Look inside KC's World Cup stadium
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We got a close-up look during a tour Monday, eight days before KC's first match. Photo: Abbey Higginbotham/Axios
KC's most familiar building has been rebuilt for a global audience, and the Arrowhead fans know by heart will feel nothing like a Chiefs Sunday.
State of play: You have to hunt to find anything Chiefs-related. FIFA's neutral-venue rules renamed it Kansas City Stadium, team signs are covered and most fans will arrive by shuttle, not the usual lots.
By the numbers: Crews shrank the seating bowl to 71,958, down from the stadium's usual 76,000, FIFA World Cup 2026 venue operations director Luiz Andre Mello tells Axios.
- Rows came out of the north sideline to fit a field stretched to 115 yards by 74 yards.
How it works: The Chiefs laid a natural Bermuda grass pitch from North Carolina, planted in late April, then stitched it into the ground so it won't slip under cleats, Mello says.
- FIFA spent about five years developing the grass with the University of Tennessee and Michigan State University, he says.
Zoom in: The remake runs inside, too. Arrowhead's locker rooms weren't built for two equal teams, so crews carved them into matching spaces, each fit for soccer's 26-player squads, with branding and flag walls added, Mello says.
What they're saying: "We started construction three years ago to be able to pull this together. Our staff has worked really hard on this," Matt Kenny, the team's chief operations officer, tells Axios.
- Mello's trickiest piece is Arrowhead's lone tunnel, which must funnel 300-plus people onto the field in 30 minutes.
- "That's the challenge about KC, but I'm 100% confident it's going to be unique," he says.
Yes, but: "The Kansas City faithful will absolutely recognize pieces of the stadium that let people know they're at the home of the Chiefs," Kenny says.
💭 Abbey's thought bubble: I stood where the Chiefs storm onto the field on Sundays and kept scanning for red and gold. The stadium I know felt like someone else's house.
What's next: Defending champion Argentina faces Algeria here June 16, the first of six KC matches that run through a July 11 quarterfinal.
- Kenny's aim for all of them: "Kansas City Stadium will potentially be the loudest stadium in the tournament. We count on it."