Sports venues look different today. The updated, ideal fan experience influences design, as teams compete with high definition broadcasting to make an expensive outing to a game worth it.
As a result, builders’ work on stadiums often revolves around installing massive screens, providing premium seating and creating comfort and ease for those in attendance — be that in their seats or exploring the concourse and surrounding area.
Here is a look at some of the major league sports arenas that showcase the trend and are scheduled to reach the finish line in 2024.
Intuit Dome
Location: Inglewood, California
Contractor: AECOM Hunt/Turner
Cost: $2 billion
When the 2024-25 NBA season begins, the Los Angeles Clippers will depart from Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center, which they currently share with the Lakers, their hometown rivals) for their own court. That means AECOM Hunt and Turner will need to deliver the project by the fall of this year.
The joint venture began pouring the $2 billion Intuit Dome’s foundation in January 2022 and finished its concrete frame six months later. When completed later this year, the stadium’s amenities will include nearly 18,000 seats, five basketball courts, a 38,375-square-foot Halo Board display, more than 120 restrooms and over 300 electric vehicle charging stations.
One of the most expensive venues ever built, the Intuit Dome will create over 7,000 construction jobs over the course of its project lifecycle, according to a Clippers fact sheet.
The project also seeks a LEED Platinum certification, the highest available, according to AECOM’s website. The project team claims the stadium will operate 100% carbon free from opening.
Scotiabank Arena
Location: Toronto
Contractor: PCL Construction
Cost: $350 million
In the fall of 2023, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment announced the $350 million Scotiabank Arena Venue Reimagination project, a multi-phase renovation at the home of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and the NBA’s Toronto Raptors.
Last summer, the project team renovated and upgraded premium spaces on the 200 level and added new technology to concessions — including artificial intelligence technology for purchasing items without waiting in line.
When the home teams’ current seasons end, PCL will begin “an all-encompassing design makeover of the 100 Level concourse,” according to the release.
Upgrades before the teams’ regular seasons resume this fall will include modernized, grab-and-go style concession kiosks; an additional store; a redesigned broadcast studio and a new Tunnel Club on the Event Level, with up-close views of players entering the bowl from the locker room.
Rogers Centre renovation
Location: Toronto
Contractor: PCL Construction
Cost: $300 million
PCL Construction is keeping busy in its home country. For the last two offseasons, the contractor has performed substantial renovations at the 34-year-old home of MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays.
The contractor completed work on the Rogers Centre’s first phase in April 2023, included a new weight room, staff locker room, more social spaces and patios and seat replacements.
Since last fall, the Edmonton, Alberta-based contractor has labored on the second phase of the project, due by opening day on April 11, 2024. It’s been a heavier lift this time around, as the project team reconfigures the 100 level seating area near the field from foul pole to foul pole.
New work includes the addition of three premium clubs near home plate and improved armrests and cup holders throughout the stadium.
Structural demolition of the stadium’s lower bowl took place in October, according to PCL, which saw the removal and recycling of 29.5 million pounds of concrete and steel in 13 days. Field-level excavations to create below ground space for new player facilities and premium clubs followed — which meant removing 780 truckloads of material and bringing in 530.
The contractor installed a temporary bridge over the site of the former seating bowl to help facilitate the excavation.
CPKC Stadium
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Contractor: J.E. Dunn/Monarch Build
Cost: $117 million
The future home of the Kansas City Current, part of the National Women’s Soccer League, will become the first stadium constructed solely for women’s sports, according to the team.
The $117-million CPKC Stadium has targeted an opening date for the 2024 season, set to begin this spring. Kansas City contractor J.E. Dunn and Overland Park, Kansas-based, women-owned Monarch Build are building the project, along with a female-led team at Lenexa, Kansas-based Henderson Engineers.
When the project team completes the stadium at the Berkley Riverfront Park jobsite, the stadium will hold 11,500 seats across general admission, club and suite levels, with all seats within 100 feet of the field.
Crypto.com Arena
Location: Los Angeles
Contractor: PCL Construction
Cost: Undisclosed
As the Clippers prepare to leave the venue they share with the Los Angeles Lakers — as well as the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks — Crypto.com Arena will also get a facelift.
PCL, the original builder of the venue in 1999, signed on in the summer of 2022 to upgrade Crypto.com Arena every offseason since. That year, the contractor installed two new LED screens and ribbon boards for the upper and lower bowl seating areas, and also redesigned the bar and grill in the main concourse and expanded the Chairman’s Club, according to the stadium’s website.
Last summer, the contractor added Terrace Suites: premium seats with a close view of the action. PCL also renovated the surrounding area to create one large plaza connecting the arena and L.A. Live for larger event programming.
Finally, this summer will target more renovations and upgrades to the main concourse, tunnel club level renovations and newly reimagined locker rooms for the Kings, Lakers and Sparks.
