It’s official. The Kansas City Chiefs are moving to Kansas. After months of speculation, the team finally confirmed they’ll be relocating across the state line to play home games in Kansas starting in 2031.
The Chiefs will play in a new $3 billion stadium 20 miles west of Arrowhead. It will be new and it will be fancy, but I have one huge problem with a specific part of Monday’s announcement.
I don’t mind moving interstate. Kansas or Missouri, it doesn’t make much difference to me—as long as the Chiefs are actually staying in the Kansas City area, that’s the most important thing.
I don’t mind the move away from Arrowhead, either. Of course, it will be sad for the Chiefs to leave such a historic and truly iconic venue, but I understand the desire to replace an aging stadium that was built more than half a century ago.
However, there is one key element of the decision I’m furious about: the plan to build a dome.
A dome just ain't football
I cannot stand indoor stadiums. They are a betrayal of makes football so great.
Football is a sport that is meant to be played outside in the elements, not in air-conditioned, heated, oversized sheds. The elements—the cold, wind, rain, snow, ice, or heat—are meant to be part of the game, not something that is controlled or eliminated altogether.
How good are snow games? I love seeing the Chiefs play on a field with the line markings shovelled out, snowbanks piled up along the sidelines, players’ breath misting through their facemasks as snow falls around them. It’s classic football.
How huge was the home-field advantage the Chiefs had over the Miami Dolphins in their Wild Card game in 2024? It was -4 at kickoff that night, with a wind chill more than 20 degrees below zero. The weather beat the Dolphins that night as much as the Chiefs did.
With a dome, both of those things will be gone forever, and I hate it. Would we have ever seen Andy Reid’s frozen moustache in a dome? I don’t think so. It’s pretty hard to see fireworks or pregame flyovers when there’s a roof in the way, too.
Andy Reid frozen mustache update: pic.twitter.com/ipkzpwKcoo
— NFL (@NFL) January 14, 2024
A dome is exciting as plain toast
Domes are just so boring.
Boring teams play in domes. The Indianapolis Colts? Boring. The Los Angeles Chargers? Super boring. The Houston Texans? Super, super boring.
On the flip side, games in Buffalo surrounded by three feet of snow? Bloody exciting. Freezing ice bowls at Lambeau Field? Iconic. A kicker trying to hit a game-winning field goal in a howling gale at Soldier Field? Incredible theatre. That is what I want to see more of.
But NFL teams disagree, and domes are all the rage these days. The Las Vegas Raiders just built one, and the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, and Chicago Bears are following suit. By the time the Chiefs build theirs, half of all NFL teams will play indoors, and the seven most recently built stadiums will all be domes (eight, including Chicago). Yuck.
I understand why it’s happening. An indoor venue means the new stadium in Kansas can host Super Bowls, NCAA Tournament Final Fours, College Football Playoff games, and wintertime concerts, but I just don’t care. I want the Chiefs’ stadium to be good for Chiefs games, not so Alabama can play Notre Dame there in a CFP semifinal or so Luke Combs can play a concert there in January.
The Chiefs should have followed the example of the Bills and Seahawks, the two teams that have built the perfect venues for their teams. Both resisted the urge to put a roof on New Highmark Stadium and Lumen Field, respectively, choosing to embrace the weather that is synonymous with their cities—the rain (and in winter, snow) in Seattle and the huge snowfalls in Buffalo.
It’s perfect, and it is exactly what the Chiefs should have done. Instead, they’ll play in a venue built to keep other teams, other sports, and other events happy, rather than something designed specifically for Chiefs fans.
Domes suck. It just ain’t football, and it just ain’t the Chiefs. Ditch the roof and build us a proper stadium.