Kansas City Current is the newest professional sports team in Kansas City. And they are building everything a professional sports team needs: a rabid fan base, a high-quality training facility and a stadium.

The first structural development was building the Current’s own training complex, which was the league’s first and opened in June 2022. Next on the list is a stadium, which is scheduled to open in 2024 near Berkeley Riverfront Park in Kansas City’s downtown area.

“Back in 2013, we didn’t have a training facility, we didn’t have a locker room,” said Desiree Scott, KC Current captain and former FCKC player. “We were playing on a high school field, and now we see the progression and we have our own training facility with a stadium being built in a few years.”

Scott spent three seasons with FCKC and returned to Kansas City when KC was awarded an NWSL franchise ahead of the 2021 season. She credits the Current ownership, comprised of Angie and Chris Long and Brittany Matthews, for their investment in the club.

“They’re at every game,” Scott said of the owners. “They’re cheering in the stands. They’re high-fiving us as we go into the locker room.”

The financial investment into the new facilities includes $18 million spent on the training facility and billions more for the stadium.

The $18 million training facility has recovery tools, a gym and a chef that can personalize meals for top nutritional value.

“We’re really being treated like professionals and feel like that,” Scott said. “It makes you excited to come to work and want to do this every day.”

The club is not just focusing on state-of-the-art architecture. The Current is still wanting to set high expectations on the pitch.

After a tough first year where they finished at the bottom of the league with just three wins in 24 games, the Current rebounded in 2022 to make a run all the way to the NWSL championship in Matt Potter’s first year as head coach. That dramatic turnaround was after offseason signings Lynn Williams and Sam Mewis, both stars for the United States Women’s National Team, each missed nearly the entire season through injury.

The rabid fan base started back in 2013 with FCKC, led by the club’s supporters group known as the KC Blue Crew. The fan base saw growth with the on-field success in 2022, highlighted when the Current set a new Kansas City NWSL record with 10,395 fans watching the Current tie Angel City FC 1-1 at Children’s Mercy Park.

“The fans have generated the enthusiasm and energy,” Potter said of the fan base’s support throughout the 2022 season. “It’s really exciting to see that the product we’re putting out there is being supported by the community.”