New KC stadium to host ’24 NWSL Championship

CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, will host the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League Championship on Saturday, Nov. 23.

CPKC Stadium opened earlier this year as the first venue built specifically for an NWSL team. The Kansas City Current have sold out every home match to date in the 11,500-seat capacity stadium.

The match will mark the first time Kansas City has hosted the NWSL Championship. The Current are unbeaten this season through 15 matches.

CPKC Stadium cost over $120 million and was mostly privately funded. The Current is owned by Angie and Chris Long as well as Brittany Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman has frequently stressed the importance of teams owning their own venues to control revenue and have first selection of key dates.

“It’s so much more than I expected,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said at halftime of the opening match of the NWSL season in Kansas City in March.

“We’ve been saying if you build it they will come, internally, and then coming here and actually seeing what it means to actually invest in brick and mortar physical infrastructure, it’s a game-changer.

“They have changed the footprint of this city forever, and I think it will have an even greater impact than anyone can imagine.”

Angie Long said in an interview with ESPN earlier this year that she remembers hearing from doubters early in the process.

“‘Why do you guys need your own stadium? Can’t you just go play in someone else’s stadium?’ “I kind of would like to know what major successful sports franchise in the world is just happy to sit back and be a tenant in somebody else’s stadium?” she said of conversations she had. “And the fact that everyone is asking this question is a little bit ironic, I think, but it speaks to the incredible opportunity and one of the reasons why the growth potential is there.”

Nov. 23 will mark the latest NWSL Championship in the calendar year in league history.

ESPN will air quarterfinal round matches beginning on Nov. 9 as well as semifinal round matches beginning Nov. 16.

San Diego hosted last year’s final in front of a crowd of 25,011, a record for a league final. NJ/NY Gotham FC defeated OL Reign (now Seattle Reign FC), 2-1.