By Ken Reed
In a couple weeks, the Kansas City Current will open a $117 million, 11,500 seat stadium, which will be called CPKC Stadium. It will be one of a few stadiums in the world constructed specifically for female athletes. The stadium is designed to expand to a 20,000 seat capacity.
The Current’s owners, which include Patrick Mahomes and his wife Brittany, wanted their team to have their own stadium, so they wouldn’t have to share space with other teams or try to build their schedule around other leagues. Before this season, the Current had to rent baseball and MLS facilities.
“I don’t think that there is a more important investment that is being made anywhere for the future of our game,” according to NWSL Commissioner Jessica Herman.
The Current players love the thought of having their own stadium and practice facility (the Current also has a new $18 million training facility).
“I absolutely love it because we are number one,” says midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta. “It’s all about us.”
Current ownership will control all revenue streams at the new stadium, including the 10-year naming-rights deal with the CPKC rail network.
Based in part due to the new stadium, the Current has sold out season tickets for this season’s schedule.
“We want to use this facility to draw fans in, to encourage and inspire other clubs and other sponsors now to do the same as us,” says midfielder Claire Hutton.
Co-owner Chris Long also wants to spur other women’s pro sports franchises to follow suit.
“There’s no reason elite women’s athletes shouldn’t also have a place of their own [where] they’re the anchor tenant. It’s going to send a message: ‘Look how amazing an opportunity this is to really put women’s athletics where it should be.’”
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
Episode #33 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Ken Reed Announces His Retirement and Chats With League of Fans Founder Ralph Nader – Ken and Ralph talk about the history of League of Fans and the reasons it was created. They then move into a discussion of a variety of contemporary sports issues that League of Fans has been working on in recent years. Ken and Ralph end by talking about the need for sports fans, athletes, and other sports stakeholders to get involved in the sports reform movement and be activists and change agents on issues important to them, whether that be at the local, state, or national level.
Episode #32 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Prolific Author Joe Posnanski Joins the Show – Posnanski is one of America’s best sportswriters and has twice been named the best sports columnist in America by the Associated Press Sports Editors. We chat about his new book, “Why We Love Baseball,” his new Substack newsletter called Joe Blogs.
Episode #31 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Foul Ball Safety Is Still an Important Issue at Ballparks – Our guests are Jordan Skopp, founder of FoulBallSafety.com and Greg Wilkowski, a Chicago based attorney. We discuss the historical problem of foul balls injuring fans and why some teams are still hesitant to put up protective netting in some minor league and college baseball parks.
Episode #30 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The State of College Athletics with Dr. David Ridpath: Problems and Potential Solutions – Ridpath is a sports administration professor at Ohio University and a member of The Drake Group, a college sports reform think tank.
Episode #29 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The Honorable Tom McMillen Visits League of Fans’ Sports Forum – McMillen is a former All-American basketball player, Olympian, Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Congressman. We discuss the state of college athletics today.
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world. We discuss problems in youth sports today.
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour
League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
