KC Current could get rival down I-70: St. Louis City 'definitely ... - Kansas City Business Journal

The Kansas City Current could have some in-state competition east on Interstate 70 for the 2026 season.
With St. Louis City SC excelling on and off the field, CEO Carolyn Kindle said the owners of the first-year Major League Soccer club are mulling the possibility of bringing a women’s team to the region.
Asked at Sports Business Journal‘s AXS Drive conference in St. Louis about adding other sports franchises to the group’s portfolio, Kindle said her family, which owns the team along with World Wide Technology CEO Jim Kavanaugh, is keeping an eye on the National Women’s Soccer League.
“That’s definitely on the radar of something to invest in because, quite frankly, the caliber of female players we have in this region, if there’s an opportunity to provide them opportunities and pathways as well, I think the family and the ownership group would be excited about that,” Kindle said.
A St. Louis entrant into the NWSL would provide a natural rival for the KC Current, which is in the midst of building a $118 million multipurpose stadium — the first specifically for a pro women’s sports team — that is on track to open in time for the 2024 season. On the men’s side, Sporting Kansas City also is a rival to Kindle’s Major League Soccer franchise.
After selling its 15th franchise to an ownership group in Boston for $53M, the NWSL plans to award one additional expansion franchise to begin play in the 2026 season. That process will begin after the current NWSL season.
Based on St. Louis City’s early success, there’s every reason to believe St. Louis would support a team in the country’s top women’s soccer league. Kindle said the club has now received more than 100,000 deposits for season tickets at the 22,423-seat CityPark. “People knew they weren’t going to get a ticket, but they just wanted to show support any way they could,” Kindle said. Meanwhile, the club’s development team, St. Louis City 2, drew more than 9,626 for a recent match, the largest crowd to attend an MLS Next Pro match.
Kindle has been pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming support the first-year MLS club has received since the announcement of the franchise in 2019.
“I had no idea the region would be this supportive of us,” she said. “Every time we have asked, ‘Please go to social media,’ or ‘Buy a T-shirt,’ they’ve exceeded our expectations.”
This story originally appeared in Sports Business Journal, an affiliated publication.
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