Chiefs pres. says KC has 'preference' for grass field in new stadium

Should the Kansas City Chiefs‘ new stadium have a traditional grass field, or should the team opt for an artificial turf solution?

Set to open their new stadium in 2031, the decision-makers in Kansas City’s front office have plenty of time to decide which option will suit them better, though early indications point toward a preference for real grass.

Here’s what Chiefs president Mark Donovan had to say about the team’s thought process relative to the grass or turf field debate:

“We have designed the building to be able to do either. Our preference, and we stated this publicly, is grass. We want to figure that out. So… if you’re asking me today to bet, I feel pretty strongly that we’re going to be playing on natural grass… we’re in the middle, with other NFL clubs who are in the same process we are, who are going to build domes, can we figure out a way to grow grass indoors? So, we’ll continue that process. You may or may not know this, our friends from Populous shared this with us and have offered to take us down there to see it, in New Zealand, there are two rugby stadiums today, they exist, they play on them today, that grow grass indoors. So, the technology is there, right? You just got to figure out, can it adapt to our climate, our building, et cetera, et cetera. The building is designed today to be a grass field. We just roll it out like Vegas does. Arizona does it as well, but we have some flexibility on that. And the other side of that is, I don’t think we’ll end up here, but the other is to be consistent in tracking technology and changes. You know, you look at what FIFA did, you look what the technology is with hybrid fields and turf fields and turf technology. We’ll look at that as well, but our preference is grass.” — Mark Donovan

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“We have designed the building to be able to do either. Our preference, and we stated this publicly, is grass. We want to figure that out. So… if you’re asking me today to bet, I feel pretty strongly that we’re going to be playing on natural grass… we’re in the middle, with other NFL clubs who are in the same process we are, who are going to build domes, can we figure out a way to grow grass indoors? So, we’ll continue that process. You may or may not know this, our friends from Populous shared this with us and have offered to take us down there to see it, in New Zealand, there are two rugby stadiums today, they exist, they play on them today, that grow grass indoors. So, the technology is there, right? You just got to figure out, can it adapt to our climate, our building, et cetera, et cetera. The building is designed today to be a grass field. We just roll it out like Vegas does. Arizona does it as well, but we have some flexibility on that. And the other side of that is, I don’t think we’ll end up here, but the other is to be consistent in tracking technology and changes. You know, you look at what FIFA did, you look what the technology is with hybrid fields and turf fields and turf technology. We’ll look at that as well, but our preference is grass.” — Mark Donovan

While grass requires more maintenance, the natural playing surface is generally preferred by players and may ultimately be the better option for the Chiefs’ high-tech new stadium.