{"id":305128,"date":"2025-08-21T05:38:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T05:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/305128\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T05:38:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T05:38:20","slug":"world-cup-changes-nearly-done-at-arrowhead-stadium-what-chiefs-fans-will-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/305128\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup changes nearly done at Arrowhead Stadium. What Chiefs fans will see?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"https:\/\/img.particlenews.com\/image.php?url=0MgXbu_13yAdeG700\"<\/p>\n

GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium is almost ready for the FIFA World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Six matches will be played during the month-long soccer tournament<\/a>, including knockout games in the round of 32 and quarterfinals. Crews have been working since 2024 to get the stadium to FIFA standards, said Matt Kenny, EVP of Arrowhead operations and events.<\/p>\n

The process to get the stadium ready to host the World Cup involved removing 3,000 seats on the north sideline, where the visiting team\u2019s bench is located. Instead of the concrete flooring fans are used to, seats in this section now have aluminum decking, similiar to the bleachers high school kids stand on at football games.<\/p>\n

Ten rows were removed and re-added to install the decking, with the seats themselves staying the same as the rest of the stadium. The seats will stay during Chiefs games and be removed when soccer games are happening in the summer of 2026.<\/p>\n

More seats were taken in the corner opposite the tunnel the Chiefs players walk down to enter the field to give more space for potential corner kicks during games. They decided on the north side since there are no locker rooms or player areas on this side that they would have to excavate, reinforce and put back together.<\/p>\n

The stadium doesn\u2019t lose any of its 76,416 seats for the NFL season, and the seats they do lose for the World Cup won\u2019t be enough to prevent them from hosting the games, Kenny said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to be eligible for a quarterfinal match, it had to be upwards of 60,000 (seats),\u201d Kenny said. \u201cWe\u2019re well above that.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happened on one side of the stadium will not happen on the other side, Kenny said.<\/p>\n

Chiefs CEO and chairman Clark Hunt referred to the stadium renovations as a \u201cfairly major surgery\u201d in June<\/a>, but he didn\u2019t expect fans to spot the work that was done. Kenny reiterated that point when showcasing the seats inside the stadium Tuesday, Aug. 19.<\/p>\n

While seating renovations are complete, the stadium still has a few additional steps to get the stadium ready to host the global game. They have to level the playing field to FIFA regulations as opposed to the \u201ccrown\u201d fans are used to, which sees a small rise in the middle of the field.<\/p>\n

FIFA will then take over the stadium and put its final touches on it, including items related to broadcasting and advertising inside the venue.<\/p>\n

The World Cup will come at the cost of no concerts at the stadium next year, but Kenny said it\u2019s something they wouldn\u2019t trade for the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe World Cup is an event that comes every four years and to a continent maybe every 12 years,\u201d Kenny said. \u201cThe opportunity to host a World Cup, and in the interest of the city, and again, the vision of our founder and our ownership, we\u2019re absolutely pleased to host those six matches next year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium is almost ready for the FIFA World Cup. Six matches will be played…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[787,346,7,118,110,2438,2437,4247,9666,6,27300,57704],"class_list":{"0":"post-305128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-chiefs","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-chiefs","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kansas-city","12":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","13":"tag-kansascity","14":"tag-kansascitychiefs","15":"tag-local-news","16":"tag-newsbreak","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-the-kansas-city-star","19":"tag-world-cup-changes-nearly-done-at-arrowhead-stadium-what-chiefs-fans-will-see"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115065146860461650","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}