KC Current set to break ground on Riverfront stadium

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Kansas City Current will kick off the start of a new era Thursday evening, scooping dirt with teal shovels to signal the beginning of construction on their $117 million Riverfront stadium.

The facility will be the first professional soccer stadium built for women in the world.

“This is the first stadium of its kind in the world, and it’s happening right here in our own backyard,” KC Current president Allison Howard told KCTV5. “It’s not just for Kansas City Current players, employees or even our fans to celebrate – it’s for the entire city to celebrate.”

The celebration will start Thursday with a groundbreaking at 6 p.m. The festivities continue after with music, food and player appearances, followed by 11 1/2 minutes of fireworks at 7:45 p.m. – symbolic of the 11,500-fan capacity the new stadium is set to hold.

The public is invited to attend.

“For generations, we’ve been investing in the Riverfront to try to get us to a day like this,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said. “I thank the Current so much, not just for doing what they can today for professional sports, for women’s sports, but really for this new centerpiece of the Kansas City metro area.”

The stadium marks the latest in a slew of development projects along KC’s Berkley Riverfront.

“For any of us who grew up in Kansas City, the Riverfront used to be a tow lot. It was not a place where you went to actually do a lot of things during the year – and now, we will see it energized all the time,” Lucas said. “In addition to the stadium, we’re gonna see new apartment buildings, new businesses that are coming to town, new restaurants, so really this becomes another area of the city like the Plaza, like Power & Light where there’s just this bit of excitement for us.”

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