Potential NWSL ownership group could bring women’s pro soccer team back to Kansas City

Three years after Kansas City lost its professional women’s soccer franchise, the team could be on the verge of returning.

An ownership group led by Chris and Angie Long is putting together a bid for the Utah Royals FC, with the intent of bringing the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team to Kansas City if a sale is completed, two sources confirmed to The Star. The Athletic first reported the possibility Tuesday.

Chris and Angie Long are both employed in Kansas City — Chris is the founder, CEO and chairman of Palmer Square Capital Management, and wife Angie is the chief investment officer at the same company.

It’s unclear how many, if any, other bids they are competing against as the NWSL searches for a buyer for the Utah team.

“Yeah, I think this could happen,” one source told The Star of a possible move to Kansas City. “But I’d be speaking out of turn to say it’s a certainty or there’s anything finalized. That’s not the case.”

A move to Kansas City would be the latest major modification to a franchise that has grown accustomed to them.

When the NWSL began play in 2013, FC Kansas City was among its original eight teams, then owned by Chris Likens and his sons Brad and Greg, along with Brian Budzinski. But three years later, after court disputes, the ownership group disbanded and the franchise was sold to Elam Baer, a Minnesota businessmen.

His investment lasted just one season, and he told The Star it lost money. The team folded and its players were allocated to the league’s expansion club in Utah.

This potential sale was prompted when owner Dell Loy Hansen threatened to cease funding his MLS club, Real Salt Lake, after RSL players publicly displayed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

That could open the door for a return of the NWSL club to Kansas City, though things would need to be accelerated for a relocation in time for the 2021 season. The league announced last week that players will report for preseason training on Feb 1, less than 10 weeks from today.

The Long family could not be immediately reached for comment on their potential interest in NWSL ownership. Their company, Palmer Square, is the largest manager of static collateralized loan obligations in the country, according to a June article from Business Wire. The Kansas City-based company says it manages more than $12 billion in assets.

Angie Long has a sports background — she won two rugby national championships at Princeton and was named an All-American in 1997, according to her bio on the company’s website.

If the Longs were to acquire the NWSL franchise, it’s unclear where that team would play. The Athletic reported that this is a “sticking point” in the potential sale. During its time in Kansas City, FCKC regularly changed home fields around the city, eventually playing some games at Children’s Mercy Park, the home of MLS-side Sporting Kansas City.

In its inaugural season at a high school stadium, FCKC averaged 4,626 fans per game. The team won league championships in 2014 and 2015 under coach Vlatko Andonovski, who is now the U.S. women’s national team coach. But by its final year in 2017, the team’s average home-game attendance had dipped to 1,788, the lowest in the league.

The NWSL has sought interest from Sporting KC — in the same manner many of its other franchises share ownership with MLS teams — but the Sporting ownership group has indicated a preference to prioritize current assets, which include Sporting KC, its minor-league affiliate, Sporting KC II and its academy teams.

“We are big fans of women’s soccer and are extremely supportive and engaged on the topic,” Sporting KC said in a statement. “We are aware of some of the potential ownership groups in the city and are fully supportive; we value what they bring to our great city and have no doubt they would do a great job.

“This present time has been very taxing on our organization, with a number of things going on, in particular COVID and getting fans back in the stadium. Sporting Kansas City is run with a well-framed, long-term plan, and are making huge investments in the near term in youth soccer, player development and the USL, as well as hosting US Soccer matches in Kansas City, which all are our major focus right now.”

This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Potential NWSL ownership group could bring women’s pro soccer team back to Kansas City."