Chiefs’ Clark Hunt details ‘fairly major surgery’ at Arrowhead Stadium for World Cup
When Kansas City was chosen as a host city for the 2026 World Cup, the Chiefs said work would have to be done at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium to prepare for the soccer games.
Chiefs president Mark Donovan in 2022 outlined the two-year process of getting the stadium ready for the World Cup. It would begin with removing seats this spring but returning them in time for the NFL season.
That work will be done again next year, when the soccer tournament comes to KC.
Photos from earlier this year showed work being done at Arrowhead Stadium. Chiefs CEO and chairman Clark Hunt spoke last month about what that construction entailed.
While Hunt referred to it as “fairly major surgery” to the stadium, he doesn’t expect fans to spot the work that was done.
“I don’t know how noticeable it will be because for the football season we’re going to have all of the existing seats replaced,” Hunt said. “We’ve been going through a process, which started back in March, to remove approximately eight rows on the north side of the stadium.
“So, that’s taking out all the seats, all of the concrete risers, there’s limestone underneath that that we’ve had to remove. It’s been a fairly major surgery to the stadium, which is ongoing. For the football season we’re going to put aluminum risers back in with the seats that were there before we took them out so that the fans who own season tickets in those seats are not impacted.”
As Donovan said three years ago, Hunt doesn’t expect the work to reduce the capacity at Arrowhead Stadium for Chiefs games.
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 11:39 AM.
