NWSL club K.C. Current are unveiling “plans to increase the capacity” of CPKC Stadium to 18,000, according to Brett Knight of FORBES. This comes after K.C. Mayor Quinton Lucas proposed a tax increment financing district and up to $235M in bonds to “help finance the renovation and the surrounding development earlier this month.” Rather than building a new upper deck, the team “intends to add the bulk of the 6,500 additional seats in the corners between the grandstands that currently flank the pitch and raise the roof line to add more premium boxes along the top of the stadium, roughly doubling the suite capacity.” The project would also “connect the second-level concourse between the east and west sections while preserving a view of the Christopher S. Bond Bridge.” The Current expect to complete the vast majority of the construction “outside the NWSL season, likely beginning in the fall of 2027 in hopes of finishing in time for the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup.” The City Council is expected to vote on the measure Thursday, and if approved, K.C. would “apply for incentives through the Missouri Downtown Economic Stimulus Act.” The increase in premium seating, from roughly 1,300 seats currently, would “help the team capitalize on an increasingly important slice of sports teams’ revenue pie.” Expansion also could help with their ability to host other sorts of events, as CPKC Stadium “needed special approval” to hold a USWNT friendly in October because it “didn’t meet the team’s usual capacity requirement” (FORBES, 6/30).
WHAT IT COULD BRING: In K.C., Vahe Gregorian notes expanding the capacity to 18,000 is an “eye-opening increase of more than 50% (with the ability to add 2,000 more temporary seats when needed) that could make it potentially suitable” for some 2031 Women’s World Cup matches. Current co-owner Chris Long said, “You can’t deny what a World Cup means to a city and a region. ... If we can kind of help something like that occur again, why would we not want to do that?” Gregorian notes there are “ample more fundamental reasons to add capacity.” Long said, “Our suites are sold out. We have a waiting list for season tickets. We have had demand for the stadium, where, because it was 11,500, we couldn’t host events.” Palmer Square Real Estate Partner Mukul Sharma indicated that with a canopy already designed to reflect acoustics back down, the “more fully encompassed structure ‘is likely going to become louder (and) … an even more energetic place to be and to play’” (K.C. STAR, 6/30).
