How the Kansas City Chiefs can improve the fan experience at Arrowhead Stadium
By Ellen Mathis
Take a look at the recently announced changes to Arrowhead Stadium and explore other changes that could be made to improve the fan’s experience.
As the sting of the playoff loss begins to fade (although it won’t fully fade ever in my book), we have received some news of changes being made at Arrowhead Stadium. According to KMBC News, “the biggest, most visible update will be to the Arrowvision scoreboard over the west end zone.” New LED panels will make instant replay clearer for fans.
The upper deck will also see a reapplication of waterproofing to ensure that Arrowhead will stand for years to come. Finally, Arrowhead will be replacing all the seats on the upper level and the third deck will finally see cupholders!
Given these upgrades, I thought it would be interesting to explore what other changes Arrowhead could make to enhance the fan experience.
Parking and Tailgating
Let’s start with the worst offender of them all: parking. The parking situation at Arrowhead is frankly terrible. The system ensures that you are stuck in long lines all while having forked over a small fortune simply to park. I’m not kidding when I say that my tickets to the game cost less than parking. That is not okay.
The Chiefs need to take a serious look at the way parking is handled. They could explore lowering prices. Also if you notice, pulling into Arrowhead, there is an “employee lane” in the parking lots. This is to allow employees to get in and out quickly. However, this has slowed down parking immensely. If there was a way to get rid of that, I think we would see a much better parking experience.
Additionally, with Kansas City being known for some of the best tailgating in the world, wouldn’t it be nice to see some designated areas for fans coming in that may not have a consistent tailgate setup. Countless times, I have seen requests from out of towners asking if there is a tailgate they can join. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some designated areas? Maybe it comes at a small price, but either way, it would be great.
Those areas could also offer some shelter from the elements. I was at the Jacksonville Jaguars game this year – you remember, the one where there was torrential rain during the entire tailgating time? Well, our makeshift canopy sort of helped, but a more permanent or structurally sound form of protection would have been a welcome addition to that tailgating experience!