X, formerly known as Twitter, is popular for always having a controversial conversation or the other every other day. Recently, the parking lot of the Kansas City Chiefs stadium was the topic of discussion on the timeline.

An X (formerly Twitter) user made a recent post complaining about the parking lot at Arrowhead Stadium. Surprisingly, it gathered a lot of views and attention from the general public. Many people gave their own two cents, with advice for the stadium’s managers coming in from all angles. The major problem is the incredibly large size of the football stadium’s parking lot.  

Arrowhead stadium is the home of the popular NFL team, the Kansas City Chiefs. Some might recognize the team as pop singer Taylor Swift’s boyfriend’s team as well! This beautiful stadium sits in Kansas City, Missouri with a large capacity of 76,416. As the fourth-largest NFL stadium in the country, it is not surprising that it has a large parking lot to match. It holds 19,000 cars and 400 buses.

This discourse started when an X user with the handle @pushtheneedle posted a picture comparing Arrowhead Stadium’s parking lot to the city of Manhattan. The user wrote, “The parking lot at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City would take up most of Lower Manhattan.” From the picture, one can see just how large this parking lot truly is.

The direct comparison illustrated to many people just how big the parking lot is. From the picture, one can see just how most of lower Manhattan can fit into it. As the city houses more than 60,000 people and has hundreds of office buildings, businesses, restaurants, and stores, a parking lot that has the capacity to accommodate this huge population is definitely very big, and many X users believe it is being underused.

Most X users expressed their disappointment at the way the parking lot was being used and came up with different ideas for it. One user wrote, “It’s a shocking level of neglect. Imagine a small development with retail and some apartments, a hotel, and a pavilion for pitmasters and food trucks on game days.”
They continued, “It would fit into a small amount of parking but dramatically improve the gameday experience and value of the area.”

Some pointed out that the plan above would only reduce the number of spaces on game days and was not a good plan. However, others offered a better solution. This huge parking lot could be used to combat climate change by building a solar panel farm on it. In fact, other places like Rutgers University in New Jersey and several parking lots in France have tried a similar route and are pleased with the results so far.

Another issue that users on X pointed out was that cars are taking up too much space in society. One user wrote, “It’s a great case study as to how much space people take up vs. how much space their cars take up.” Another wrote, “It’s surprisingly difficult for a lot of Americans to wrap their heads around this fact. Car-centric design and development [are] very quickly about [to come back] to bite us.”

Most people know that cars are bad for the environment, but can the same be said about parking lots? Many do not know that the answer to this question is a resounding ‘Yes’ for several reasons. One major reason is that parking lots reduce green spaces and an area’s air quality. Another is that they accumulate heavy metals, sediment, and grease, which pollute the nearby water supplies and harm people.

Stadium is currently the focus of the discussion, it is just one of hundreds of enormous parking lots around the country. Therefore, a user on X highlighted this, writing, “Create a more user-friendly public transport system in the area. If buses were in place, the parking lot could be used for a myriad of other things, and most importantly, carbon emissions in the area would decrease significantly during football season.”

Some believe that removing the large parking lots in football stadiums and other venues will be illogical. Therefore, they suggested an alternative. Their proposed solution is to use the space for something useful on the days that it is free. This is because the parking lot only fills up once a week on game day. For the other six days, they can use this for events, community meetings, and even farmers’ markets.

There were a lot of complaints in X and people offered some solid solutions. However, the parking lot at Arrowhead Stadium is unlikely to change anytime soon. This is because the stadium is still focusing on how to maximize space for the team‘s supporters weekly. Furthermore, it could take years for its owners to come up with a plan and execute it correctly.

While the topic of conversation is Arrowhead Stadium, people are thinking about the bigger picture. This uproar is targeting the country’s existing infrastructure and the fact that several spaces are not built to promote a green environment. Therefore, the uproar is in a bid to help reduce pollution and congestion across the country, not just in Kansas City.