First Kansas City...is Cleveland Next?

When the Kansas City Current kick off the 2024 season, they’ll do it in the world’s first stadium built for a women’s professional soccer team.

But, CPKC Stadium may not be the only one for long.

Most of the 14 NWSL teams actually rent stadiums. If they happen to be owned by a Major League Soccer club (like the Houston Dash - owned by Houston Dynamo FC), they play in facilities built for the men’s professional teams.

While there’s not a NWSL team in Ohio (well, not yet anyway), there’s a proposal right now to bring a women’s soccer stadium to Cleveland. The Ohio House passed an appropriations bill in February that included $1 million to build a stadium in Cleveland. The group Cleveland Pro Soccer says this stadium is critical to the city’s bid to bring a NWSL team to Cleveland in 2026. It will be interesting to see how this bill continues to play out in the Senate. A vote is on hold until later this year. We’ll keep an eye on that and on the city’s bid for a NWSL team.

For now, the Kansas City Current will keep the stadium title - and open the season today, March 16, against the Portland Thorns on ABC.

About CPKC Stadium

CPKC Stadium has a 11,500 capacity and season tickets have been sold out for months. The stadium was actually built where seats could easily be added - so I expect we’ll see that in the near future.

The $116 million stadium is the anchor of an ongoing riverfront development project at Berkley Riverfront Park.