KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The press box at CPKC Stadium will be named in honor of Kansas City Current co-owner Angie Long’s former high school classmate, Grant Wahl.
Wahl, a Shawnee Mission East graduate, also attended Princeton with Long and her husband and fellow Current co-owner Chris Long.
When the new stadium opens in the spring, it will be christened the "Grant Wahl Memorial Press Box" to honor his legacy as one of the biggest champions of soccer in the U.S.
When I first started as the @SportingKC beat writer, Grant Wahl became the writer I aspired toward, because he set the standard.
— Tod Palmer (@todpalmer) November 30, 2023
This is such a fitting tribute to name the CPKC Stadium press box in his honor. Well done, @thekccurrent! pic.twitter.com/Eo6BO7QL4f
“Grant was one of the first people we consulted with the idea of founding an NWSL team in Kansas City,” said Angie Long, who founded the Current in December 2020 along with her husband and Brittany Mahomes, in a statement from the club. “His grounded advice, deep understanding of the soccer ecosystem, connections and thoughtful suggestions were critical ingredients to our decision to launch a new team on an unprecedented timeframe.”
Wahl, who grew up in Mission, rose to prominence as the preeminent U.S. soccer journalist while working for “Sports Illustrated” (SI) and was a staunch supporter of the growing women’s game.
Wahl died in December 2022 while covering the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
To commemorate the naming, a small plaque honoring Wahl was placed at the entrance of the press box Thursday during a ceremony.
The plaque, which is "dedicated in loving memory" of Wahl, reads: "Grant's contributions to soccer globally, nationally and in Kansas City will never be forgotten. His inspiration lives on forever with the Kansas City Current."
Wahl’s brother, Eric, also attended the ceremony.
“Grant and I were born and raised here in Kansas City and our lives were shaped by the sports culture in this region, but more specifically, by those who told those stories through the media,” Eric Wahl said in a statement. “This is a great honor to our family. I hope that those journalists that come through this press box will see Grant’s dedication to telling the personal, challenging and compelling stories of this sport and its athletes, then seek to celebrate and elevate them through stories he would be proud to hear.”
On the “Fútbol with Grant Wahl” podcast after the Current’s launch was announced in December 2020, Wahl called the revelation that the club planned to build a stadium specifically for a pro women’s soccer team “incredible news.”
“Giving us even more conviction around our facilities vision, Grant was particularly drawn to the idea of having the first stadium built for a women’s professional team right in his hometown of Kansas City,” Chris Long said in a statement. “The Kansas City Current will always be grateful to Grant for his pivotal role in the launch of the Club.”
Wahl — who struck out on his own after leaving SI in 2020 and also provided broadcast analysis for Fox Sports and CBS Sports — covered eight men’s World Cups, four Women’s World Cups and five Olympic soccer tournaments in his storied soccer journalism career.
“My family and I are thankful that my husband Grant Wahl is being recognized in this way,” his wife, Dr. Céline Gounder, said in a statement. “It is my hope that future generations of sports journalists sitting in this press box will be inspired to carry on Grant's legacy: holding those in power to account, advocating for human rights and equity and understanding that ‘stick to sports’ is a false mantra. As Ted Lasso said, ‘Soccer is life.' When sports are divorced from everything else in life, they are gutted of their essence and meaning.”
During every home match last season at Children’s Mercy Park, the Current placed a custom Grant Wahl team jersey at a memorial seat in the press box.
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