Kansas City Current’s stadium success sparks nationwide interest in investment in women’s soccer
(InvestigateTV) — As the tides are turning, a rising Current in Kansas City is helping to fuel change and investment in women’s sports across the country.
In the sports world, Kansas City is synonymous with the Chiefs. However, the Kansas City Current is gaining momentum in town, playing another kind of football.
The city’s women’s professional soccer team has been sold out for every game since opening its new stadium.
“We’ve been sold out since we have opened,” said Raven Jemison, Current president. “Every game.”
World’s first professional league soccer stadium built for women’s team
In 2024, the Kansas City Current became the very first women’s soccer team in the world to get their own stadium built.
The Current has fierce fandom, with onlookers coming from near and far.
“We’ve had folks from Denver, Dallas, Wichita, Topeka,” Jemison said.
Jemison said part of what brings these fans here is that there’s nothing like this anywhere else in the country.
In fact, there’s nothing like this in the world. This is the first-ever professional soccer stadium built for women.
“How does it feel sitting in this stadium?” reporter Kristin Crowley asked Jemison.
“Nothing like it,” Jemison replied.
To show what makes this place so special, Jemison gave a tour of the $140 million investment.
It’s a far cry from where the Current came from.
“There was a high school stadium the first year of the Kansas City Current where the name didn’t actually exist, it was on a baseball field,” said General Manager Caitlin Carducci.
By 2022, the team upgraded and did what many women’s sports teams do — shared a stadium. They played at Children’s Mercy Park, home to the men’s pro soccer team, Sporting KC.
No one understood the struggle more than the players.
“You almost feel like you’re going into someone else’s home even though it is your home as well,” said midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo.
When the 2023 season ended, the team finished second-to-last, with a record of:
Stadium success translates to on-field success
Then came 2024, their first season in their new stadium, CPKC.
“Do you think there were people that doubted when you built this stadium that you’d fill those seats?” Crowley asked forward Nichelle Prince.
“Oh, for sure,” Prince said.
Opening day sold out. The pressure was on.
“What happened in that first game?” Crowley asked DiBernardo.
“It was a great game,” DiBernardo said with a laugh.
“Vanessa DiBernardo scored the first goal and it was just electric in there,” Prince said.
“I think all of us were just kind of a sigh of relief when the ball hit the back of the net ‘cause we wanted to be the first team to score there,” DiBernardo said.
The success story continued. By the end of the 2024 season, they doubled their win total to 16 and slashed their losses to only 3, finishing fourth overall.
Now in their 2025 season, they sit at the top of the league.
“You feel like there’s 100,000 fans there. Everyone’s so into the game, you feel the community around you,” Rodriguez said.
“Is it a coincidence that the Kansas City Current is the best team in the league right now, having their own purpose-built stadium?” Crowley asked Jemison.
“I will say it is skill and it is a great coaching staff and a great GM who can put a great team together,” Jemison said.
“You’re saying it’s the investment,” Crowley said.
“It is 100% the all-around investment,” Jemison said.
“There’s that saying it takes money to make money. There was a lot of investment in here. Is it paying off?” Crowley asked Carducci.
“Yes,” Carducci said. “It is peak field of dreams. Like they built it and the people are coming.”
Not only have every home game sold out, but there’s a waiting list for season tickets. On game days, Kansas City illuminates in teal lights, the official team colors.
In 2024, the team generated more than $36 million in revenue, the highest in the National Women’s Soccer League.
Other cities follow Kansas City’s blueprint
Other teams have taken notice.
“Other teams are starting to want to build their own stadium and their own facilities, so we’re just making the standards where they should be for women’s sports,” Rodriguez said.
Denver got its own pro women’s soccer franchise in 2025, which announced it’s building its own stadium too. In 2023, Boston also got its own women’s soccer team and is now investing in a multi-million-dollar renovation to White Stadium, where the team will play.
Jemison said it doesn’t end there.
“We have many conversations with people who are considering this and doing the due diligence to build their own stadium,” she said.
“Do you think women’s soccer has changed since the stadium was built?” Crowley asked Carducci.
“Yes, I think it has shown everyone that if you invest in this league, if you invest in these players, if you invest in these clubs, you will see the benefit of it,” Carducci said.
In their eyes, the Current has created the blueprint — or maybe the tealprint — for success.
“This is what professional sports is supposed to feel like,” Prince said.
What also makes the Current’s stadium special is that zero taxpayer dollars were used to fund it. It all came from private dollars from the owners, business leaders Chris and Angie Long, and a familiar name in the sports world, Patrick and Brittany Mahomes.
The Current is currently battling for the championship title in the playoffs. Last season, they fell to the Orlando Pride, who won the title.
The stadium is also at the heart of a billion-dollar investment to create a riverfront neighborhood with homes, retail and restaurants. That construction is underway.
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