KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Even though Super Bowl LV will be played in Tampa, the Kansas City Chiefs will have a subtle home-field advantage when they step onto the field.
The Kansas City-based sports architecture firm Populous designed and built Raymond James Stadium.
“It’s special to come back here to see a stadium you were involved with,” senior architect Brady Spencer said. “(It’s) the world’s biggest sporting event where all eyes are on the stadium.”
Raymond James Stadium was one of Spencer’s first projects with Populous. He said special emphasis was placed on making the venue a “social interactive experience,” which was captured with the pirate ship.
This year, Populous helped Raymond James Stadium adjust to COVID-19 safety protocols, including increasing the number of entry gates into the stadium and reconfiguring seating to maximize social distancing.
“We did a lot of that in the late spring and summer time, and some of those things will carry into the Super Bowl,” Spencer said.