Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas will become the home of the NFL’s Raiders starting this summer, and its glass-paneled exterior will give the $2 billion stadium its character. las vegas raiders
A stadium built on the site of an old horse racing track, a ballpark converted to a football stadium, the most expensive minor league soccer stadium ever built, a record year for college ballparks and a world-class track and field facility are among the diverse list of construction projects scheduled to conclude this year, according to Sports Business Journal’s annual venue preview.
Sports facilities scheduled to open in the United States and Canada in 2020 are expected to tally a record $8.5 billion in construction costs, led by a record year in the stadium category. Overall, this year’s total will represent a 43% increase from the $5.4 billion that was spent on projects that opened in 2019 and a staggering 25% increase over the industry’s previous high of $6.8 billion, set in 2017.
Before we look ahead to the year’s priciest projects, it is worth looking back. The last time more than one NFL stadium opened in the same season was 2002, when CenturyLink Field (Seattle), Ford Field (Detroit), Gillette Stadium (Foxboro, Mass.) and Reliant (now NRG) Stadium (Houston) all debuted. The total construction cost of those four buildings: $1.6 billion.
This year, each of the two NFL stadiums scheduled to open will top that figure alone.
Las Vegas has become a microcosm of the ongoing sports construction boom: T-Mobile Arena opened in 2016; HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas opened in 2018, as did Las Vegas Ballpark, which at a cost of $150 million was the most expensive minor league stadium ever built. Las Vegas Motor Speedway will wrap up a major renovation this year.
But all of those projects pale in scope to the $2 billion Allegiant Stadium that will open this summer for the relocating Raiders and the UNLV football team. The facility will feature a retractable, natural turf field and walls that open to views of the neighboring Las Vegas Strip. The design team consisted of Manica and HNTB, and the joint venture of Mortenson and McCarthy Building Companies is overseeing construction.
SoFi Stadium will be the second NFL stadium to open this year, the first time that’s happened since 2002.los angeles rams
On July 25, Taylor Swift will christen the new $2.6 billion SoFi Stadium, built on the site of the old Hollywood Park horse track in Inglewood, Calif., about 10 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. The HKS-designed stadium will be home to the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers and will anchor a 298-acre mixed-use development that is projected to cost $5 billion. One of the stadium’s signature features will be a 70,000-square-foot oculus display board that will have 4K double-sided video. Construction is being handled by a collaboration of Turner and AECOM.
This spring the Texas Rangers will christen the $1.1 billion Globe Life Field, being built across the street from the team’s most recent home, Globe Life Park, which opened in 1994. The HKS-designed ballpark will feature a retractable roof and is adjacent to the Texas Live! entertainment district. Manhattan Construction is overseeing the project. The old stadium is being converted to be the home of the new XFL Dallas Renegades and the USL North Texas SC.
Construction of minor league stadiums will hit $572 million this year, topping the record set in 2019 by 2%. Populous will account for more than one-third of that total, designing new venues in Kannapolis, N.C., and Madison, Ala., and wrapping up a massive renovation in Dunedin, Fla. New ballparks are also scheduled to open in Wichita, Kansas, and Fredericksburg, Va., with upgrades concluding in Port St. Lucie, Fla.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Syracuse, N.Y.
But it was the strength of minor league soccer that pushed the category into record territory. The HOK-designed Lynn Family Stadium, for example, will cost nearly $70 million and will be home to the USL Louisville City FC and NWSL Louisville Proof (a 2021 expansion team). Additionally, the USL Chattanooga Red Wolves FC expect to open their new $6 million stadium this year.
The upcoming year will be relatively quiet on the arena side, after five new NBA/NHL arenas opened over the past four years. The biggest effort in 2020 will be the transformation of Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, designed by SCI Architects. James Madison University and High Point University are also opening new on-campus arenas.
Looking ahead to 2021, however, arenas will dominate the ledgers: New major league buildings will open in Nassau County, N.Y., and Seattle; college arena openings are projected to top $1 billion for the first time; the most expensive minor league arena ever built will open in Palm Springs, Calif.; and the new $50 million esports-specific Fusion Arena is scheduled to open in Philadelphia.
