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TheTruman Sports Complex is a sports and entertainment facility inKansas City, Missouri. It includes twomajor league sports venues:GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, which is home to theNational Football League'sKansas City Chiefs, andKauffman Stadium, which hostsMajor League Baseball'sKansas City Royals. The complex also hosts various other events during the rest of the year.
The Truman Sports Complex, built during the early 1970s, is owned by the government ofJackson County and managed by the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority, which is aState of Missouri agency.[1] The current complex design, created byCharles Deaton, was arrived at when Deaton caught the ear of Kansas City ChiefsGeneral ManagerJack Steadman and suggested building side-by-side stadiums for the two sports with each stadium customized to its needs.[2] The original plan called for separate side-by-side stadiums[3] with a mutual rolling roof. However, the roof was never built due to cost.[2] The complex was revolutionary in an age when new stadiums tended to be built asmultiuse venues for planning and cost purposes.
For this reason, Arrowhead and Kauffman are two of the few remaining professional sports stadiums of the era, whereas most contemporary multipurpose venues have been demolished with a small minority being converted to single-sport venues. By the turn of the century, the long-term limitations of the multi-purpose approach were widely viewed to far outweigh the short-term benefits.[4]
The design not only made Deaton's reputation, but also made that of the architects that implemented his plans,Kivett and Myers. In 1975, the firm merged with Kansas City architect firmHNTB and went on to design stadiums likeGiants Stadium, theRCA Dome,Broncos Stadium at Mile High, andRalph Wilson Stadium. In 1983, several HNTB architects were hired bySt. Louis-based architectural firmHellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, forming what would later becomePopulous and opening their primary office in Kansas City. Had the 40–year extension of an existing 3/8thJackson County, Missouri, tax passed when it was put to a vote on April 2, 2024, Populous would have been the company to buildNew Royals Stadium.
The construction of the complex was undertaken by the joint venture of the Sharp, Kidde, andWebb construction firms.[5]
On October 27, 1985, theChiefs hosted a Noon kickoff game at Arrowhead Stadium against theDenver Broncos in which Denver won, 30–10.[6] Later that night across the complex at Royals Stadium, theRoyals won Game 7 of the1985 World Series (7:30pm first pitch) against theSt. Louis Cardinals.[7][8][9]
Kansas City began a project to renovate both Arrowhead and Kauffman Stadiums in 2007, following the passage of a3⁄8 cent sales tax increase in a referendum in 2006. Improvements to Kauffman Stadium were finished in time for the MLB Opening Day in 2009,[10] and Arrowhead Stadium was completed in time for the NFL Opening Day in 2010. A separate tax referendum to raise funds to finally build the rolling roof failed. Both stadiums are being renovated by Populous.[11][12]
With renovations, both the Royals and Chiefs have leases on the stadiums through January 31, 2031. Their previous lease which was renegotiated in 1990 had been set to expire January 31, 2015.[13]
GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home of theNational Football League'sKansas City Chiefs, opened in the fall of 1972.George Halas called Arrowhead "the most revolutionary, futuristic sports complex I have ever seen."[2] Fans occasionally refer to the stadium as "The Sea of Red" or simply just Arrowhead. The stadium is commonly referred to as the "Home of the CHIEFS" at the beginning of every home game.[14][15] Arrowhead has long held a reputation for being one of, if not the, loudest outdoor stadium in the NFL due to the exuberance of the Chiefs' fans.[16] In recent years, Arrowhead has competed withLumen Field inSeattle for the loudest open-air stadium in the world, as certified by theGuinness Book of World Records. Kansas City briefly held the record when the crowd roar reached 137.5 decibels in a Chiefs victory over theOakland Raiders on October 13, 2013; but Seattle's 12th Man broke the record only a few weeks later at 137.8 decibels.[17] Arrowhead reclaimed the title, however, on September 29, 2014, when noise levels reached 142.2 decibels as the Chiefs defeated theNew England Patriots onMonday Night Football.[18]
Kauffman Stadium, home ofMajor League Baseball'sKansas City Royals, opened in early 1973 as Royals Stadium and is located adjacent to Arrowhead. The stadium's name was changed in 1993 to honor Royals founderEwing Kauffman just months before his death. Even though the stadium is slightly older than 40 years old, it is the sixth-oldest stadium in MLB, as a result of the construction of a number of new stadiums in the 1990s. It was the only baseball-specific stadium completed from the early 1960s until the early 1990s. It is also one of eight stadiums in Major League Baseball that doesn't have a corporate-sponsored name (the others areYankee Stadium,Fenway Park,Wrigley Field,Oriole Park at Camden Yards,Dodger Stadium,Angel Stadium, andNationals Park).
In addition to that, the stadium was the last baseball-only park that was built in the majors (not counting temporary facilities) from 1966 to 1991 and one of the few baseball-only facilities built in the majors during the heyday of thecookie-cutter stadium era, as well as one of two such facilities (alongsideDodger Stadium) that are still active and were never converted for use as multi-purpose stadiums. Despite its status as a baseball-only park throughout its history, it is one of only two active MLB stadiums (the other beingRogers Centre) that features symmetrical outfield dimensions, commonly associated with multi-purpose stadiums.
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