Kansas City’s new stadium is another sign of the NWSL’s rising standards

Photo provided by Kansas City Current

There is no better tangible sign of growth for the National Women’s Soccer League than the new stadium in Kansas City Current which will open its doors for the first time on March 16.

CPKC Stadium is an 11,500-seat soccer park built on the banks of the Missouri River specifically for the Kansas City Current. It is not, despite marketing and reports that suggest otherwise, the first stadium ever built for a women’s soccer team; the now-defunct Atlanta Beat constructed a stadium in partnership with a local university in 2011. That doesn’t take away from the significance, nor the relative grandeur, of what the world is about to witness in Kansas City.

For starters, it is almost entirely privately financed. Co-owners Angie and Chris Long are co-founders of an investment firm that stakes claim to $29 billion in managed investments; they operate in dollars, not feelings. They decided that building a stadium — and a new training complex, which opened in 2022 — was a worthwhile investment, period. They say they believe their investment is indicative of the rapidly rising business state of women’s soccer.