Coliseum US meet take-a-bow to Kansas City!

Article posted by Coliseum, June 11^th, 2024

Image: Coliseum GSVA

It has been almost on the trot blockbuster Coliseum meets this year. The 12^th edition of Coliseum Summit MENA 2024, marking its maiden event in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was a pack-a-wallop event held from February 4^th-5^th, 2024 at the Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Close on its heels came the 2024 Coliseum Summit Europe held at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, UK, from March 26^th-27^th, 2024, which too tasted stupendous success.

And now the just-concluded ninth 2024 Coliseum US meet held at the GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri (US) from June 5^th-6^th was a smash hit event with two days of “action-packed” brainstorming by the doyens of the venue industry.

The 2024 Coliseum meet being held in the sports haven and the Mother City of sports architecture – Kansas City – is a nod to the City and also stands true for what ‘Coliseum’ stands for – the ABC of sports venues. And a great sense of pride prevails that the summit was being held in the home of the current Super Bowl champions – the National Football League (NFL) team Kansas City Chiefs – the 76,416-capacity Arrowhead Stadium.

Thought leaders from the architect, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, in fact, the complete AEC industry was present in the summit – Populous, HOK, HNTB, Gensler, AECOM Hunt, DLR, HDR, Opsis, Generator Studio, Geiger Engineers, ME Engineers, Thornton Tomasetti, JE Dunn Construction, JLL, Shawmut Design & Construction, PCL Construction, Turner Construction, Ricca Design, Walter P. Moore, Mortenson Construction, Langan, IDOM, and Arcadis. A feat by ‘Coliseum’, indeed!

‘Coliseum’ also put up an incredible panel of cherry-picked design gurus from the famed architectural studios like the HOK, HNTB, Gensler, and the DLR Group and the high-velocity panel discussion was moderated by experts from ME Engineers. A ‘take-a-bow’ kind of gesture from ‘Coliseum’ to the ‘Mother City of Architecture’ – Kansas City!

The conference statistics are impressive and speaks in volumes as regards the event being a roaring success – there were 223 participants, 15 hours of networking, 58 pick of the venue industry speakers, four riveting venue tours, and delegates from 11 countries graced the summit.

The presentations by the venue virtuosos were all “engaging and eye-opening”. Ranging from topics like what artificial intelligence (AI) can do to keep the coffers clinking in a venue – a thought-provoking case study by Pierre-Sébastien Gauthier of Alfred Technologies, Canada, and Rob Hunden of Hunden Partners, US, carrying off with élan a discussion with Raven Jemison of KC Current, US, on the waterfront development of their home ground – the CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

The “Smurf Turf” presentation by Edward Mills from the famed design firm HOK and Chris Roberts from Opsis Architecture provided food for thought to the attendees. Scott Radecic from the celebrated design studio Populous provided key insights into what the future holds for stadia development.

In fact, each and every presentation was compelling, awe-inspiring and insightful.

The 15 hours of networking in the two-day summit was beneficial for the delegates as it is these networking sessions that help build lasting professional relationships so that one can leverage better opportunities and openly discuss about projects.

In a ‘first’ for Coliseum, four venue tours were held this year as part of the US Summit. It was ecstasy-filled venue tours of the iconic 18,467-capacity Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas (US) on June 4^th and the delegates also got to take a dekko of the new 11,500-capacity CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, the first privately-financed stadium purpose-built exclusively for a professional women’s soccer team – the Kansas City Current of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

On June 5^th, Day 1 of the conference – a tour was undertaken of the alluring Arrowhead Stadium – home of the Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs – which is indeed a vision and the experience was definitely epic for the assembled delegates. A networking reception was also held at the classy venue which offered valuable opportunities to establish connections with the venue veterans, cultivate relationships and explore potential collaborations.

On the last day of the Coliseum Summit – June 6^th – there was a tour of the 37,903-capacity Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, was a classic Kansas City experience. The Kauffman Stadium neighbors the Arrowhead Stadium and is the home ballpark of the Major League Baseball (MLB) team Kansas City Royals.

The curtains came down on yet another chapter of very successful 2024 Coliseum Summit US on June 6^th and the Coliseum conferences are proving to be more enriching, engaging and motivating over the years with the eloquent venue experts stealing the show and the attendees getting the best solutions for their venue projects with the ‘challenges-faced-lessons-learned’ being the crux of the speakers’ profound presentations. The networking sessions also serve the delegates in good stead.

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