Now rising beside the Missouri River, the Kansas City Current's soccer stadium shows 'respect'

Anyone who’s driven into Kansas City from the north has probably seen the swooping white steel fame of the Kansas City Current's new stadium going up. The team's new owners believe it can change women's soccer.
The Kansas City Current played its last game at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night, beating the Chicago Red Stars 6-3 with a record 15,671 people in attendance.

The National Women's Soccer League team has spent its three seasons in Kansas City playing in stadiums built for other teams: first at Legends Field where the Kansas City Monarchs play baseball, and then at the home of Sporting Kansas City, the men’s professional soccer team.

That changes with the Current's first home match next April, in the first stadium built specifically for women’s soccer anywhere in the world.

“It’s incredible to happen to live in the city that’s building the first stadium for a women’s professional team. I can’t believe our luck,” said Erin Atherton, a recent soccer fan who enjoys taking her teenage daughter to games. “We can’t wait for it to open and to go to that first game.”