CPKC Stadium will transform into rugby arena on Friday. Here’s how they’ll do it
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- CPKC Stadium hosts Pacific Four Series rugby: Canada vs. New Zealand, USA vs. Australia.
- Grounds crew will change pitch edges from turf to grass & install 44-foot-tall goal posts.
- Stadium uses pink LED lights and will bring a majority of sod from Colorado due to rains.
It doesn’t have to be just women’s soccer. CPKC Stadium is equipped to handle most outdoor sports that need a grass pitch.
The Kansas City Current has already showcased that in its first two years at the first stadium built solely for a women’s pro soccer team. In addition to other soccer events, the team has played host to pro lacrosse and now is hosting international women’s rugby for the second consecutive year.
The Pacific Four Series, an international rugby tournament featuring four of the world’s top teams, is making its second stop in Kansas City. The event began in KC last May, when the U.S. played Canada.
This season’s stop in Kansas City is the second location for the tournament. The action at CPKC Stadium features a doubleheader Friday evening.
Canada, the second-highest-ranked team in World Rugby (the sport’s sanctioning body), will face New Zealand, ranked third, at 5:15 p.m. Eighth-ranked Team USA will battle seventh-ranked Australia at 8 p.m. This year’s matches come after the 2025 event in Kansas City saw record-breaking attendance for a women’s rugby match.
“I think everyone was involved was so pleased with how it went,” Current senior vice president of commercial Missy Jenkins told The Star. “(World Rugby is) doing a number of different PAC4 events around the country, and they were really excited to come back to Kansas City and showcase CPKC Stadium and the Kansas City fan base with even more teams.
“So I think it’s really a testament to Kansas City, a testament to the Current, a testament to CPKC Stadium, that they wanted to come back and have an awesome event — but have even more teams come.”
It’s simple for the Current to host different events and sports. Members of the team’s grounds staff don’t need to make many adjustments besides the playing field itself.
The biggest alterations involve changing the edges of the pitch from artificial turf to grass, matching the rest of the surface. They are also on the lookout for any potential rain in the forecast throughout the week, and specifically on Friday. The grounds crew was going to use sod from local farms; after last weekend’s rain, they’ll have to bring in a majority of the sod from Colorado.
“The most important thing for soccer, and the same thing for rugby, is traction,” said Jerad Minnick, the Current’s vice president of sports turf and grounds.
A former Royals and KC Wizards groundskeeper, Minnick has worked in, and consulted for, the industry for more than 20 years.
“Rugby players wear (cleats with) a little bit longer studs, a little bit more like American football, which we love,” he said. “After the match where we’re brushing, we’re cleaning out... we’re trying to keep it from really just ... (getting) too thick.”
If Kansas Citians drive by the stadium during the nighttime hours, they can see pink lighting spilling onto the grass. Studies have shown the pink light color is the most efficient way to grow grass, Minnick said. CPKC Stadium is the first North American sports facility to have pink LED bulbs in its grow lights — at a cost of about $80,000 each — instead of standard high-pressure sodium lights.
Some of the adjustments around the stadium are more obvious, like replacing soccer lines with rugby lines and installing 44-foot tall goal posts. Standing up the posts can be difficult in the windy Midwest, Minnick said.
But the main goal is to keep the grass short. Short grass helps soccer teams like the Current play faster. It will also showcase the speed of the rugby players during the PAC4 series.
“It’ll be fast, it’s firm, it’s fresh, and that’s the way our team likes to play, as well,” Minnick said.
This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
