KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When the Kansas City Chiefs kick off their game against the Los Angeles Chargers Thursday night, it’ll mark the 50th season of football at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
To mark the occasion, the Chiefs will pass out rally towels to fans as they enter the stadium.
Thursday night’s game is the first game Amazon Prime Video will stream as part of a new, exclusive deal to broadcast Thursday Night Football. Locally, fans can watch the game on KSHB 41, Kansas City’s Home of the Chiefs.
The stadium opened at the Truman Sports Complex in August 1972. It was one of the first stadiums built specifically for football.
In the years since it opened, the GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium has grown a reputation as having one of the best fan atmospheres in professional sports. In 2014, fans set the Guinness World Record for loudest crowd roar.
“We take a lot of pride in what the stadium is and that experience for fans,” Chiefs President Mark Donovan said earlier in the week. “It’s a bucket list item internationally now, we know that, we get the feedback from people who traveled. They have to experience Arrowhead Stadium and GEHA Field.”
The team is contractually obligated to remain at the stadium until the end of 2031. Donovan said the team is studying options for the next 50 years.
In the short term, it’s looking at what renovations need to happen to carry the stadium through the end of the lease. In the long term, the team is exploring whether to rebuild or even relocate.
Donovan cautions any decision is a long way away.
“If you look at the competition around the NFL and around sports venues in general, we’re going to have to compete with that. Arrowhead is going to have to change a little bit,” Donovan said.
The stadium’s last major renovation was in 2010.
In 2019, the team replaced upper-level seating, created the drum deck and upgraded the video boards, among other improvements. In 2021, the team renovated its Hall of Honor at the stadium.
Kansas launched sports betting in the state Sept. 1. It will use tax revenues from the bets to create a fund designed to lure professional teams, like the Chiefs, to the state.
GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium is in Missouri, and state lawmakers asked the Chiefs about their plans earlier this year.
The Chiefs host the Chargers at 7:15 p.m. Kansas City won the first game of the season on the road against the Arizona Cardinals.
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