Two years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs hosted one of the coldest games in NFL history.

A massive Arctic air mass plunged across the central United States, bringing unusually extreme bitter cold to Kansas City, which is no stranger to cold winters. The temperature at kickoff of the Chiefs' wild card round playoff game on Jan. 13, 2024 was -4 degrees, and it fell to -9 during the game. The wind chill ranged from -20 to -28.

Their opponent? Arguably the least prepared team for such bitter cold, the Miami Dolphins, who experienced a nearly 100-degree feels-like swing between when they flew from South Florida to Kansas City.

The Chiefs won the game handedly, 26-7. It was one of the most extreme examples of a weather-induced home field advantage.

That advantage will be gone in five years, because the team is planning to build a new climate-controlled stadium.

Kansas City weather

Of all NFL cities, Kansas City can have some of the wildest swings in weather during the season. In September, home games can still be quite hot. Strong winds and occasional heavy rains can make for less-than-ideal playing conditions in the fall. And, of course, snow and bitter cold are common in winter.

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In 2019, The Weather Company meteorologists ranked Kansas City as the No. 8 worst weather city in the NFL.

Why are the Chiefs moving?

The Chiefs announced this spring that they are planning to move from Arrowhead Stadium because of the aging stadium's limitations and financial incentives.

The Chiefs originally planned an $800 million renovation of Arrowhead Stadium. But after Jackson County, Missouri, voters rejected a local sales tax extension last year, the Chiefs started looking elsewhere.

Across the border, the state Kansas offered a blockbuster incentive package with state-issued STAR bonds and public funding that would cover nearly $2 billion, about two-thirds of the cost to build a new, state-of-the-art stadium in Kansas.

Why a domed stadium?

Money, mostly.

An open-air stadium in the Midwest, such as Arrowhead, can't reliably host lucrative events in winter: no major concerts, no college football playoff games, no Final Fours, no Super Bowls.

But a climate-controlled dome? That's got ownership seeing $$$ year-round.

The new stadium will be located next to the Legends shopping and entertainment district in Kansas City, Kansas. The team will also be building a neighborhood of dense housing, hospitality, retail and dining options to add to the area.

Also, the team chose a fixed, translucent roof instead of a retractable one after studying other stadiums. Retractable roofs cost hundreds of millions extra, cause snow-removal problems and are rarely opened anyway. Instead, the futuristic translucent panels will allow natural sunlight to light up the stadium and even foster the growth of real grass on the field.

Kansas City is joining a growing list of NFL teams who currently have or are planning to move into domed stadiums, removing weather as a factor from more and more future games. Cleveland's building one. So is Tennessee. Chicago is planning one.

Kansas City's new stadium is expected to be complete in 2031.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.