On March 16, the Kansas City Current unveiled their latest soccer stadium, located in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri. The 117 million dollar project promised a picturesque stadium by the Kansas City Riverfront facing the Missouri River.

The stadium can hold an audience of at least 11,500 people and is the country’s first stadium built solely for a women’s professional sports team. The newly established women’s soccer club is now an epicenter for fans of pro-women’s soccer in the region.

After winning their season opener at their new stadium, fans are excited for what the future holds for the team. Junior Maeve Nichols, who was present during this match said that the atmosphere lived up to the standards that many had for it.

Women’s soccer in America is recognized for their success globally for securing four World Cup titles. This is history for the country because the stadium is the first built specifically for the purpose of professional women’s soccer.

Nichols believes that this is the beginning of a domino effect that there will be more stadiums built specifically for women’s sports and that there will be more emerging teams on the rise.

“This is the start of something that’s going to expand,” Nichols said.

Many soccer players, like sophomore Cara Jeffries, see this move as integral to the world of women’s athletics and are excited for what the future holds.

“It’s an amazing way, especially for women’s soccer, to expand because this is the first women’s stadium to be opened, and I think it’s a big leap for women’s sports,” Jeffries said.

In the realms of professional soccer and college sports, according to a report by the Fédération Internationale De Football Association, women’s soccer has been seeing a linear rise in both fan support and influence amongst the next generation. Both Nichols and Jeffries acknowledged the importance of having that support, especially at a high school level.

“It helps to just know that I have people from my school supporting not only me but my whole team,” Jeffries said. “So it helps to give us that extra energy boost we need against hard opponents.”

Jeffries thinks that the initiative by the KC Current to support women’s soccer will certainly impact the future generation of the sport.

“It’ll help inspire younger girls to continue playing this sport,” Jeffries said.