LIVESTRONG Sporting Park
Kansas City, Kan.

Steel has topped out for the new facility for Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City. The 18,000-seat stadium will feature 36 suites on two levels and a two-story owner’s suite. A canopy system with a clear polycarbonate covering the seating bowl will allow sunlight to reach the grass and isolate fan noise within the stadium. The new development will include up to four adjacent retail buildings. Project challenges include a site footprint bound on three sides, a 45-ft. grade differential and four strata of soil. The foundation system is spread footings bearing on sandstone and shale, and drilled piers penetrating soft layers to hard limestone. Soil nailed walls will prevent lateral pressure being induced on the stadium structure due to the 45-ft. slope. This allows for use of conventional wind and seismic lateral framing systems as opposed to heavy shear or counterfort walls. The project is halfway into an ultra fast-track 14-month construction schedule with construction set for completion in summer 2011. Populous is the architect.