The Kansas City Current is constructing the first professional women’s sports stadium in the world in Kansas City’s Berkley Riverfront Park.
“This isn’t about just building a women’s soccer team stadium, this is about building women up in general,” said Courtney Kounkel, founder + owner, Monarch Build.
Kounkel and Michelle Kaiser, principal, project management, Benson Method, LLC, joined moderator Monica Dahl, commercial banking relationship manager, Arvest Bank, to discuss the KC Current’s stadium project at an event last week hosted by CREW KC.
Kounkel and Kaiser were selected by the KC Current ownership as partners on the project; Kounkel on construction and Kaiser as the owner’s representative. As the owner’s representative, Kaiser said her firm provides a global representation of everything with the project.
“We’re an advocate for people who are trying to do real estate development projects. So, we’re an extension of somebody’s staff. . . . We’re managing budget, construction, team selection, schedules, furniture, moving, you name it, we’ve got our arms around the whole thing,” said Kaiser.
Kounkel said women often are misperceived as minorities when they’re selected to work on projects in order to meet goals and that instantly devalues what women bring to the table.
“Clearly, it’s a woman owned team that are women athletes. So already they want to engage with women. That just makes common sense. But I will tell you [the KC Current owners] are also very clear that they want the best people for the project, and if that’s not a woman, so be it. . . . And I like that because it means that the women who are selected, I think it completely raises the bar that they’re not just checking a box, this is the optics we want. We want the best people for the project, no matter what,” Kounkel said.
Because Kounkel’s construction firm is small, she has teamed with JE Dunn Construction on the project. Kaiser’s firm is teamed with Legends Project Management.
“We have an excellent relationship and they’ve been wonderful to work with and they know all about the sports, but I have the local contacts,” said Kaiser.
Kounkel emphasized that the KC Current stadium will not be a Major League Soccer (MLS) stadium. It’s a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) stadium.
“[A]nd it is as good as or better than an MLS stadium. It’s smaller, but we want It to be smaller because we want it to be full. Initially, we can’t open an 18,000 seat stadium and think it’s going to be full right away so we’re building it to be able to expand. But, it needs to be full on day one. It needs to feel the energy,” said Kounkel.
Kaiser said she’s had to school some of the vendors to understand that this is a professional women’s soccer team, but the women’s part doesn’t matter.
‘The locker rooms are professional level locker rooms. We’re going to have lots of concessions,” said Kaiser.
Kounkel said the stadium will have a 11,500 capacity, not seats. She said hitting the 11,500 capacity will not be a problem.
Kaiser said team co-owner Angie Long wants the fan experience at the stadium to be elevated. Megan and Colby Garrelts, chef-owners of Rye Leawood and Rye Plaza, are overseeing food and beverage at the stadium.
“I think the difference that you’re going to find with this location is that not only are we the first women’s professional stadium anywhere, it’s the first downtown stadium and it’s on the riverfront. It’s like checking box after box after box . . . . Everyone’s going to want to go,” said Kaiser.
Kaiser said the fan experience at the stadium will be different than attending other professional sports events in Kansas City.
“It’s going to be urban. People are going to be coming by car, rideshare, streetcar, bike riding, people who live down there are going to be walking so I think that’s going to be a real different fan experience than driving out to Arrowhead and parking in a parking lot,” Kaiser said.
Kaiser said that in addition to hosting soccer games, the stadium is being designed to hold concerts and other sports events like lacrosse tournaments, rugby tournaments and NCAA and high school football tournaments.
“They’re intending the stadium to be used over 200 plus days per year,” she said.
The KC Current’s training facility has been completed. Kounkel said once they had the training facility, the team got on a winning streak.
“As soon as you feel respected and that you are worthy, they’re working their ass off to be professional athletes, and I think they finally felt seen so it was so much easier to perform at a higher level. I think it’s so important what they’re doing in sports and the fact that it’s happening in Kansas City. We’re getting global attention that Kansas City is the first to build a training facility that actually has the women’s logo on their stuff,” said Kounkel.
“My favorite phrase that they use right now is it is not a moment, it’s a movement, and it’s so true,” said Kaiser.