CPKC Stadium hosts all-star lacrosse weekend in Kansas City on Friday, Saturday

The best professional lacrosse players in the world are descending on Kansas City for an all-star weekend at CPKC Stadium.

It’s a big enough deal that ESPN is bringing SportsCenter to town to broadcast live from the stadium on Saturday (festivities begin Friday).

It’s the first time that the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) and Women’s Lacrosse League (WLL) will host their all-star events together. Paul Rabil, who co-founded and commissions both the PLL and WLL, said the double all-star extravaganza is a nod to Kansas City’s support of women’s sports.

“You work with operators who know how to grow women’s professional sports enterprises, like the Longs and what they’ve done here in Kansas City,” Rabil said in reference to KC Current co-owners Angie and Chris Long. “It was an even more natural fit to do a double all-star game.”

The PLL was founded in 2018 and began play in 2019. The league has expanded from six to eight teams since its inception. Currently, the closest team to KC in terms of geography is the Denver Outlaws.

The WLL is in its inaugural season and has four teams, with three located on the East Coast.

“We’re proud to announce the launch of the Women’s Lacrosse League,” Rabil said when the league was announced last winter, “a groundbreaking step forward for the sport, giving elite women athletes a premier stage to compete, inspire, and make their mark as we move toward lacrosse’s reemergence at the Olympics in 2028.”

Women’s lacrosse will be played in the Olympics for the first time in 2028, when the Games come to Los Angeles. And the popularity of women’s lacrosse is booming. According to Rabil, there are nearly twice as many Division I women’s college lacrosse teams as there are men’s and youth teams.

“Women’s lacrosse is really populated around the country,” Rabil said. “So whether it’s Team USA or the growth at the participatory level for our ability to invest in the pro game, I think will help it grow even more.”

Some 93 countries now play lacrosse internationally, as opposed to 18 when he began, Rabil said. Lacrosse is also a sanctioned high school sport in 27 of 50 states, though not in Kansas or Missouri.

Locally, lacrosse participation is dependent on grassroots effort. Steve Wujek, president of the Lacrosse Association of Kansas City (LAKC) and Northland Lacrosse, told The Star that KC-area participation has recently surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

LAKC has multiple high school programs across the metro, with students from multiple schools feeding into combined squads. There are elementary and middle school programs, too.

Local organizers like Wujek hope this weekend’s all-star festivities encourage more people to check out the sport.

“When we get a situation like this,” Wujek said, “where the PLL comes to town and these professional lacrosse players for the past month or so are coming in and doing various things to promote the events and engage with the community overall, it is going to be a huge boost for the sport in our market.”

Next, Wujek would like to see the Kansas and Missouri high school activities associations sanction lacrosse as a high school sport.

“That would be a huge lift,” he said. “That would take it to another level. I think there’s enough interest and desire.”

Wujek pointed to Missouri’s recent addition of boys volleyball as a sanctioned sport, saying, “I could see lacrosse being that next one.”

Cale Doornbos, president of KC Metro Girls Lacrosse, said the creation of lacrosse teams at area colleges signals the growth of the game in and around Kansas City. Benedictine, William Jewell, Ottawa and Rockhurst all have lacrosse programs now. Benedictine has even won two of the last four NAIA national championships in women’s lacrosse.

Doornbos said that if you had told him this 10 years ago, he’d have called you crazy.

“There are only four collegiate national champions named every year, and one of them has been from Kansas City throughout the last four years,” Doornbos said. “That’s a testament to a lot of really good talent staying here locally and going to universities to play and bringing in outside talent to augment that.”

Doornbos estimated 750-800 girls play lacrosse in KC, with a lineup featuring 14 high school teams and a dozen youth teams.

“This event allows us to maybe take that next step and get more organized and larger,” Doornbos said.

The WLL and PLL will hold skills competitions on Friday evening at CPKC Stadium. Each league’s all-star game is set for Saturday, also at CPKC Stadium.

Event organizers expect some curiosity and lots of fun.

“When fans come here and get real-life exposure to the skill of the best in the world,” Rabil said, “and (see) how fluid, how skillful, fast and physical they are, it’ll really improve the imagination for local players.

“I hope they’re just blown away.”

This story was originally published July 3, 2025 at 12:59 PM.