United States Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati will announce a new outdoor women's professional soccer league on Wednesday, and one of the teams will be based in Kansas City.

The Missouri Comets ownership group (Greg Likens, Brad Likens and Brian Budzinksi) will be the owner of the new Kansas City team, the Comets confirmed on Tuesday.

Soccerwire.com reported that the league will begin in spring 2013 and have eight teams.

This will be the third incarnation of a professional women's soccer league. Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) began play in 2009, but folded in January 2012. Before that, the WUSA (Women's United Soccer Association) was founded in 2000 and folded in 2003.

Details on where the new Kansas City team will play and its team name were not known.

Gulati will hold a teleconference at noon Thursday with more details of the league. He will be joined by representatives of the Canadian Soccer Association, the Federation of Mexican Football and the team owners.

Soccerwire.com reported that the teams will be in Chicago, Boston, Portland, Seattle, Washington, D.C., New Jersey and upstate New York.

The teams are almost certain to include U.S. women's national team players. The U.S. team has enjoyed a strong following in its five appearances in Kansas City, including a 1999 exhibition game against Finland that drew 36,405 fans to Arrowhead Stadium.

The team's last appearance was on Sept. 17, 2011 when the U.S. tied Canada 1-1 at Livestrong Sporting Park. The other four games were at Arrowhead Stadium: a 1-0 win against Mexico in 2004, a 2-2 draw versus Italy in 2003, another 1-1 tie with Canada in 2000 and the 6-0 victory against Finland in 1999.

| Pete Grathoff, pgrathoff@kcstar.com