As the Women’s World Cup puts a global spotlight on women’s football, the city of Kansas City, Missouri, is paying more permanent tribute to the sport. There is now being developed world’s first stadium for a professional women’s sports team.
Starting next spring, the Kansas City Current of the National Women’s Soccer League will practise and play at the $120 million facility. It will seat 11,500 fans when it opens, with the capacity increasing to 22,000 in the future.
Kansas City creates history
A stadium being built specifically for women’s sports is a historical moment. This is a ‘breakout moment’ in the women’s sports community. Brittany Mahomes, a founding partner of the KC Current and her husband, MVP quarterback for the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, are among the team’s co-owners and financial sponsors of the initiative. They join a growing list of celebrities who are investing in and promoting women’s football.
More actresses as investors
Natalie Portman founded Angel City Football Club in Los Angeles, which also includes A-listers Jennifer Garner and Jessica Chastain as investors. Former first daughters Chelsea Clinton and Jenna Bush Hager are part owners of the North Carolina Courage, while former first daughters Chelsea Clinton and Jenna Bush Hager are part owners of the Washington Spirit.
Christine Brennan
ABC News contributor Christine Brennan talked about the historical step. Brennan said, “To have it be happening in Kansas City really is a wakeup call for the rest of the nation. Where are you? Why aren’t you doing this also?” Brennan talked about the trend of getting more women as investors for sports teams. She said, “The idea that you’re going to a game and the owners are not these unknown old guys sitting somewhere in a box, but they’re people that you’re watching on TV or in a movie theater (theatre), I think that is a wonderful development. It is now cool and fashionable to be around women’s sports.”
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Brittany and Patrick Mahomes
Both Brittany and Patrick Mahomes are among the co-owners of the history-making team. Brittany herself is a retired women’s football (soccer) forward. She played for an Icelandic club, UFM Afturelding in the third tier of Iceland women’s football league, 2. deild kvenna. In her only season for the club, she scored two goals in five appearances and earned her club the promotion to 1. deild kvenna.
Patrick Mahomes is an American football quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. Mahomes has had an extraordinary time in his young NFL career so far. He is a two-time Super Bowl champion and a two-time Super Bowl MVP. He is the son of former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Pat Mahomes.
Kansas City
While Mahomes’ support is important, Mayor Quinton Lucas claims that when Kansas Citians talk about the Current and the stadium, they think of the football team rather than the ‘Mahomes’. Lucas said, “They aren’t really saying ‘Mahomes.’ They are just saying there’s this cool soccer team. We’re getting to know the players. We’re getting to know the team. We’re learning more about women’s soccer.”
The project has sparked national and international interest, according to Dani Welniak, Kansas City Current Vice President for Communications. Welniak said, “I can’t tell you how much feedback we get from not only Kansas City fans, but people across the globe who want to know how we’re doing this, who want to bring a team to another state or even build upon the women’s teams that they have overseas.”
Last year, the Kansas City Current came close to winning the NWSL championship but was defeated in the final by the Portland Thorns. This season, the team has struggled, finishing bottom of the league. Regardless of the team’s record, the stadium project appears to represent much more than the team.
FIFA Women’s World Cup
The new stadium’s popularity corresponds with a surge in interest in the Women’s World Cup. According to Fox Network, the United States vs. Netherlands game, last week had an average of 6.43 million viewers, the highest TV audience ever on U.S. television for a group stage Women’s World Cup game. According to Fox, the audience peaked at 8.45 million viewers.
Optimism for the future of women’s football in the United States grows with the national team’s performance in the FIFA World Cup, particularly after victories in 1999, 2015, and 2019. In Kansas City, the goal is that this initiative will be a long-term success.
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