Kansas City Current cuts ribbon on its new $19 million soccer training facility
The Kansas City Current cut the ribbon on its brand new training facility on Tuesday, a first of its kind for women’s pro soccer in America. The project was started just last August.
Owners Chris and Angie Long were joined by NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman, Riverside Mayor Kathy Rose, and representatives from architecture firm Generator Studios, and construction company Monarch Build. Players Alexis Loera and Kristen Edmonds joined the ceremony as well.
“It was just under 11 months ago that I stood in front of a small ceremonial pile of dirt with Angie, Chris, and their two boys,” Mayor Rose said. “With shovels in their hands on that bright August morning, we broke ground on their unprecedented commitment to providing world-class facilities, for world-class athletes, in a world-class soccer city.”
World-class describes the facility well. The $19 million dollar facility in Riverside is complete with everything the Current could need, and the best quality it could buy. It’s filled with exercise equipment, training tables and recovery equipment, a film room, and a team dining hall complete with a personal chef. Oh, and not to mention the spacious personalized locker room.
“The only thing that this doesn’t have in it is a time machine for me to get five years younger, so I could play here a little longer,” Edmonds joked.
The veteran defender delivered a speech thanking the Longs for their trendsetting investment.
“For anybody who wants to come here to play to win championships, they haven’t left any stone unturned,” Edmonds said. “You walk into our gym (and) our crest is on our weights, on our barbells. Everything in here is insanely detailed. We even have teal tile in our bathroom.”
Edmonds recalled times playing in her professional career both in the United States and overseas in Iceland and Russia. Sometimes they used sheds for locker rooms or had to drive to a public gym just to get their workout in.
“I’ve been a pro for a few years, but all that meant previously was that I just got paid to play,” Edmonds said. “But now I can come here and truly be a pro on and off the field.”
Edmonds hopes that this is the standard for teams around the NWSL and the world. And not just for the investment into a team, but the ability to give the female pro-athletes a true environment to be a professional.
“They’ve not only raised it, but they raised it to the level that people are gonna have to climb to get to,” Edmonds said.
“It’s just for us,” she added. “I think that’s one of the biggest points I keep saying, that we don’t have to share it with anyone. It’s insane to think about that women’s soccer has come this far to where we have our own space.”
Berman said she hopes to see more facilities like this, given the importance it has.
“I think the dirty secret of professional sports is that facilities are the key to unlocking our potential,” Berman said. “I don’t think people generally think of facilities as particularly sexy, but they become the foundation upon which communities can really rally around and have a tangible representation of real investment that’s being made. It’s a representation of what the Longs have decided to invest in this community, and hopefully set the standard not just in our league, but globally.”
This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 9:33 PM with the headline "Kansas City Current cuts ribbon on its new $19 million soccer training facility."