KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Current are in first place with three matches left in the regular season.
Some say the team's success adds another winning culture to the city that fans will want to take part in.
"Kansas City is a winning town, it's a winning culture," said Chris Long, Kansas City Current co-owner. "The more and more we win, the more and more people have FOMO, this fear of missing out, I want to be part of that."
Current and future fans will soon have a new destination to see the team — a brand new stadium in a neighborhood overlooked for decades, the Kansas City Riverfront.
"This was a literal dumping ground for 60+ years, it was really bereft of any development," said Jon Stephens, CEO and president of PortKC. "Then it’s been 30 years in the making of really revitalizing the area and really bringing it back to life, and leading up to the KC Current stadium announcement, we had seen a lot of positive momentum."
Long said the team was strategic in choosing where to build the stadium.
"We want all boats to rise. When we looked at where we could possibly put a project of this magnitude, $120 million, we want it to be in an area where there's a multiplier effect," he said.
Stephens weighed in on how the stadium will benefit the Riverfront.
"A really diverse, walkable community with six-plus story buildings, walkable sidewalks, very transit-oriented with the streetcar coming down here and $1.2 billion in total development," Stephens said.
The stadium started as a $70 million project, but Long says it had to be bigger to succeed.
"We did end up applying for some Missouri tax credits, but we also put in $40 million more in equity," he said.
The stadium will go on public land that PortKC says generates zero tax dollars, with retail, real estate and hospitality businesses to come in the future.
"A world-class destination for Kansas City, but also for visitors because we are going to be welcoming the world to Kansas City," Stephens said.
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