The first stadium built specifically for women is set to open in March. Kansas City Current, the city’s professional female soccer team, will play at the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) stadium this coming 2024 season.
The stadium has a capacity of 11,500 people, with the capability to double the seating in the future, according to CPKC.
“The current of the Missouri River is actually one of the most powerful undercurrents in the entire nation, so being on the riverfront, the Current seemed like the perfect fit for that name, and also having the stadium on the riverfront,” KC Current media manager Dani Welniak said.
The soccer team is co-owned by Brittany and Patrick Mahomes and Chris and Angie Long.
Brittany Mahomes played soccer in college and professionally. KC Current has been playing at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas for the past three years, and that stadium, which is about 20 minutes west of the new stadium, was shared with the men’s soccer teams.
“It’s the perfect opportunity to expand the female game,” varsity soccer player Clarissa Davis said,
Davis said she didn’t think women have been given the resources they needed to thrive.
“I think that this stadium is a way that women can start getting the same resources as men,” Davis said.
The stadium was a $117 million project, and was built along Berkley Riverfront Park. The new stadium is providing the area with economic opportunities it had never seen before.
According to Seat Geek, 90 percent of the upcoming season’s tickets are already sold out, with season tickets going for as up to $7,700. A season ticket membership is the only way to guarantee tickets to the Miami home match April 13.
“This is such a cool, modern, authentically K.C. experience, Welniak said.
She wanted to “give the love and kudos” to the ownership group for their involvement and attention to detail.
“The leadership of Chris Long, Angie Long and Brittany Mahomes, in particular, is absolutely incredible,” Welniak said.
No other women’s soccer team in the United States has a stadium dedicated solely to their team. After the 2023 season, CBS reported attendance was up by 48% and viewership by 21% for the National Women’s Soccer League.
“The K.C. Current will have their own beautifully decked out locker room that is oval in shape with their logos everywhere, a place that they can call home,” Welniak said.
Recently, womens’ sports have been becoming more popular. ESPN reported that womens’ sports are now 15% of American sports coverage. Although women’s sports are currently experiencing a rise in popularity, women started playing soccer professionally at the same time that men did, according to Time magazine.
“I am so very blessed to be a part of it and so blessed that this is happening in our back yard. It is a pinch-me moment to think that something for women’s sports, the first of its kind, is right here where we can all breathe it in and witness it,” Welniak said.
She said nowhere else in the world was this kind of a revolutionary moment happening.
“I think that we all in Kansas City need to take a deep breath, a step back, and recognize just how incredible this moment in time and history is in Kansas City,” Welniak said.
