KC Current believe new stadium will lift club’s reputation in NWSL & around the world

The Kansas City Current put the final steel beam into their new stadium on Wednesday afternoon, a ceremony known as a “topping off.”

While it’s one of many checkpoints in getting their new stadium ready to welcome fans and players for the first home match in 2024, it’s a significant milestone.

Current co-owner Angie Long told reporters she could imagine the entire experience for players and fans with how much is in the ground now. It’s also a bit of a pinch me moment for her.

“The ability to have an entertainment venue in our city, right on the river, right next to downtown, connected to the streetcar, the whole thing is kind of amazing to me,” Long said. “I grew up in this city, and it’s been an absence that we haven’t had this. And now, we’re about to.”

With the way the Current talk — and typically back it up — fans will also expect the product on the field to meet the “crown jewel” status of the stadium they’ll play in.

One year ago today, the Kansas City Current opened and welcomed players into their brand-new training facility in Riverside, Missouri. There, players stood and talked about what an asset a building like that could be to them.

In the first offseason in which the training facilities opened, the Current were already attracting high-profile names from around the NWSL. The facility even helped attract the likes of Hanna Glas and to the league from abroad.

The upgraded facilities were also a stated reason that Illinois native and long-time Red Stars midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo jumped ship as a free agent and came to Kansas City. Debinha and Morgan Gautrat also alluded to the facilities and the tangible investment into the team as a reason for joining the club.

That documented effect of the facilities came quickly within the NWSL. But as the Current have constantly framed their ambitions to be within the global playing field, that also means they need to attract global names and global players.

Debinha and Glas were part of that early. The Current’s profile continues to rise, leading to a bit of a change in their approach.

“I think that’s been the one thing that probably took us a little bit by the pleasant surprise, is the number of agents and players that have reached out to us,” Current president Allison Howard said, “whereas usually it’s the other way around.

“Players are saying, ‘That’s what I want. That’s where I want to practice, train and rehab. ... That’s where I want to have something that every other professional male athlete in the world has had, and I deserve that, too.’”

During the 2023 season, the Current haven’t lived up to the results on the field the club strives for. And the players, staff and front office are often among the first to acknowledge it.

But with the hype surrounding the new stadium and the facilities, some players may be ready to join the surge the Current will need after the World Cup.

While Angie Long joked she didn’t have any trades to tell people about right now, she acknowledged the interest that has come and believes that players will undoubtedly want to play in the game-day environment they’ll experience in the new stadium.

“We’re really blessed in this league to have many of the best players in the world, and we’re blessed to have some of them on our team,” Long said. “I think anyone who steps foot on that pitch is going to feel what it’s like to play in not just the first stadium for women, but the best stadium in the country.”

This story was originally published June 21, 2023 at 6:09 PM.