fans to enter at any gate and walk freely about the stadium. Maybe a favorite concession item isn’t near a particular fan’s seat, so he or she just strolls around the concourse. In a pandemic world, walking near, and even sitting next to, other fans becomes a potential health risk — and a mobility-management issue for designers.
“There are a lot of ways we can manage that traffic in a more efficient way,” Barnum said. “One way would be to identify a specific gate, closest to your seat. Then literally limiting the amount of traffic to a quadrant or an area that makes sense and minimize cross-traffic.”
Once in the bowl of a stadium or arena, depending on the percentage of fans allowed in, expect seating to be spaced out. Designers have presented teams with sketches of sections that include available seating in clusters of mostly two, four and six. Next to them, and also behind and in front of them, will be rows of empty seats.
“Some basic assumptions are that we want separation between the aisle space and those groups of people when they’re in those seats, and then we want six feet of separation between the groups,” Barnum said. “We want to make sure that nobody is passing them by to get to another group of seats.
“So, essentially, it forces one-way traffic. You can only get to your seat from the closest aisle. You don’t want somebody else to go by that’s going to violate your separation.”
Going to a game could also become a touchless experience, from pre-ordering food to avoid standing in lines to using a touchless toilet.
“I think in some ways responses to the pandemic can lead to a better experience,” Miller said.
OK, you’ve got tickets to the game. The team has set up health and safety measures and has implemented CDC-recommended spacing for seating. The crowd will be a percentage of usual capacity. What could go wrong?
At this point, it comes down to human behavior.
“It’s something we make sure we let our clients know,” Miller said. “There is a fixed solution here. But it’s quite reliant upon social trust among human beings to protect one and other.
“When will be people come back and feel comfortable? When do they trust other people with their health? Because you’re highly reliant upon the behavior of others to protect yourself.”
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 5:00 AM.