Panelists Allison Howard, president, Kansas City Current; Peter Muther, national sports business development leader, DLR Group; Flip Short, CEO, Paragon Star USA; and Ryan Whitacre, AIA, LEED AP, director, project development, Legends, joined moderator Scott Sherry, RA, LEED AP, vice president and national sports director, JE Dunn Construction, as the panelists at MetroWire Media’s 2023 KC Sports & Entertainment Summit on Sept. 25, 2023 at Boulevard Brewing Company.
The past decade or so has seen the proliferation across the country of large entertainment districts surrounding stadiums and arenas as well as the construction of large youth sports complexes.
“When I came to Kansas City in 1999 and started in sports architecture, I was told I should start to diversify because the bubble is going to burst. I think all of us can say that the bubble is probably larger than it ever has been with regard to these sports and entertainment facilities all across the country,” said Sherry.
Kansas City is now part of the burgeoning movement, as the Kansas City Current is in the process of constructing a stadium at the Berkley Riverfront. The stadium is set to make history as the world's first venue exclusively designed for women's professional sports and will also become a focal point of an upcoming entertainment district.
“If you come to Kansas City and you’re lucky enough to get a ticket to a Kansas City Current game, you are going to be able to come in and experience everything there is to say and see in Kansas City. You’re going to get a curated, full culinary experience through food and beverage. You’re going to see tremendous art inside of the stadium. You’re going to be entertained, and you’re going to get a feel for how much this city loves its sports and architecture. The design of the building, the construction of the building, the technology inside the building, everything is going to be state of the art, but it’s going to be very unique to Kansas City. Kansas City is way too unique and special to just have a boring stadium,” said Howard.
“The sports and entertainment district has to speak to the local culture because tourists, people from outside the market, can only contribute so much to the liveliness and economic impact that the district will have. It really needs to appeal to locals and become an integral part of that social fabric of the city,” said Whitacre.
Researching the market in which sports and entertainment developments are planned is key, according to Muther.
“From a design perspective, one design that works in Atlanta may not work in LA. You can’t just pick it up and flop it down in all these different communities for it to truly impact your community. From a design point and to create that revenue generation, you really need to do that research early on in the process,” Muther said.
Short is the mastermind behind Paragon Star, a $250 million mixed-use project encompassing a sports and entertainment complex situated in Lee's Summit, Mo. The 190-plus acre development includes 20 acres that were identified as wetlands. Once the property was secured, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) raised the site’s flood plain by five feet.
“Five feet is not a lot when you’re filling up this room, but when you’re filling up 20 acres, five feet is a lot. 1.2 million cubic yards. So, we chose an impossible place that is spectacularly gorgeous,” Short said.
Paragon Star features 10 FIFA-compliant fields. It is the only complex in the United States that has 10 fields constructed using BrockFILL artificial turf, an organic fill that is 30 to 50 degrees cooler than the crumb rubber typically used on other youth sports fields. There also is a shock pad beneath the turf.
“We knew what complex we wanted to build. We knew we wanted it to be the best. Our approach was completely different than anybody else’s out there,” said Short.
Short said he’s invested more than $1 million in sculptures coming to the facility. Also under construction at the site is the Village at Paragon Star, which will feature office space, restaurants, and bars, which Short said he plans to open by next summer. According to Short, the $4.3 billion youth sports entertainment market is not going to shrink.
“I think it’s going to go up tremendously,” he said.
Muther emphasized that there is an increased desire for communal spaces, a demand that was expedited by the effects of COVID.
“They want those social, flexible, unique experiences within the venue. They don’t want to go on a metal bleacher for 3 ½ hours, 4 hours or 9 innings anymore. They want to get up. They want to move around. They want to be together. So, we’re looking at these venues not as a seating bowl and a concourse, but more of a hospitality venue,” said Muther.
According to Whitacre, designing sports venues no longer involves creating the highest capacity you can pack onto a site. The arenas constructed in the past five to 10 years have drastically smaller capacities, not because the market is weak, but because that’s where the industry as a whole is headed, he said.
“It’s a higher level, curated experience at a lower capacity because that actually drives higher revenue more than a higher capacity venue that doesn’t have as good of an experience. That’s really where the industry is headed because it’s proven itself through better revenue-generating opportunities through venues like that,” said Whitacre.
Technology in a venue also is crucial to make a fan’s experience seamless and enjoyable. The KC Current is working to perfect the technology experience,
“We have had hundreds of discussions about how the app works. How does mobile ordering work? How does the ticketing experience work? Because a part of the entire experience of going to a venue in a district is what is it like from the time you leave your house, or even before you leave your house… from the time you become a season ticket member to the time you buy a ticket or the time you buy a parking pass before you go to the stadium. That all has to be a seamless, enjoyable experience. So a lot of that now is enabled through technology and done so in a very meaningful, purposeful way,” Whitacre said.
According to Muther, operations also are key to the success of the venues.
“Food and beverage is a huge trend, everything from the concourse of grab-and-go technology to what you’re getting in a premium club space. Are you having craft cocktails? Is there a special chef? Are people able to go into a speakeasy within the premium experience to get something that’s not available to anybody else? So food and beverage is huge,” Muther said.
“You have to know your fan personas, your fan segments, and design to them,” said Muther.
The sports and entertainment districts not only change the skylines of the city but done right, “they also change the economic side of things as well,” Sherry said.
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FEATURE PHOTO CREDIT: ARCH PHOTO KC | JACIA PHILLIPS